FOOD ETHICS Report
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The text is not altered and is used in full (the use of extracts under existing fair usage rights is not affected by this condition); . The work is not resold; . A copy of the work or link to its use online is sent to the address below for our archive. Copyright Department Food Ethics Council 39-41 Surrey Street Brighton BN1 3PB United Kingdom [email protected] You are welcome to ask for permission to use this work for purposes other than those covered by the Food Ethics Council open access licence. Food Ethics Council acknowledges the work of Lawrence Lessig and Creative Commons, which inspired this approach to copyright. We are very grateful to James Wilsdon, of Demos, for allowing us to use Demos’s adapted version of the ‘attribution/no derivatives/noncommercial’ Creative Commons licence. To find out more about Creative Commons licences go to www.creativecommons.org. ISBN 0-9549218-0-1 Price £10 © Food Ethics Council Some rights reserved – see copyright licence for details Food Ethics Council, 39 – 41 Surrey Street, Brighton BN1 3PB t: 0845 345 8574 or +44 (0) 1273 766 654 f: +44 (0) 1273 766 653 [email protected] www.foodethicscouncil.org The Food Ethics Council is a registered charity (No. 1101885). The seventh report published by the Food Ethics Council © Copyright Food Ethics Council 2004 www.foodethicscouncil.org . The Food Ethics Council reports on ethical issues in food and agriculture. We develop tools to help make ethical thinking a standard practice in policy, in business and in everyday life. We work towards a food system that is fair, humane, secure and sustainable. Previous reports Engineering nutrition: GM crops for global justice? (September 2003) TRIPS with everything? Intellectual property and the farming world (November 2002) After FMD: aiming for a values-driven agriculture (December 2001) Farming animals for food: towards a moral menu (December 2000) Novel foods: beyond Nuffield (October 1999) Drug use in farm animals (June 1999) All these reports may be downloaded, free of charge, from our web site: www.foodethicscouncil.org. Subject to availability, hard copies may also be obtained by contacting the Food Ethics Council Office. Members of the Council Ms Helen Browning: (Chair) Organic farmer; Food and Farming Director, Soil Association Prof Ruth Chadwick: Director, ESRC Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics, University of Lancaster Dr David Challacombe: Retired consultant paediatrician specialising in nutritional and gastrointestinal disorders Dr Elizabeth Dowler: Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, researching food and social policy Prof Carlo Leifert: Director, Stockbridge Technology Centre, University of Newcastle Ms Jeanette Longfield: Coordinator of Sustain – the alliance for better food and farming Dr Peter Lund: Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Birmingham Prof Ben Mepham: Director, Centre for Applied Bioethics, University of Nottingham Dr Doris Schroeder: Reader in Ethics, Centre for Professional Ethics, University of Central Lancashire Mr Geoff Tansey: Freelance writer and consultant Mr John Verrall: (Treasurer) Pharmaceutical chemist Acknowledgements This report develops discussions that took place at a workshop on Agri-food research: participation and the public good, which the Food Ethics Council held in March 2004. We are very grateful to everyone who took part in that workshop, and the many other people since who have contributed to our understanding of research on food and farming. We owe a special debt of thanks to members of the external Review Panel for this report, who met twice prior to publication and contributed detailed comments on earlier drafts. The Review Panel members are: Dr David Barling (City University) Dr Jofey Craig (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology) Professor Sir John Marsh (University of Reading) John Turner (Farm) Dr James Wilsdon (Demos) In order to help open debate around the issues covered in this report, we invited the Review Panel members to write individual comments. These postscripts can be found at the end of the report. The Review Panel do not necessarily endorse this report. We also wish to express our sincere thanks to Dr Christopher Stopes (Ecos Consultancy) and Dr Paul van Heyningen (Biotechnology Commission/AEBC), who attended Review Panel meetings as observers. The Biotechnology Commission has been gathering evidence for a report on Research Agendas and we thank the commission for its openness in sharing relevant information. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Allen Lane Foundation and the Polden Puckham Charitable Trust. The working group for this project consisted of Helen Browning, Ben Mepham and Geoff Tansey. This report was drafted by Dr Tom MacMillan, with assistance from Shaila Seshia and Ann Baldridge. It was designed and printed by PDC Copyprint (Brighton). The Food Ethics Council Summary 1. Introduction 1.1 Just knowledge? 1.2 Ethics and science 1.3 Our approach 2. Activities 2.1 Science and technology 2.2 Research ethics 2.2.1 An ethic of honesty 2.2.2 Codes and guidelines 2.2.3 Scientists in society 2.3 Governing technology 2.3.1 Product assessment 2.3.2 Technology assessment 2.3.3 Towards social assessment 3. Organisations 3.1 Food and farming 3.2 Stakeholders 3.2.1 Professional stakeholders 3.2.2 Citizens 3.2.3 Engagement and accountability 3.3 Policies 3.3.1 Science policy 3.3.2 Agricultural policy 3.3.3 A sustainable science policy 4. Resources 4.1 Public and private 4.2 Financial resources 4.2.1 R&D spending 4.2.2 Infrastructural investment 4.3 Human resources 4.4 Natural resources 4.5 Intellectual resources 5. Conclusion: towards a just research system Review panel comments Abbreviations Notes Copyright Just knowledge? Public confidence in the governance of science and technology has been severely shaken by a succession of controversies about risk regulation, new technology and public health. The policy response has been to promote public engagement in research and ‘upstream’ in research planning. But giving people greater access to decision-making about science will not alone earn public trust. The ethics of science and technology – the values and assumptions that get built in during research, innovation and regulation – must be opened to greater public scrutiny and challenge. This report explores how that can be done. We explain why the view that science is ‘just knowledge’ is a misunderstanding which presents a real barrier to a robust research policy. Farming and food have been at the centre of public unease about science, in the wrangling over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), genetically modified (GM) crops and, of late, obesity. We focus on food and farming research, and on policy in the United Kingdom (UK), though much of our analysis and many of our recommendations apply more generally. Research ethics Research scientists cannot avoid ethical issues. In the first place, in the practice of research, they are faced with numerous ethical codes, guidelines and procedures, covering issues that range from confidentiality and data protection to the ethics of publication and animal experiments. Some of these codes must be followed by law, others as conditions of professional or funding bodies. However, these requirements and guidelines only address a small subset of the ethical issues that arise in research. They focus on the conduct of research, and are largely blind to its social context and consequences. They do not address the ethical questions that many non-scientists care most about – what is the wider purpose of the research and what are its social implications? It is essential for scientists to deliberate on the social consequences of their work. Funding bodies should reward applicants who consider the social context of their research. It is also important to encourage young people to reflect on the social and ethical implications of science. Now that ethical and social objectives feature in science curricula, we recommend that science teachers in schools and universities are given the support, training and resources they need to achieve them (Section 2.2.3). Governing technology Some official discussions of ethics and public concerns draw a line between science and its application. As the Prime Minister has put it, “Science doesn’t replace moral judgement… with scientific advance we need stronger analysis of how to use knowledge for good not ill”.1 The implication is that if issues are not addressed during research, they will be addressed downstream. This clear-cut divide is inconsistent with government policy on innovation, which recognises that the research, development, regulation and use of new technologies are inseparably linked. Nor does it fit with the government’s current focus on upstream public engagement, which aims to address concerns sooner rather than later. But the research-application divide is most misleading because many ethical issues and public concerns are not addressed downstream in technology regulation: .