Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Genetically engineered food'

Inhalt:<br><br> Introduction:<br> -Some Introductory Examples<br> -Consumer-relevant Utility Dimensions<br> -Communication Flow between the Relevant Actors<br> -Risk Communication Dimensions<br> -Complete Model<br> -Aims of the Study<br><br> Method:<br> -Participants<br> -Procedure<br> -Content Analysis<br><br> Results:<br> -Sample Category 1: Food safety<br> -Sample Category 2: Product Quality<br> -Sample Category 3: Freedom of Choice<br> -Sample Category 4: Decision Power over Foodstuffs<br> -Strategy 1: Scientific Information Approach<br> -Strategy 2: Balanced Information Approach<br> -Strategy 3: Product Information Approach<br> -Strategy 4: Classical Advertising<br> -Strategy 5: Trust me I'm no Baddie<br> -Strategy 6: Induction of Fear

The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (PL 114-216) will require nearly all foods sold in the U.S. to bear a statement disclosing whether they contain genetically modified (GM) material. Past studies suggest the presence of such a statement could have profound effects on consumers; however, research comparing consumer response towards different GM-disclosure statements is scarce. PL 114-216 states that GM foods shall not be considered more or less safe than their non-bioengineered counterparts, nevertheless it would benefit regulators and food manufacturers to be aware of the possible effects such disclosures might have on consumers. In a nationwide survey, multiple disclosure statements with varying degrees of public familiarity were compared to evaluate consumer perceptions and attitudes associated with each statement. Average consumer knowledge level of GM processes was also measured. The statements were then paired with actual food items to determine whether specific product categories influenced consumer responses. A select few of these statements and foods were included in a taste panel, allowing researchers to analyze if disclosure statements affected a consumer's sensorial experience. Results suggested that consumers were most favorable towards statements indicating the absence of GM-material, however they also responded less negatively towards new disclosure statements that do not have negative connotations. Additionally, consumers may react differently depending on the food accompanying a particular disclosure, although the taste panel data found no evidence that statements affected actual eating experience. Importantly, data from both surveys and taste panel suggested a disclosure statement may affect consumer willingness to buy a product.

The 18 September 2000 disclosure that StarLink corn, a genetically engineered variety not approved for human consumption, had been detected in food was a seminal event in agricultural biotechnology. This thesis presents a comprehensive case study of the StarLink incident (part one), reviews the StarLink situation in terms of crisis management theory (part two) and develops crisis management theory using the StarLink incident as an example of a crisis (part three). Part one provides background information, then a meticulous day-by-day account of StarLink-related events. Part two presents a detailed overview of crisis management theory, then examines the StarLink situation in terms of pre-crisis (warning signals, preconditions for a crisis, crisis trigger), crisis (how Aventis, the biotechnology provider, managed the crisis and opinions concerning crisis handling) and post-crisis (lessons learned). Part three develops crisis management theory using the StarLink situation as an example of a crisis. It evaluates whether the StarLink incident possessed characteristics predicted for modern crises and suggests other factors which may become more prevalent and significant in future crises. The StarLink incident delivers certain practical lessons for managers, regulators and others and demonstrates a number of characteristics of modern crises.

The 18 September 2000 disclosure that StarLink corn, a genetically engineered variety not approved for human consumption, had been detected in food was a seminal event in agricultural biotechnology. This thesis presents a comprehensive case study of the StarLink incident (part one), reviews the StarLink situation in terms of crisis management theory (part two) and develops crisis management theory using the StarLink incident as an example of a crisis (part three). Part one provides background information, then a meticulous day-by-day account of StarLink-related events. Part two presents a detailed overview of crisis management theory, then examines the StarLink situation in terms of pre-crisis (warning signals, preconditions for a crisis, crisis trigger), crisis (how Aventis, the biotechnology provider, managed the crisis and opinions concerning crisis handling) and post-crisis (lessons learned). Part three develops crisis management theory using the StarLink situation as an example of a crisis. It evaluates whether the StarLink incident possessed characteristics predicted for modern crises and suggests other factors which may become more prevalent and significant in future crises. The StarLink incident delivers certain practical lessons for managers, regulators and others and demonstrates a number of characteristics of modern crises.<br>Thesis (PhD Doctorate)<br>Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)<br>School of Science<br>Full Text

