Food and agriculture

Consumer choice in food and agricultural products

As everybody is a consumer of food or agricultural products, discussions involving these issues should take ethical principles into consideration. These principles may include: informed consent, individual rights and freedom of choice. At a deeper level, every discussion on food and agriculture must touch upon the distribution of decision-making power between governments, the corporations who manufacture and sell GM foods, and the consumers i.e. us.

Choose information from the suggested sites. You may choose to print out the information you want the students to discuss.

This worksheet can be used not only to discuss decision-making in agriculture and GM foods, but also the broader issue of citizenship in decision-making. You can discuss whether we as citizens not have not only the right, but also the responsibility, to be involved in making decisions that affect our society. Is there any excuse or reason for not being involved if these decisions impact on us?

There are processes in place, at least in government, for community consultation. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the National Health and Medical Research Council all hold consultations before they make decisions that will impact on the community. OGTR and FSANZ's processes of community consultation can involve:

• the release of draft forms of proposed regulations or releases
• a call for written submissions during public comment periods
• community and stakeholder consultation meetings.

One difficulty with these consultations, however, is that they tend to involve people who are already interested in the issues being discussed and thus the consultation risks becoming skewed. A good example of this is the UK's GM Nation? debate that was held in 2003. Its evaluation found that it was a flawed process for a number of reasons, not least because it mostly involved those already engaged in the debate, on both sides.

Other consultation methods and processes are used around the world and for different purposes. Denmark, for example, has community consultation built into its legislative processes, but they still find that there is a lack of interest and involvement of everyday people.

This shows that even though the opportunity is given to the populace, it is no guarantee that everyone will be involved. You can discuss with your class why they think this might be the case. Context for discussion could include general societal disengagement, decreasing levels of trust in government transparency, and increasing societal individualism. How do they think you might be able to engage the disengaged?

Another direction you could take discussion is the types of consultations that can be used. There are strong differences between debates and dialogue processes. By its very nature, debate is more argumentative and polarising. Does your class think this has any role to play in a situation where people do not all agree? Dialogue processes are designed to be two-way and seek understanding between opposing points of view. Dialogue is currently very much on the agenda for communications professionals, but most are unsure of how to achieve it. Your class could discuss how to achieve true dialogue with someone they are unlikely to agree with.

Utopia 2050?

The following points may be used to lead discussion in the hypothetical situations raised on the student worksheet.

1. Living to 150

• Are we moving towards this scenario already?
• If the technology to assist somebody to live to 150 years of age was available to some, should it be limited to those with genetic diseases, rather than lifestyle diseases, like obesity and heart disease from a bad diet?
• Would it be worth living to 150 if you didn't have a good quality of life?
• Would you agree to animal organ transplants if they contributed to lengthening your life?
• Would you agree to mechanical organs such as a plastic heart?
• How many artificial components, such as legs, arms, nose, ears, face, heart, lungs, brain, would it take before a person was no longer human?
• What defines as a human? Our brain? Or body? Or both?

2. A woman's world

• What might life be like in an all-women world? What would be the positive aspects? What would be the negative aspects?
• What might happen if there were only a few remaining men and they were kept as slaves to a few powerful women?
• Are men more violent than women? Why?
• Would men accept this type of society? If not, what might that lead to?
• What if men were able to remain boys, but had to undergo a sex change operation at 13 years old? What impact might that have?
• What traits do you think are predominantly male or female? Is this something we are born with, or are conditioned to?

3. Plants rule

• What are the benefits of growing all our food from plants and not eating animals?
• What would happen if the new plants were attacked by a new disease that was unknown previously?
• What would happen to the insects that fed on the plants that are no longer grown?
• Do we know enough about the complexity of the ecosystem to make such large changes to it?
• What might happen to the workers who have lost their jobs in mining and manufacturing?
• Are we heading in this direction already?

4. A new elite

• Would this limit or strengthen the human gene pool?
• Who would choose which genes were superior and which ones weren't?
• What do you think are positive and negative genetic traits?
• Do you think that all people in different societies might agree with you?
• How would you feel if you were told that blue eyes were superior to brown ones, if you have brown eyes?

5. A servant in every house

• What rights would a dumbat have? Who would decide that?
• If a dumbat fell sick, would you take it to the vet or to a doctor?
• Would the dumbat be able to reproduce, or might it be better if it was not able to? Why?
• What amount of human genes and features might be added to a dumbat before it was considered human? Should this be decided on appearance, or genetic make-up, or intelligence, or something else?
• Might dumbats want to be more human?
• What might happen if a human fell in love with a dumbat and wanted to marry one?
• What is the role of animals now in helping people who are sick or infirmed?
• Why do humans seek to rid themselves of tasks that they see as boring or dull, and what do they do with that extra time they gain? Is it used to good effect?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of a dumbat over a robot?

Overall discussion points

In the early 1800s, Australia was a society that was divided into several classes of people:

• an upper class who possessed much of the wealth and the technology, and were felt to be superior by merit of good breeding
• women, who had few rights, and were treated as subservient to men
• free settlers or former convicts, who had little wealth and limited access to technology
• convicts, who had few rights, no access to wealth and were provided as cheap labour to the government and upper class
• Indigenous Australians, who were often dispossessed of their land and their rights.

What similarities do the hypothetical situations of 2050 have with those elements of Australia in the 1800s? What social developments and technological developments have enabled changes to Australian society since then?

Do you think that changes in society influence the development and adoption of new technologies, or do new technologies influence changes in society? Do both influence each other? Can you think of examples? (e.g. mobile phones, internet banking)

How gene technology is carried out

See notes under What is Biotechnology?

