Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Multimedia To Help Agricultural Producers Communicate With Consumers About Gmos, Stacey F. Stearns, Jennifer E. Cushman, Joseph A. Bonelli, Bonnie E. Burr

The Journal of Extension

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their uses are often misunderstood. Consumers are regularly unsure what GMOs are, or if they are safe for consumption and the environment. Contradictory and sometimes inaccurate information is available from numerous sources, and challenges consumers and others to separate the facts from sensationalized stories. Agricultural producers often communicate with consumers, neighbors, and members of the general public; however, they do not have information to share about GMOs. Multimedia resources can provide agricultural producers with science-based information to share with consumers. Agricultural communicators and Extension educators can create science-based multimedia resources to bridge the communication gap.

Rhetorics Of Species Revivalism And Biotechnology – A Roundtable Dialogue, Eva Kasprzycka, Charlotte Wrigley, Adam Searle, Richard Twine

Animal Studies Journal

This informal dialogue contextualises and explores contemporary practices of nonhuman animal gene-modification in de-extinction projects. Looking at recent developments in biotechnology’s role in de-extinction sciences and industries, these interdisciplinary scholars scrutinise the neoliberal impetus driving ‘species revivalism’ in the wake of the Capitalocene. Critical examinations of species integrity, cryo-preservation, techno-optimism, rewilding initiatives and projects aimed at restoring extinct animals such as the woolly mammoth and bucardo are used to map some of the necessary restructuring of conservation policies and enterprises that could secure viably sustainable – and just – futures for nonhuman animals at risk of extinction. The authors question …

Application And Review Of Biotechnology In Promoting Protective Utilization Of Black Soil, Xianwei Song, Baocai Zhang, Yang Bai, Duofeng Pan, Xiangdong Deng, Hongsheng Wang, Bo Sun, Xiaofeng Cao

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

In the past 60 years, the highly-intensive and unreasonable farming of the black soil in Northeast China has brought a series of adverse consequences such as the reduction of organic matter, the serious imbalance of carbon and nitrogen, and the instability of microbiota, which seriously threaten China's food security and agricultural sustainable development. The decrease of organic matter content in black soil is the core issue in the degradation of black soil. Organisms are the source of all organic matter, and the dynamic balance of organic matter driven by organisms is the basis for maintaining the stability of farmland ecosystem …

China’S Strategies For Governance Of Biotechnological Changes And New Ethical Challenges, Yaojin Peng, Zhou Qi

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Biotechnology is changing greatly over recent years, providing huge benefits to human society. However, the ethics, safety, and negative externalities of biotechnology have become increasingly prominent. Currently, biotechnology is still in the early stage of development, and full of high uncertainty. Technological changes in this field have the characteristics of stronger subversiveness, complexity, and social relevance. The world is facing a process of great development of biotechnology, new outbreaks of ethical challenges, and ethical governance reforms. China should take this opportunity to promote the high-quality development of biotechnology on the one hand, and on the other hand, adopt a multi-pronged …

Cultural Challenges Of Bluebird Bio Expansion Into Germany, Igor Ban

Journal of Global Awareness

BlueBird Bio is a biotechnology multinational corporation (MNC), with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in gene therapy solutions for autoimmune diseases and cancer. The company was recently approved, in Germany, for their new drug Zynteglo for the treatment of betta thalassemia. This approval opened the door for further investment in the European market, starting with the contracting of Apceth Biopharma and purchases of new land and equipment to establish a permanent residence in the country. The opening of the new European headquarters will demonstrate new challenges for BlueBird Bio, as cultural and institutional differences between the host country and parent …

Blue Biotechnology, Renewable Energy, Unconventional Resources And Products As Emerging Frontiers At Sea, Sheikh Aftab Uddin, Mohammad Mahmudul Islam

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Blue biotechnology, renewable energy and unconventional marine living resources are considered as emerging frontiers for enhancing ocean-based blue economy in Bangladesh. Blue biotechnology can help both fisheries and aquaculture industry by producing fish varieties that can become quicker, more beneficial, and greater with tastier flesh, by developing gene transfer technology to be used to develop the growth of fish or by using of monoclonal antibodies and DNA probes to new diagnostic strategies for pathogens. Transformation of marine bioresources (main, co-product and by-products) into food, medicine, animal feed and related bio-based items i.e. cosmetics, nutritional supplements, enzymes, agrichemicals etc could help …

Piloting Participatory Arts-Based Methods For Exploring Indonesians’ Experiences In A U.S. Biotechnology Training Program, Jamie Loizzo, Richard E. Goodman, Mary Garbacz

Journal of Applied Communications

Science communication faculty and professionals often train scientists about conveying and delivering critical and sometimes controversial scientific information to public audiences. This qualitative case study was situated in a U.S.-based biotechnology training program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture for connecting Indonesian science fellows with university biotechnology scientists and science communication experts. The researchers piloted a participatory arts-based approach for instructing and researching Indonesian scientists’, professionals’, and educators’ learning and experiences in the program. Participatory and arts-based research has the potential to uncover and bring to light participants’ perceptions. Participants used iPad multimedia kits to demonstrate their learning …

Bloodlines – Mammalian Motherhood, Biotechnologies And Other Entanglements, Lynn Mowson

Animal Studies Journal

This paper outlines my current sculptural research project bloodlines focusing on the ways in which dairy cows are entangled with multiple biotechnologies and the wider environment. bloodlines brings extant works such as fleshlumps, boobscape and slink, together with new works, to represent the dairy industry, the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and the biotech innovations of in-vitro meat and bio-fabricated leather. These works are linked together by a web of interconnected fluids: excreta, milk and blood. In this new work, I hope to make the links between the dairy industry and these extended concerns both visceral and visible.

