Victor Pelaez

Biopoder & regulação da tecnologia: o caráter normativo da análise de risco dos OGMs

Este artigo analisa a regulacao da tecnologia como um processo de disputa de poder atraves do qual o carater de neutralidade do conhecimento cientifico e adotado como uma instância legitimadora das agencias reguladoras. Utiliza-se como estudo de caso o processo de disputa na regulacao dos organismos geneticamente modificados a partir de dois principios fundamentais: o Principio de Equivalencia Substancial, adotado pelos EUA; e o Principio de Precaucao, adotado pelos paises da Uniao Europeia.

Genetically modified organisms: the side not revealed by science

The efforts on the part of Monsanto to introduce Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans into Brazil have been impeded since 1998 by court action by IDEC (a consumer rights organisation) and Greenpeace. The lack of toxicological studies concerning the specific environmental impact on Brazil is the main argument against the marketing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country. Being unable to carry out such a rapid diffusion of GMOs in Brazil, which is the worlds second largest exporter of soybeans, has caused great uncertainty regarding the outlook for further investment in this kind of technology. The objective of this paper is to analyse the process of regulation of GMOs as an explanatory variable of the pace and the direction of technical progress. It is used as an element for the analysis of Monsantos strategies for obtaining fast approval of GMOs in Brazil, as well as the tactics of resistance adopted by Brazilian pressure groups. This dispute reveals a fundamental aspect of the firm selection environment that has not been sufficiently tackled in economic literature. Emphasis is given to the relationship between political power and economic power in the creation and implementation of laws and norms affecting the pace and direction of technical progress.

State of exception in the regulation of genetically modified organisms in Brazil

The regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Brazil has involved intense disputes between the three branches of government (legislature, executive and judiciary). This process arose out of a class-action suit that overruled a decision authorizing the commercial release of GM soybeans by the regulatory body. After a seven-year legal ban, the disputes moved into the legislative and executive branches, as two successive federal governments have created ad hoc legal means to overcome the requirements for a precautionary approach to the commercial release of GMOs in Brazil. This paper intends to show that the evolution of the regulatory agency responsible for GMOs reveals a political practice which is not based on commonly agreed rules but rather on regimes of exception, in which the legal system has consistently been violated in the name of governability. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

External and internal trade barriers to GMOs in Brazil

Since 1998, a judicial decision has suspended the commercialisation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Brazil. Following this decision, several Federation States have created laws or resolutions banning GMOs on their territory. The main economic motivation for such decisions has been the defence of Brazilian soybean exports (the second highest in the world) to the European and Japanese markets, which favour non-GMO products. However, many farmers produce and commercialise GMOs illegally, justifying their actions on the supposedly better economic results of these products. The aim of this paper is to compare the regulatory policies of GMOs in the Brazilian Southern States (Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul) in terms of their political and economic characteristics and their vulnerability towards the control of GMO smuggling from over the external borders (i.e. Argentina and Paraguay) and internal borders (i.e. among Brazilian States).

Science And Governance In The National Systems Of Innovation Approach

The aim of this article is to analyse the process of technology regulation as a sub-system in the National System of Innovation approach. Firstly, the article discusses the limits of the evolutionary approach by analysing the conflicts of interest involved in the regulation of technology. Then, by analysing with the experience of regulating biotechnology in countries of the European Union and Brazil the article discusses the practices of managing conflicts of interest through the respective regulation models. This discussion turns to the governance of science and technology as a fundamental element of operationalisation of policies for risk analysis and management.

Issues Concerning a Sustainable Regulatory Body for GMOs in Brazil

A central piece of regulatory policies governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been the creation of expert bodies aiming at evaluating the risks of releasing these organisms into the environment. Taking into account an institutionalist approach based on the legal-economic nexus, the aim of this paper is to present the Brazilian experience in the regulation of GMOs. This experience is revealed as a biased process by which democratic principles, such as transparency and public participation, are obliterated by a technocratic model of regulation aiming at guaranteeing legitimacy for a decision-making process aligned with interests of technology providers.

Social resistance to biotechnology: attempts to create a Genetically Modified-free territory in Brazil

This paper looks at the attempt to create a territory free of transgenic crops in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) Although the state government had legal grounds under federal law and court decisions that banned these crops in Brazil, resistance by groups representing local farmers managed to disseminate the planting of transgenic soybeans in the state. The reasons for the governments failure have to do with the absence of an inter-institutional apparatus able to manage a number of economic, social, environmental, geographic and technical-scientific factors, as well as the lack of a social movement capable of assuring the legitimacy of decisions made by the state government in this area.

A volatilidade da agenda de políticas de C&T no Brasil

In the 1950s, Brazil first made science and technology (S&T) an explicit item on its federal policy agenda. International crises of 1970s interrupted the expansion of public investment in the area. Following 2000, relative macroeconomic stability brought back industrial policies based on systemic approaches to innovation. However, S&T policies initiatives have been overcome by ongoing macroeconomic crisis and governments’ incapacity to maintain the macroeconomic stability. This paper discusses Brazil’s S&T policy track record, taking into account institutional path dependence that has held back the orchestration of a long term development model.In the 1950s, Brazil first made science and technology (S&T) an explicit item on its federal policy agenda. International crises of 1970s interrupted the expansion of public investment in the area. Following 2000, relative macroeconomic stability brought back industrial policies based on systemic approaches to innovation. However, S&T policies initiatives have been overcome by ongoing macroeconomic crisis and governments’ incapacity to maintain the macroeconomic stability. This paper discusses Brazil’s S&T policy track record, taking into account institutional path dependence that has held back the orchestration of a long term development model.

DE)CONSTRUCTING THE POLITICAL AGENDA OF CONTROL OVER PESTICIDES IN BRAZIL

This article provides a history of the creation of Brazils federal law governing pesticide production, commerce and use. It begins with initiatives by environmental movements that led States to adopt pesticide control laws, thus helping put the issue on the federal agenda. It discusses major innovations and limitations to the laws enforcement and identifies the main attempts to deconstruct it, through bills aimed at suppressing the powers of public authorities to reduce adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment.

A TENDÊNCIA AXIOMÁTICA DA RACIONALIDADE ECONÔMICA NO CONTEXTO DA OPOSIÇÃO ENTRE INDIVIDUALISMO METODOLÓGICO E ESTRUTURALISMO

O objetivo do presente trabalho e promover uma discussao quanto aos efeitos teoricos e metodologicos decorrentes do processo de axiomatizacao do conceito de racionalidade na teoria economica. Particular importância e atribuida as dificuldades teoricas e metodologicas de se transpor o micro rumo ao macrocomportamento economico. Para tanto, apresenta-se o contexto epistemologico em que se da a reducao psicologica do homem economico, o que abrange individualismo metodologico e estruturalismo. Em seguida, discute-se a legitimidade da transcendencia micro-macro a partir do tratamento metodologico do individuo e da firma na microeconomia neoclassica, na qual consumidor e firma sao unidades isomorfas de analise. Argumenta-se que o individualismo inerente a abordagem neoclassica implica na contraposicao entre um nivel individual e um nivel coletivo de analise, de modo que o microcomportamento e estabelecido ex-ante e desvinculado do macro. Influenciadas por esta contraposicao, as primeiras aproximacoes estruturalistas tendem a manter a tendencia axiomatica da racionalidade na teoria economica. Contudo, versoes mais elaboradas dos metodos estruturalistas, caracterizados pela enfase nas relacoes (e nao os agentes) como unidade de analise, permitem resgatar o comportamento do individuo como um produto das relacoes sociais, levando-se em consideracao a interdependencia entre o micro e o macro.