This thesis addresses the puzzle of variation in first-generation regulatory policies for controversial science and technology, as demonstrated in the cases of agricultural genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and human embryonic stem cell research in the United Kingdom and the United States. Why did policy outcomes vary in each technology case? This study answers this question by placing greater emphasis on institutional factors. Although works within institutional analysis, bureaucracy and regulation literatures make significant progress in revealing how existing institutions can shape outcomes, how far one can characterize bureaucratic behavior and whether interest groups capture regulation, they nevertheless create an opening for research that: describes a mechanism for path dependence to explain variation in policies; shows the degree to which bureaucratic behaviors can influence outcomes; and, highlights instances in which regulatory officials hold power. This thesis makes an original contribution by providing new historical details relating to these cases, and by providing an extensive elaboration of Pierson’s criteria for increasing returns and a so-called secondary test of path dependence to explain outcomes. The study recounts the biography of key policy documents in each case by tracing the process of decision-making through government and archival sources, secondary literature and more than 40 elite interviews. In doing so, it details the activities of key governmental bodies within the European Union, UK and US. Moreover, it shows how the Coordinated Framework (1986) and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 framework represented decision-making structures which triggered changes in actors and interests and shaped permissive outcomes for GMOs and stem cell research in the US and UK, respectively. Furthermore, lack of comparable structures may help account for restrictive policies for GMOs in Europe and the UK, and for stem cell research in the US.

The detrimental consequences associated with industrial models of food production are becoming more difficult to ignore. In response, one dominant approach to mitigating the myriad environmental, social, and ethical harms relating to food has sought to increase the efficiency of agricultural outputs through scientific and technological innovation. Although technology certainly has some role to play in any vision of a sustainable future, technocratic approaches to problem solving are insufficient—and arguably inappropriate—for addressing many of the kinds of complex challenges that we face today. There are recent indications that both agri-food law and policy and innovation policy are being taken more seriously in Canada, which creates an opportunity to reflect more deliberately on their ends and means. This dissertation explores the topic of how laws, policies, and other tools of governance can work to better align technological innovations in the agri-food sector with shared environmental goals and ethical aspirations. Taking a critical legal perspective closely informed by feminist insights and the work of existing, analogous justice movements, I examine several interlinkages between technology, law, the environment, and society to evaluate some of the failings of existing approaches to food systems transformation and to offer a contribution to the conversation about alternative pathways. Given the context-specific nature of food systems and food systems governance, my focus is primarily on Canada, but the universal importance of food in a globalized world renders some comparative and transnational discussion unavoidable. I use case studies and discourse analysis to demonstrate that, when considered through a justice-oriented lens, several of the new and emerging technologies being championed in the agri-food sector may not be as beneficial as their proponents claim. Instead, they may serve to retrench injustice and cement existing, exploitative power structures, making them more difficult to challenge and change later down the line. Thus, if technologies are to serve public instead of private interests in the ways they are incentivized, designed, regulated, and used, we will need to see broad systemic and structural reforms informed by thoughtful shifts in our values and priorities, rather than merely reactive adjustments to our policies and practices. Though this undertaking will be difficult, it is not impossible; this dissertation offers one way to facilitate the process of seeding change for environmental sustainability and technological justice.

Trade Facilitation Indicators have become important mechanisms of monitoring the ease of trade. Another issue of rising concern is the pervasive debate on genetically engineered organisms and the development of Genetically Engineered Restrictive Index to evaluate its implications on trade. With regards to these, the objective of the United States Trade Representative is to eliminate implicit trade barriers. Hence, this study examines the impact of TFIs on U.S. agricultural export and its efficiency. From the results, a 1% increase in destination?s Genetically Engineered Restrictive Index leads to a US$ 9,426.82 and US$ 74,268.04 decline in corn and soybean exports while wheat experiences a US$ 26,204.05 increase. The ?I-State? paradox was also revealed from the efficiency rankings. This research recommends that GE labelling policies should be synchronized to match the requirements of the destination countries. Furthermore, information on GE foods must be transparent and disseminated to change destinations? negative perception.

