Louis Lemkow

Future Impacts of Biotechnology on Agriculture, Food Production and Food Processing

Introduction.- Concept and Realization: Objectives Description of the Delphi Methodology Structure of the Questionnaire Development of the Questionnaire Selection of Experts Realization of the Survey Returned Questionnaires/Response Rates Returned Questionnaires/Response Rate Statistical Analysis.- Results in Different Countries: Germany Greece Italy The Netherlands Spain.- Comparative Analysis: Differences between Countries Differences between the Expert Groups.- Future Impacts of Biotechnology in the Agro-Food Sector: Acceptance of Biotechnology Legal Framework Conditions Economic Implications Environmental Impacts Health Scientific and Technological Development.- Conclusions and Recommendations: Which Scientific and Technical Developments Can Be Expected in the Future? Impacts on Health of Consumers and the Environment Future Acceptance of Agro-Food Biotechnology Regulatory Issues Economic Implications of Agro-Food Biotechnology Suitability of the Delphi Methodology Recommendations.- Summary.- Annex: Sample of a Questionnaire of the Second Round for Germany.

The employed unemployed: The subterranean economy in Spain

This paper discusses the relationship between the subterranean economy and unemployment. Clandestine economic activity provides jobs at low incomes, but also bad and dangerous working conditions and job insecurity. Governments and even trade unions tend to ignore the wider implications of the underground economy. Three main forms of submerged economy are identified.

Relaciones entre la salud, el desempleo de larga duración y la exclusión social de los jóvenes en España

En el articulo se describen algunas relaciones del desempleo con posibles situaciones de exclusion social en Espana, con especial atencion a los efectos sobre su salud. Para ello se realiza una propuesta teorica de definicion de la exclusion social, entendida como un fenomeno vinculado a las crisis de empleo contemporaneas, y se presenta una sintesis de los resultados de una investigacion empirica realizada a una muestra cualitativa de jovenes espanoles/as que llevan mas de un ano en situacion de desempleo. Se analizan sus experiencias personales, sus percepciones sobre su propia salud, los factores que les protegen de la exclusion social y aquellos que les tornan mas vulnerables. Finalmente, se hace una valoracion critica de las intervenciones que diversos tipos de instituciones ponen en practica con el objetivo de resolver los problemas de exclusion social asociados al desempleo juvenil. Entre los resultados cabe destacar el ambiguo rol de la familia y las limitaciones de las acciones meramente formativas.

Socio-economic status differences in health

This paper is divided into two distinct sections: the first briefly examines the history of discussions on inequalities in health in Britain and how certain ideological approaches have persisted. The second part--taking Spain as an example--considers some of the special difficulties posed by research in countries where the data are inadequate. An attempt is made to suggest how, in such circumstances, research might be undertaken.

Empirical analysis of the risk of social exclusion of long-term unemployed young people in Spain

Since Spain joined the European Union, the industrial sector has undergone serious restructuring which has reduced it considerably. The agricultural sector has been affected by the application of technology and the globalisation of commercial relations, which has drastically reduced the number of people employed in this sector. The restructuring of the production system which has taken place in Spain over the past two decades has meant that the service sector is the predominant sector of economic activities, with many more people employed in it than in the secondary and primary sectors. The service sector in Spain is characterised, in general, by poor, temporary-seasonal employees formed by groups who are discriminated against in terms of salary (women, young people, etc.). This means that there is a growing number of young people who perform labour activities for short, rotational periods between situations of unemployment, without managing to escape from this vicious circle due to their poor qualifications despite their work experience.

Youth Unemployment and Social Exclusion in Spain

The definitions of unemployment vary according to the different socio-political contexts, therefore, unemployment rates are not easily comparable. The wide extent of unemployment has generated considerable interest in measuring it, and unemployment statistics have become a central piece in the game of politics. It should be remembered that national unemployment compatibilities are not neutral instruments, but the result of a social process of data production. In Spain, there are two major official sources of data in this regard: the Employment Statistics, published monthly by the Instituto Nacional de Empleo (National Employment Institute, INEM), and the Encuesta de Poblacion Activa (Active Population Survey, EPA), published quarterly by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (National Institute of Statistics, INE). These two sources use different definitions of unemployment which, furthermore, have changed over time, thus making a reading of the data and an understanding of the phenomenon more difficult.

Youth Unemployment and Health in Spain

In Spain, the past three decades have seen several periods of recession and economic recovery, and the strong influence of these recessions on the development of employment and unemployment as well as on the overall composition of the labour market are clearly visible.

Job insecurity and successful re-employment: Examples from Spain

The Spanish labour market is characterised by a high unemployment rate as well as a high rate of temporary contracts (both the highest in the EU). These two factors indicate a high level of instability amongst employees, which especially affects women, older people and/or employees with low qualifications (CES, 2002; EPA, 2002; Huguet, 1999; Miguelez, 1995).

Precaución, riesgo y sostenibilidad en los organismos agrícolas modificados genéticamente

El cultivo y la comercializacion de Organismos Agricolas Modificados Geneticamente (0MG) es origen de multitud de importantes polemicas sociales, economicos y ecologicas, en cuya resolucion a menudo se reclama la incorporacion del principio y de practicas de precaucion. Este articulo introduce y analiza algunas de estas discusiones a partir de la perspectiva aportada por el proyecto europeo Precautionary Expertise for GM Crops (PEG) sobre la aplicacion de la precaucion en el desarrollo y la comercializacion de OMG agricolas. A partir del material recogido en el caso espanol, los autores argumentan que gran parte de los desacuerdos que surgen de en la interpretacion y aplicacion de la precaucion con relacion a los OMG derivan de la adopcion de una perspectiva mas o menos reduccionista, o mas o menos sistemica, tanto en la evaluacion y regulacion de los riesgos como en la bondad, los costes o los beneficios de su utilizacion. Por ello es posible detectar analiticamente, paro el caso espanol, una clara oposicion entre aquellas interpretaciones de la precaucion caso por caso, de aquellas que sostienen la necesidad de aplicar practicas de evaluacion y de gestion basadas en una precaucion sistemica, mas cercano a los principios y los postulados politicos de la sostenibilidad.

Results in different countries

In this chapter, an overview is given of the basic results of the Delphi survey in the participating countries, which are sorted in alphabetical order. This overview mainly follows the categories included in the questionnaire in each country. Firstly, the self-estimated degree of knowledge of the answering experts is analysed. In the following parts a general overview is given related to the estimated personal attitude and the expected time of realization of the statements included in the questionnaire. In addition, the most important influential factors relevant for the future application of modem biotechnology in the Agro-Food sector are analysed. Afterwards the importance of the visions mentioned in the statements of the questionnaire for future knowledge creation in science and technology, and competitiveness of the respective national economies, as well as the environmental situation, is described. Most of the country chapters conclude with a short discussion on how the results of this Delphi survey fit in the general situation of Agro-Food biotechnology in the respective country.