The Science and Law of Biotechnology Policy

Location: Tang Teaching Museum: and Art Gallery exhibit

Date: 10/09/2012

Time: 7:00 PM

Description:
The biotech era began with the 1972-73 discovery of the Cohen-Boyer genetic manipulation methodology, progressing rapidly to the first biotech crops in 1996 and to the vast majority of U.S. corn, soybeans and cotton today being biotech. The talk will explore why farmers like biotech crops (but not Monsanto) and what policy innovations in patent law (beginning with the 1980 Chakrabarty decision allowing patents for living organisms) and food/environmental safety regulations (regulate the product, not the process) made this transformation possible.

If California passes a mandatory food labeling referendum (Prop 37), will consumption decline, as has happened previously, even in the face of no scientific evidence of health effects? The talk will end with a discussion of another ongoing controversy: should human genes be patentable?

Professor Lesser worked on the application of intellectual property rights for the implementation of the Rio Biodiversity Convention at the International Academy of the Environment in Geneva, Switzerland, and he was the acting executive director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), which is responsible for transferring new agricultural technologies to developing countries. He has advised the governments of Brazil, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, among others, on intellectual property matters and, in 2000, established the Cornell-in-India Agribusiness Executive Management Program.

His other research interests include food distribution efficiency, technology transfer, and livestock marketing.

Tags: art biotechnology law policy science tang