*** Futuribles. Futuribles Sarl (47 rue de Babylone, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53633770 - Fax: 42226554 - email: revue@futuribles.com - Internet: http://www.futuribles.com ). March 2012, No. 383, 192 pp, €19. Annual subscription: €115 (France), €120 (elsewhere). ISBN 978-2-84387-396-6.
This issue of a monthly review founded by Hugues de Jouvenel in 1974 to examine big issues of the day and possible future scenarios is quite simply remarkable because it makes an in-depth examination of the pros and cons of one of the greatest controversies of the present day, namely genetically modified organisms (GMOs), more specifically genetically modified plants and meat likely to be found in human food. This is a highly divisive matter. In Europe, unlike in the United States, it is more divisive in society at large than in the scientific community. The review demonstrates this, with articles by scientists from both sides of the divide, explains Hugues de Jouvenel in the editorial, including 'those who base their hopes on the progress of science and technology, and those who, on the other hand, are concerned that researchers are playing the sorcerer's apprentice leading us to catastrophe.' A highly understandable comparison of each side's arguments will help readers forge their own views based on reliable facts rather than myth. This applies in particular to the special report giving an educational expose of what GMOs are, the state of GMO research, affected industries, risks (alleged risks) for the environment and human and animal health issues raised by the sheer concentration of research into a small handful of companies.
After setting the backdrop, the first to speak are scientists who believe that biotechnology is the future of mankind, like former political analyst at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) David B. Sawaya, who writes that leading up to 2030, or even 2015 for the most highly cultivated species, there will be very few commercially grown plants that have not been subject to biotechnological manipulation. A member of the French Technologies Academy, Pierre Feillet agrees, predicting that biologists will continue to improve and diversify the genetic heritage of GMOs in order to improve humanity's nutrition in the long-term and win over people, like the French, who do not like the idea. In the same spirit, biologists Marcel Kuntz (CNRS) and Agnès Ricroch (AgroParisTech and CNRS) say that genetic modification is vital to deal with the agricultural and food challenges of tomorrow, not to mention the fact that it will also be valuable in industry (agrifuel) and pharmaceuticals. On the other side of the coin, other equally respected scientists, explains the editor, are far more cautious about the alleged benefits of GMOs. People like biologist Jacques Testart and agronomist Frédéric Prat, who call for huge caution when modifying living matter. Arguing that the cart of innovation has been placed before the horse of knowledge, they warn that when modifying genes and encouraging genetic modifications without controlling the risks of dissemination and the crossing of species boundaries (whether of plants or of animals), scientists are playing the sorcerer's apprentice, hiding behind often pseudo scientific arguments that could well prove, in the long-run, not to be in the direction of progress. Researcher at the French 'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique,' Pierre-Benoît Joly looks at the new turn taken with private, globalised, molecular innovation encouraged by the newly endowed ability to patent living material and by the subsequent emergence of biotech oligopolies, of which Monsanto is the perfect example. He says this has caused a crisis of legitimacy because Monsanto has encouraged big companies to enter politics in order to force through their views of the world and assert themselves as key players in the field of sustainable development of agriculture.
Another essay will be of particular interest to the readers of European Library. In it, Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, General Inspector of Agriculture and member of the 'Académie Française des Technologies,' explores the causes of the transatlantic divorce when it comes to how people view GMOs and their use. The wide European concern about GMOs is explained, in his view, by the food crises that hit the European Union in the 1990s, from mad cow disease to the detection of large quantities of dioxin in meat, via the contamination of dairy products by listeria, which turned the myth of 'zero risk' on its head by destroying the people's confidence in the reliability of modern food systems and the ability of public authorities to both correctly determine risks and properly monitor the various operators. Which brings us to Hughes de Jouvenel's comment that the main question is a debate among scientists themselves and also a debate between the holders of expert knowledge and proponents of common sense. It amounts, he says to the problem of scientific options and the use of science itself, both of which, of course, are a question of philosophy and ethics.
Michel Theys
*** ALBERT LEDENT, PHILIPPE BURNY: La politique agricole commune des origines au 3ème millénaire. Les presses agronomiques de Gembloux (2, passage des Déportés, B-5030 Gembloux. Tel/Fax: (32-81) 622242 - email: pressesagro@sagx.ac.be - Internet: http://www.pressesagro.be ). 2002, 600 pp, €33. ISBN 2-87016-066-6.