Using Technology To Serve The Agricultural Community In The Western Cape Province Of South Africa, Pavarni Naidoo, Lise Sandenbergh, Maud Bonato, Johann Strauss, Mike Wallace, Andre Roux, Shaheed Martin, Ilse Trautmann, Schalk Cloete

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture has a team of agricultural experts using novel approaches to address the challenges faced by South African agriculture. The objective of this paper is to describe some of the innovative research and technologies, and methods of technology transfer, used to better serve the agricultural community. The spectrum of technologies implemented includes new research on breeding (biotechnology); new approaches to conservation agriculture; remote sensing satellite and spatial information for improved decision making, such as the spatial intelligence project and FruitLook; Agricultural Integrated Management System; and technology to manage and disseminate information, such as smart …

An Examination Of Entrepreneurial Orientation In Dedicated Biotechnology Firms: Context Matters, Dorothy Mary Kirkman, Dt Ogilvie

Organization Management Journal

The goal of this article is to explore under what contexts do biotechnology firms exhibit an entrepreneurial orientation? To achieve this goal, we assess entrepreneurial orientation as a configuration and individual dimension across three contexts: organizational structure, location, and age. Analyses of survey data from U.S. biotechnology firms indicate that ownership structure was the only contextual factor to yield differences in biotechnology firms’ entrepreneurial orientation when assessed as a configuration. However, the analysis identified differences at the multidimensional level within all three contexts. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are provided.

Biotechnology And The Law: A Consideration Of Intellectual Property Rights And Related Social Issues, Michael D. Mehta

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Recent advances in biotechnology are expected by many to improve crop yield, reduce reliance on agricultural inputs like pesticides and herbicides, alleviate world hunger, improve the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, assist in the discovery of genes that trigger diseases like cancer, and make more efficient our legal institutions through DNA testing. Clearly, innovations in biotechnology are a powerful force for social change, and they pose unique challenges and opportunities for legal scholars and institutions. This section of the Pierce Law Review focuses on the interface between law and technology by examining how innovations in biotechnology accelerate debates about …

Food For Thought On Cognitive Scripts And Genetically Engineered Food, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies some of the common thought sequences seemingly harbored by members of the sociopolitical opposition to the production and sale of genetically engineered food.

Biological Pesticides: Biotechnology's Answer To Silent Spring, Donald H. Dean

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

In the 25 years since the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring the public has come to realize the environmental impact of heavy use of chemical pesticides. To add insult to injury, many insects, including the disease vector, the mosquito, are now virtually resistant to standard chemical pesticides. Biotechnology is now providing a positive response to these dilemmas through the production and development of improved forms of microbial pest control agents: biological pesticides. Biological pesticides are pathogens, or predators, of insects such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and predatory insects or vertebrates such as mosquito fish which reduce the population …

Public Policy On The Introduction Of Genetically Engineered Microorganisms, Anne K. Vidaver

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

This presentation raises questions of research needs and issues. Underlying assumptions are that only beneficial or useful microorganisms will be "released"; that extensive laboratory and contained experiments will have been done prior to introduction and live microorganisms can be confined within the areas of introduction. Evidence to support these assertions will be presented. Critical needs for progress in this area include: 1) Recognition that the nature of the product introduced into the environment is of primary significance, not how the organism was genetically altered or modified. 2) Recognition that microorganisms are introduced into the environment as part of our daily …

Release And Behavior Of Recombinant Bacteria In Field Studies, Steven E. Lindow

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Numerous opportunities exist for the utilization of genetically engineered microorganisms for useful purposes in agriculture and in waste management. An extremely diverse array of microorganisms is likely to be considered for such processes as biological control of plant pests, degradation of to toxic wastes, reclamation of rare metals and other processes. For some purposes, such as in the degradation of toxic materials, it may be possible to make biologically compromised microorganisms that will exist only in the presence of the toxic chemicals that they were designed to transform. A better understanding of the genetics, biology and physiology of microorgansims which …

Biotechnology: A Dilemma For Land-Grant Institutions, A. David Kline

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

There is at least a prima facie moral tension between universities asserting land-grant principles and simultaneously sponsoring biotechnology. The core of the problem is the likely deleterious economic effects of biotechnology on rural communities -- the very constituency whose welfare is supposedly promoted by land-grant institutions. Considered are a number of responses to this tension including efforts to show that the tension is only apparent or that it can be eliminated through various public policies. It is argued that these "solutions" fail.

The upshot is that if the land-grant label is to be taken seriously, those institutions should begin allocating …

Economic Changes From The Use Of Biotechnology In Production Agriculture, Loren W. Tauer

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The potential economic impact of biotechnology in production agriculture is discussed. There are challenges and difficulties in completing economic research when little production information is available on biotechnologies. I argue that little impact differences exist between cost-reducing versus output-increasing technological change. Rapid technological change results in low average returns in agriculture but continuous early innovators earn higher returns. Various plant and animal technologies are presented and discussed.