Orientador: Reginaldo Carmello Corrêa de Moraes<br>Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T09:02:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martins_AlineReginaAlves_M.pdf: 1760602 bytes, checksum: 3f07652f2e5bc30bce7034d78ede205f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010<br>Resumo: Com a Revolução Científica e Tecnológica (1970), a informação e o conhecimento transformam-se em fontes de maior produtividade e de desenvolvimento socioeconômico. No mundo agrário, os Organismos Geneticamente Modificados, também denominados transgênicos, representam a conformação dessa nova dinâmica tecnológica internacional. Em uma economia diretamente enraizada na produção e uso de conhecimentos, este trabalho prima pela investigação da existência de uma monopolização das técnicas transgênicas por determinadas empresas e países restringindo as possibilidades de concorrência no setor de sementes geneticamente modificadas, o que prejudicaria países menos avançados em biotecnologia agrícola. Em que medida conhecimentos e tecnologias de ponta estão organizados em fluxos globais ou estão inseridos em uma estrutura assimétrica, estabelecendo uma divisão entre os países capazes de participar dos processos de geração de novas tecnologias agrícolas e aqueles que passivamente absorvem conhecimentos advindos do exterior? Como a polarização de conhecimentos e informações estratégicos acarretaria e perpetuaria desigualdades na economia global e quais são os mecanismos jurídicos e políticos que corroborariam essa concentração?<br>Abstract: In the Scientific-Technical Revolution (1970), information and knowledge are transformed in sources of higher productivity and socioeconomic development. In agriculture, the genetically modified organisms represent the conformation of that new international technological dynamic. In an economy directly rooted in the production and use of knowledge, this research primarily investigates the existence of a monopoly in the field of genetically modified seeds by certain companies and countries, which would undermine less advanced countries in agricultural biotechnology. To what extent are technology and information organized into global flows or in an asymmetric structure establishing a division between countries able to participate in the process of generating new agricultural technologies and those who passively absorb knowledge coming from outside? How the polarization of strategic knowledge and information would result and perpetuate inequalities in the global economy and what legal and political mechanisms support this concentration?<br>Mestrado<br>Política Externa<br>Mestre em Relações Internacionais

