Biotechnology and the Consumer

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Consumers and Biotechnology: A Synopsis of Survey and Focus Group Research

   • Heather Sheehy

   Pages 1-28

3. Consumers’ Decision-Making and Risk Perceptions Regarding Foods Produced with Biotechnology

   • Jennifer B. Wohl

   Pages 29-46

4. The Market for Credible Information in Biotechnology

   • Edna F. Einsiedel

   Pages 47-86

5. An Overview of Public Consultation Mechanisms Developed to Address the Ethical and Social Issues Raised by Biotechnology

   • Thérèse Leroux, Marie Hirtle, Louis-Nicolas Fortin

   Pages 87-123

6. The Commercialization of Human Genetics: A Discussion of Issues Relevant to the Canadian Consumer

   • Timothy Caulfield

   Pages 125-168

7. International Comparisons of Biotechnology Policies

   • Zhiqi Chen, Alison McDermott

   Pages 169-192

8. An Information-Based Approach to Labeling Biotechnology Consumer Products

   • Gillian K. Hadfield, David Thomson

   Pages 193-220

9. Economic Perspectives on the Dissemination of Science-Based Information to Consumers

   • Alan D. Mathios

   Pages 221-255

10. Using Advertising to Generate Information and Signals for Product Quality: Lessons for Biotechnology Markets in Canada from Pharmaceutical Markets in the United States

    • Andrew N. Kleit

    Pages 257-275

11. Biotechnology and the Media

    • Stephen Strauss

    Pages 277-308

12. The Federal Biotechnology Regulatory System: A Commentary on an Institutional Work in Progress

    • G. Bruce Doern, Heather Sheehy

    Pages 309-344

13. The Industrial Economics of Biotechnology

    • Christopher Green

    Pages 345-376

14. Biotechnological Innovation and Industrial Performance

    • Claude Crampes, Abraham Hollander

    Pages 377-409

15. Consumer Controversy and the Funding of Biotechnology Research

    • Jeffrey G. Macintosh, Douglas J. Cumming

    Pages 411-456

16. Appendix A: Integration Document Biotechnology, the Consumer, and the Canadian Marketplace

    • Marc Legault, Alison McDermott

    Pages 457-498

17. Appendix B: Rapporteur’s Remarks Symposium on Biotechnology and the

    • Bryne Purchase

    Pages 499-509

Biotechnology is a rapidly developing sector of the economy for coun­ tries throughout the world. This rapid development has led to heated debate over its risks and benefits. Advocates of biotechnology point to the potential benefits offered by products that promise to elimi­ nate disease, provide for more efficient diagnostic techniques, treatments and drugs, yield increased food production, and so forth. Others fear that the rapid developments of this technology have occurred without appropriate consideration having been given to the ethical ramifications, the potential health risks and long-term envi­ ronmental impacts, implications for income distribution, and potential for abuse. Consumers and producers share concern for the future of biotechnology: the realities and even the perceptions, informed or otherwise. This book is the outcome of a research project on Biotechnology and the Consumer sponsored by the Office of Consumer Affairs of Industry Canada. The project was designed to foster informed public policy on biotechnology and in particular, to contribute to and inform the Canadian government's development of a Canadian Biotechnology Strategy. The Office funded a group of authors to prepare a series of analytical papers on a range of consumer and informational issues related to biotechnology. This project also involved an interim workshop in which the authors presented their papers, and culmi­ nated in a symposium on Biotechnology and the Consumer Interest, held on September 24-25, 1997, in Ottawa, Canada.

• biotechnology
• development
• environment
• innovation
• pharmaceutical
• technological innovation
• technology policy
• welfare

Policies and ethics