GMO

More and more frequently, in politics and in science and technology, we no longer take decisions or there are no decisions to take. Nuclear energy, climate change, GMOs... all areas where we fail to take decisions and where sometimes they can no longer be taken.

Several types of non-decisions are presented in this small book. In some cases they are a way (often trivial) of actually taking a decision. In others they are the result of mechanisms in which new globalised technologies play an essential role and ensure their deployment at all levels of society.

The French Academy of Agriculture expresses its views here on genetically-modified plants through a dozen or so key scientific, agronomic, economic, legal and sociological questions that are being discussed in society, where the answers are neither simple nor obvious.

So-called "herbicide-tolerant" varieties of sunflower and oilseed rape have been introduced in France since 2009. Intended to make weedkilling easy, these varieties resist a given herbicide, meaning theoretically that the herbicide can be applied without risk to the crop. Cultivating such varieties has sparked social protest, resulting in herbicide-tolerant sunflower crops being denounced and pulled up as "hidden GMO". In this context, the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment have requested Inra and CNRS to report on available knowledge on all impacts of cultivating these varieties.

Faced with a growing world population, agriculture should increase its productivity whilst protecting the environment. Plant biotechnology has been part of our everyday life for more than forty years, and can be mobilised to produce more and better. How can new varieties be bred quickly? Are genetically modified plants virus-resistant? Could the plants be made more tolerant to excessive salt or cold? Why do certain plant biotechnologies, like transgenesis, meet with harsh reception? The authors are addressing here a sensitive news topic to meet the demand of citizens for more comprehensive information.

How can scientists participate in the controversies raised by certain technical developments? By injecting a literary sensitivity into this participation. This is what this work argues. Through illustrations like a poem by Henri Michaux or a statement by a GMO crop destruction campaigner, Yves Citton investigates how scientists can take part in public and civil debates and help to move away from the confrontation of disciplines, fields and opinions.

GMO, an impossible debate? The French Farmers' Union, the association Deba (Debates and Exchanges on Biotechnologies in Farming) and the Agrobiosciences Mission have taken up the challenge by organising a dialogue between several people with conflicting views.

Their arguments - biological, economic, philosophical, legal and political - will be of equal interest to simple citizens and to policymakers, researchers and students.

What is variety in plant breeding? How and why has a variety been created? The author answers these questions by presenting all the major breeding methods for variety creation and the most recent tools - doubled haploidy and molecular markers. This precise and didactic work is intended for students and professionals in the sector.

Having explained the heterosis phenomenon, the work then describes how it is used in plant breeding by creating hybrid varieties: benefits of these varieties, selection methods and economic aspects.

This book plots the history of joint transformations in genetics and society over the past 150 years. It is intended for anyone concerned for the future of seeds, food and biodiversity.

Specialists in the history of science and agriculture look at the interactions between scientific knowledge and technical innovation, leading us from the Institut des recherches agronomiques of 1921 to the INRA of 1946, and from Pasteur to GMOs.