What people know about GM foods

Students use internet-based information as the starting point for developing (individually or in pairs) a questionnaire to explore people's knowledge about and attitudes to GM foods. After surveying 10-20 people, students collate group or class results, discuss them and report on the activity as a whole, including their interpretation of the most common attitudes to GM canola.

Discuss ground rules for carrying out surveys before students venture out. For example, the critical importance of courtesy and of accepting opinions different from their own, and the fact that people have a choice about participating.

The worksheet calls for comparison with larger-scale data from Biotechnology Australia's national surveys over a number of years. You will be able to discuss why there might be different results between the student surveys and the professional ones. Biotechnology Australia's surveys were conducted every two years from 1999 to 2007 and began and ended with focus groups, with a phone poll of 1000 people across Australia in between.

Your students should consider why it is important not to ask only the same sorts of people their questions, and to consider how survey results can be used. Some groups will look at a statistic and view it differently to others - and this is often the disagreement that is reported in the media. This is a common phenomenon across all surveys, not just in biotechnology.

This worksheet also examines the ability of a question to change the kind of answer you will receive. Phrasing is extremely important when doing a survey and can skew results. The knowledge level of the survey participant can also impact on the answer you will receive, particularly when considering a complex area such as biotechnology.

People do not agree about genetic modification of crops

Genetically modified foods and crops are contentious areas of biotechnology and many people have very strong views about whether it is a good or bad thing. This activity encourages students to look at some of the issues, and aims to help them clarify their own values and opinions.

Students work in groups, with each individual reading one resource article (internet references are provided) and summarising it for the rest of the group. After discussion, a debate can be organised on one of the suggested topics or another chosen by the class. If you have already completed the Consumer choice in food and agricultural products worksheet, you can discuss whether a debate is a helpful strategy to discuss these issues, or whether another method might be more successful.

All of the materials in the Food and agriculture section of Biotechnology Online include potentially relevant background information on situations in which biotechnology is being applied or considered in agriculture, and on some of the issues that arise.

Ask the experts

See section under What is biotechnology?

Growing GM crops in Australia

This worksheet assumes that a university has developed a new type of wheat and is now trying to work out whether it will be acceptable by a wide range of people.

Each group of students adopts a role and students within the group share the task of reading (from internet-based resources) about arguments for and against the adoption, growing and use of this crop. They use this to develop their group's character's position on farming this GM crop in Australia. New groups are then formed, each containing at least one student from each initial group, to present and discuss the arguments. Students then work individually or in pairs to develop their own opinion about GM crop farming in the future.

There are several different roles suggested as each of these groups will have differing points of view and it is important to consider as many of these as possible when looking at whether to grow a crop such as this new GM wheat.

As with any role play activity, debriefing afterwards is important to ensure that students have an opportunity to put their own views, and that other students do not assume that views put while in a role are those of the student taking the role.

A problem with weeds

This work sheet looks broadly at the issue of weeds in Australia's canola crops, the physical and economic scale of the problem and how farmers currently control them. No mention is made of GM canola (it is currently licensed to be grown commercially in Australia, but most states have a moratorium on its being grown).

Students are asked to develop a visually based presentation to summarise their findings.

Looking at media views - GM foods

In this activity, students work in groups and individually to analyse four 'newspaper stories' about GM foods to come to a personal conclusion about the answer to the question 'Would I eat GM foods?' This activity also encourages students to distinguish between facts and opinions. Students work in groups to analyse the articles and then set out their personal conclusion in the form of a press release.

Follow-up work involves reading a press article or watching a TV report about GM food and writing a report on it, including an analysis of any bias or vested interest from the reporter or commentators.

A problem with insects

This is an internet-based research activity in which students explore the impact of insects on crops by looking at the extent of insect damage and common ways of controlling insects in Australian cotton crops. They develop a visually based presentation to summarise their findings.

Through their research, students will find that cotton that has been genetically modified to produce an insecticide is being grown in Australia. This sheet very deliberately moves outside just looking at the crops being grown, and also suggests looking at social and health impacts in communties.

Butterflies and Bt

After reading one or more articles from the internet sites provided, students are asked to decide whether they think there is a possibility of monarch butterflies being killed by pollen from GM corn plants. They work in a group to summarise and share the ideas in the various articles, and then write a short letter to set out their own position.

Relevant sections in Biotechnology Online include:
Insect resistant cotton (and the linked pages)

Getting the right stamp

In this activity, students are asked to consider a problem in which they have developed a new GM food crop: a type of cocoa that is resistant to the cocoa weevil. They are also involved in producing a new food that is made from chocolate (using the GM cocoa), ground peanuts, honey and soy milk powder imported from the USA. They are asked to work out the process required for the crop and the food to be approved so that production can start.

Students use internet-based resources to investigate the approval processes required for GM crops and foods through the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and Food Standards Australia New Zealand. After finding out the likely steps in the process of getting approval for a hypothetical new food, they prepare a flow chart to describe this process.

Organic farming

Students are asked to answer the question 'Why bother saving organic farming?' using the arguments presented in a letter as a starting point. Individually, they prepare a summary of the writer's arguments and assumptions, and then work in small groups to discuss their summaries and related issues.

A comparison of this letter with the one in 'Why bother saving the bilby?' leads to potentially wide-ranging discussion on various possible uses of biotechnology. Students are asked to summarise their views by replying to the letter in the worksheet.

The worksheet provides internet references where students will find definitions of organic farming.