Yang, Fan.<br>Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-132).<br>Abstracts in English and Chinese.<br>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iii<br>ABSTRACT --- p.iv<br>TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.viii<br>LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii<br>LIST OF TABLES --- p.xv<br>LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS --- p.xvi<br>Chapter Chatper 1. --- General Introduction --- p.1<br>Chapter Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.5<br>Chapter 2.1 --- Facts on food allergy --- p.5<br>Chapter 2.1.1 --- Food allergy and its prevalence --- p.5<br>Chapter 2.1.2 --- Pathogenesis of food allergy --- p.6<br>Chapter 2.1.3 --- Clineal disorders caused and diagnosis of food allergy --- p.8<br>Chapter 2.2 --- Allergenicity assessment of genetically engineered food --- p.13<br>Chapter 2.2.1 --- The structural and sequence homology of proteins as a criterion for food allergenicity assessment --- p.14<br>Chapter 2.2.2 --- Digestion stability as a criterion for food allergenicity assessment --- p.15<br>Chapter 2.2.3 --- Animal models for Food Allergenicity Assessment --- p.21<br>Chapter 2.3 --- The importance of rice and its nutritional facts --- p.27<br>Chapter 2.3.1 --- The importance of rice --- p.27<br>Chapter 2.3.2 --- Rice nutritional facts and its relationship with malnutrition --- p.28<br>Chapter 2.4 --- Food allergenicity research in rice --- p.30<br>Chapter 2.5 --- Glutelin overexpression transgenic rice GT3 --- p.33<br>Chapter 2.6 --- Recent and future perspectives for treatment of food allergy --- p.36<br>Chapter Chapter 3. --- Materials and Methods --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.1 --- Rice Seed Protein Extraction --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.1.1 --- Rice varieties for protein extraction --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.1.2 --- Protein extraction from rice seeds --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.1.3 --- Fractionation of major rice seed storage proteins --- p.40<br>Chapter 3.1.4. --- Protein quantification --- p.41<br>Chapter 3.1.5 --- Tricine SDS-PAGE --- p.42<br>Chapter 3.2 --- Simulated Gastric Digestibility Assay --- p.43<br>Chapter 3.2.1 --- Assay System --- p.43<br>Chapter 3.2.2 --- Preparation of Simulated Gastric Fluid --- p.43<br>Chapter 3.2.3 --- Assay Procedures --- p.44<br>Chapter 3.2.4 --- Results Interpretation --- p.44<br>Chapter 3.3 --- Construction of Mouse Models --- p.45<br>Chapter 3.3.1 --- Mouse strain and reagents used --- p.45<br>Chapter 3.3.2 --- Mouse Model I --- p.46<br>Chapter 3.3.3 --- Mouse Model II --- p.50<br>Chapter 3.3.4 --- Mouse Model III --- p.51<br>Chapter 3.4 --- Bioinformatic Analysis of Glutelin Sequence --- p.52<br>Chapter 3.5 --- Epitope Mapping of Glutelin --- p.55<br>Chapter 3.5.1 --- Bioinformatic Analysis --- p.55<br>Chapter 3.5.2 --- Direct and Competitive ELISA --- p.56<br>Chapter 3.5.3 --- Western Blot Analysis --- p.57<br>Chapter 3.5.4 --- IgE-binding assay --- p.58<br>Chapter Chapter 4. --- Results and Discussion --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.1 --- Rice Seed Protein Extraction --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.1.1 --- Rice Protein Extraction --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.1.2 --- Extraction of rice major seed storage protein fractions --- p.62<br>Chapter 4.2 --- Simulated Gastric Digestibility Assay --- p.64<br>Chapter 4.2.1 --- Pepsin Digestibility of total protein from GT3 and WT rice seeds --- p.64<br>Chapter 4.2.2 --- Pepsin Digestibility of major storage protein fractions in GT3 and WT rice --- p.68<br>Chapter 4.2.3 --- Summary of Pepsin Digestibility Assay --- p.74<br>Chapter 4.3 --- Mouse Model I --- p.75<br>Chapter 4.3.1 --- Protein-specific IgE levels --- p.75<br>Chapter 4.3.2 --- Protein-specific IgG1 and IgG2a levels --- p.77<br>Chapter 4.3.3 --- Allergic Response Test --- p.79<br>Chapter 4.3.4 --- Summary from Mouse Model I --- p.81<br>Chapter 4.4 --- Mouse Model II --- p.83<br>Chapter 4.4.1 --- Proteins specific IgE levels --- p.84<br>Chapter 4.4.2 --- Proteins specific IgG1 and IgG2a levels --- p.85<br>Chapter 4.4.3 --- Allergic Response Test --- p.87<br>Chapter 4.4.4 --- Summary from Mouse Model II --- p.88<br>Chapter 4.5 --- Mouse Model III --- p.90<br>Chapter 4.5.1 --- Protein-specific IgE levels --- p.90<br>Chapter 4.5.2 --- Proteins specific IgG1 and IgG2a levels --- p.91<br>Chapter 4.5.3 --- Allergic Response Test --- p.93<br>Chapter 4.5.4 --- Summary from Mouse Model III --- p.93<br>Chapter 4.6 --- Potential allergenicity of rice glutelin by bioinformatics and epitope mapping --- p.94<br>Chapter 4.6.1 --- Bioinformatic analysis --- p.94<br>Chapter 4.6.2 --- ELISA analysis of synthesized epitopes --- p.97<br>Chapter 4.6.3 --- Western Blot Analysis --- p.99<br>Chapter 4.6.4 --- IgE-binding assay --- p.103<br>Chapter Chapter 5. --- Conclusion and Future Perspectives --- p.109<br>References --- p.111

How can we think of power in the form of a seed? This thesis will trace the discourse of "improvement" from its seventeenth century use by John Locke to justify the appropriation of Aboriginal lands in North America to the inter-locked languages of improvement and development in the twenty-first century in the context of genetically engineered food aid. This paper also explores the nature of sovereignty in a biopolitical age, arguing that the improvement discourse is operationalized on the ground through a diffuse power that trades on claims of improving the bios as whole. The paper concludes with a discussion of the food sovereignty movement as a possible practical and epistemological break for farmers in the Global North and South from the hegemony of this war by other means.

Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA), this thesis examines how risks and food security, in relation to Genetically Modified (GM) foods, are constructed within the media context. The project analyzes news articles that appeared in two Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, and two British newspapers, The London Times and the Guardian, during three particular time periods between 1997 and 2005. I evaluate whether or not the selected articles contribute to the public’s understanding of science, and how journalism constructs risk and uncertainty. I also evaluate the use of expert knowledge by journalists. Using the theory of Risk Society, as proposed by sociologist Ulrich Beck, the project explores the connections between political, social, and economic issues connected to globalization. This thesis concludes that journalism in both Canada and Britain does not appear to adequately inform their citizens on matters of food security and the risks of GMOs.

This research project examines the degree of transparency of the Canadian Federal Government’s decision-making processes and institutions with respect to the human consumption of animals produced through modern biotechnology (biotechnology-produced animals). It provides a timely study of the Federal Government’s decision-making process; as of January 2013 the government has yet to determine whether, and how, biotechnology-produced animals are to be approved for human consumption. Foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are already commercially widely available in Canada. Research is well underway to see if biotechnology-produced animals may also be developed and introduced into the food system. Government decisions regarding the human consumption of biotechnology-produced animals have the potential to revolutionize food systems globally and nationally. This thesis offers an analysis of primary and secondary data focusing on the degree of federal transparency with respect to regulating GMO foods generally and, more specifically, the emerging policy issues around biotechnology-produced animals. This exploration sets the stage for the following investigation of barriers as well as opportunities to fostering federal transparency with respect to policy and regulatory decisions regarding GMO foods. Findings are directed towards members of the communities of interest who are interested in questions relating to the degree of federal transparency and government approaches to foods that contain material produced through modern biotechnology.

This dissertation traces the historical transformation of the Canada-UK commodity chain for wheat-bread as a lens on processes of local and global change in agrofood relations. During the 1990s, the Canadian Wheat Board (Canada’s monopoly wheat seller) and Warburtons, a British bakery, pioneered an innovative identity-preserved sourcing relationship that ties contracted prairie farmers to consumers of premium bread in the UK. Emblematic of the increasing importance of quality claims, traceability, and private standards in the reorganization of agrifood supply chains, I argue that the changes of the 1990s cannot be understood outside of historical legacies giving shape to unique institutions for regulating agrofood relations on the Canadian prairies and in the UK food sector. I trace the rise, fall, and re-invention of the Canada-UK commodity chain across successive food regimes, examining the changing significance of wheat- bread, inter-state relations between Canada, the UK, and the US, and public and private forms of agrofood regulation over time. In particular, I focus on the way in which changing food regime relations transformed the CWB, understood as the nexus of institutions tying prairie farmers into global circuits of accumulation. When in the 1990s, the CWB and Warburtons responded to structural crises in their respective industries by re-inventing the Canada-UK wheat trade, the result was significant organizational and industry change. On the prairies, the CWB has shown how – contrary to expectations -- centralized marketing and quality control may help prairie farmers adapt to the demands of end-users in the emerging ‘economy of qualities’. In the UK, Warburtons has led the ‘premiumisation’ of the bread sector, traditionally defined by consumer taste for cheap bread, over the last 15 years. The significance of the shift towards quality chains in the wheat-bread sector is analyzed in light of conflicts over the proposed introduction of genetically engineered (GE) wheat to the Canadian prairies.

The study aims to identify the strategic considerations of genetically engineered foods on the micro-, market-, and macro-environment of business and to make recommendations to the biotechnology industry on how to strategically manage the issues surrounding genetically engineered foods. Plants and animals have been selectively bred for centuries to create hybrid strains containing favourable traits of both plants and animals. Plant biotechnology is an extension of this traditional plant breeding. Plant biotechnology allows for the transfer of a greater variety of genetic information in a more precise, controlled manner. Genetic engineering allows for the manipulation of gene(s) to include novel and new traits or even to exclude bad or unwanted traits. Genetic cloning, a sub-discipline of genetic engineering creates the ability to clone a single gene, many genes or even complete organisms and live forms to ensure crops or herds of superior value and quality. These evolutionary steps of genetic engineering have created many new skills and abilities that could possibly revolutionise the business environment at all the levels.<br>Prof. N. Lessing