Managing Risks Related to Modern Biotechnologies and their Foods

The Research Group on Health and Law, in collaboration with the McGill School of Environment, is organising a seminar with Ludivine Petetin, Faculty of Law, University of Hull, United Kingdom.

The event is free, and a light lunch will be served, but REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY. Spaces are limited. Kindly RSVP to rghl [dot] law [at] mcgill [dot] ca. 

Abstract

The development of modern biotechnologies (including genetic modification of plants and animals, and animal cloning) and their resulting foods has been controversial. They allegedly are underpinned by scientific uncertainty. To regulate such technologies and to ensure information and safety, the European Union has adopted a precautionary approach. More specifically, the EU regulatory frameworks rely on premarket authorization and mandatory labelling. An analysis of the policy and regulatory provisions addressing modern biotechnologies and their derived products in the EU shows that gaps in the law and asymmetric relationships between competing European and national policies pose great risks to the EU food system and the environment.

The speaker

Dr. Ludivine Petetin is an Assistant Professor at the School of Law of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. Her research focuses on the policy, law and regulation of food, agriculture and environmental protection. In particular, she is interested in food security, agri-technology, sustainable agriculture, and investigates public participation and governance issues. She is a co-founder of the recently established @FEED (Agriculture, Technology, Food, Environment, Energy and Democracy) Research Centre at the University of Hull. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Visiting Lecturer at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy). Dr. Petetin holds postgraduate degrees from Paris II Panthéon-Assas in France, the University of Glasgow and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. From September 2015, she serves as the British Deputy National Delegate of the European Council for Agricultural Law (CEDR).

This seminar is accredited by a recognized provider for 1.5 hours of continuing legal education (Quebec Bar).