Moral responsibility for hazards of GMOs
Description
"I seek to develop a framework for sharing moral responsibility for preventing hazards of GMOs. Regulations ascribe duties regarding risks to actor groups involved in the development and use of GMOs in agriculture. However, hazards also encompass uncertainties and ignorance, for which the ascription of moral responsibility remains unclear. The argument that responsibility ascription for risks is an important factor for technology acceptance should be extended to responsibility for hazards. Indeed, the debate around uncertainties of GMOs has been one of the major limiting factors for the use of GMOs. In order to define a framework for shared moral responsibility for preventing hazards, I identify the actors that will share this moral responsibility. Drawing from the role of moral responsibility in ownership, I distinguish between moral responsibility for owners and non-owners of GMOs. I also argue that owners have a special moral responsibility since they are the ones purposely carrying out an action with a technology. Moreover, regardless of the extent of ownership, I argue that all owners share moral responsibility to prevent hazards of GMOs to the same extent. However, for the purpose of effectiveness, I argue that responsibility should be ascribed according to capacities to carry out certain tasks as well as their roles. I also look at the capacities and roles of non-owner actors to establish their responsibility. Such a suggestion implies that ownership might be given over GMOs for the purpose of preventing hazards, which would, in turn, suggest changes in the governance of GMOs and have implications for responsible research and innovation."
Zoë Robaey is currently a PhD student at the Center for Ethics and Technology at Delft University in the Netherlands. She is working within the project 'New Technologies as Social Experiments: Conditions for Morally Responsible Experimentation' and concentrates on the case of biotechnology with a focus on regulation and ownership of genetically modified crops in agriculture, as well as questions of moral responsibility.
Speaker(s)
Zoë graduated from a Master's of Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance (Berlin, Germany) in 2011 with a specialisation in sustainability. Her master thesis formulated recommendations for the diffusion of smart grids in the European Union. Her research was sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She also completed an MA in European Studies on Society, Science and Technology from Maastricht University (Netherlands) in 2008. Her thesis dealt with the "Differing Views of Uncertainty in Environmental Controversies: The Kearl Oil Sands Case 2003-2008 in Canada" and was awarded second place of the Rachel Carson Awards by the Dutch Environmental Professionals Association (Vereniging van Milieuprofessionals). In 2007, she completed her BSc in Biology and the University of Ottawa (Canada).
Additional information can be found via the link below.
Reference
Robaey, Z. 2013. "Who Owns Hazard? The Role of Ownership in the GM Social Experiment." In The Ethics of Consumption, edited by Helena Röcklinsberg and Per Sandin, 51-53. Wageningen Academic Publishers (available online)
Location
Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 26715554 or via the e-mail address below