Some readers of the European Library might be justifiably surprised so see it reviewing a book published twelve years ago, but the book was not chosen by accident. It was selected for two reasons. Firstly, because there are very few books describing the Common Agricultural Policy is such an exhaustive, comprehensive and precise manner. Secondly, because a new issue of the book, updated to cover recent changes and the new arrangements currently being prepared, is expected to be published this year, if all goes to plan. In the initial version, Albert Ledent, honorary rector of the Farm Science Faculty, and one of his former students, looks at changes to the Common Agricultural Policy as part of Agenda 2000, changes rendered necessary by excessively high prices, a bad public image, the negative impact on the prospect for new multilateral trade talks at the World Trade Organisation and enlargement of the EU to include central and East European countries. There have, of course, been many other changes since then, hence the utility of the authors updating the book to provide an up-to-date image of the first of the EU's common policies, explaining the various regulations (sector by sector) since the very start of the CAP and outlining both successes and failures.
(MT)
*** BRITTA AMMERMÜLLER: Assessing Cost Recovery. A New Comparative Framework in Line with WFD Article 9. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). Kommunalwirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis series, No. 21. 2011, 376 pp, €60-60. ISBN 978-3-631-61371-9.
Water is not a typical commercial product, but rather, as the European Commission has stated, 'a heritage which must be protected and defended.' Following on from a doctoral thesis for Leipzig University, this book scientifically examines whether the EU framework-directive on water dated 23 October 2000 has managed to reconcile economic issues and environmental concerns without distorting or adulterating the latter. Article 9 of the water directive 'demands that account be taken of the principle of cost recovery for water services, including environmental and resource costs, and for an adequate contribution of water uses (disaggregated into at least industry, household and agriculture) to this cost recovery, according to the polluter pays principle.' Britta Ammermüller verifies this on a comparative basis, moving beyond the various methodologies (which differ from one Member State to another), developing a framework to examine whether the various cost recovery systems fully respect Article 9 of the water directive. She uses case studies on household water consumption in the German regions of Emscher and Berlin, along with water usage on farms in Emilia Romagna in Italy.
(PBo)
*** PIERRE RADANNE (Ed.): Un avenir durable pour les transports - Now! Editions Etopia (Centre d'animation et de recherche en écologie politique, Espace Kegeljan, 52 av. de Marlagne, B-5000 Namur. Tel: (32-81) 225848 - Fax: 231847 - email: info@etopia.be - Internet: http://www.etopia.be ). "Etopia - Revue d'écologie politique" series, Special issue. 2011, 157 pp. ISBN 978-2-930558-05-9.
In order to provide a constructively critical contribution to the debate surrounding the recent European Commission White Paper on the Future of Transport in Europe, the Green and Free European Alliance parties at the European Parliament commissioned Pierre Radanne, an expert in the field of climate change, to lead a small team of researchers to examine the question in detail. In the report that comprises the bulk of this work, the aims of the previous Transport White Papers are analysed, along with future challenges, like the fuel price rises, which are aggravating the economic crisis, social changes, the need to tackle climate change (before describing the targets that will ensure a truly sustainable transport policy that will reduce EU emissions by 75%, along with differentiated polices for goods and passenger transport) and tools that can be used to this end. Political conclusions are drawn by Isabelle Durant, European Parliament vice-president and member of the EP Transport Committee, who regrets that in the recent White Paper, the Commission did not introduce any initiatives to ensure that the promising ideas set out in a European Commission report of June 2009 are put into practice. She comments that the Barroso Commission implicitly admits that it barely believes in the possibility of in introducing the polluter-pays idea any time soon and basically plans to deal with road, motorway and airport congestion by building new roads, motorways and airports. Isabelle Durant urges the Commission to stop considering competition as the be-all and end-all across the entire domain of transport. The English version of this report can be found online on the Green European Foundation website (http://www.gef.eu/publication/news/a-sustainable-future-for-transport-now ).
(MT)
*** GERARD VOISIN: La libéralisation du transport ferroviaire en Europe: une nécessaire mais complexe régulation. Commission des Affaires européennes de l'Assemblée nationale (Boutique de l'Assemblée nationale, 7 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40630033 - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapports d'information" series, No. 3204. 2011, 207 pp, €6-50. ISBN 978-2-11-132360-5.
A transport specialist, French parliamentarian Gérard Voisin, looks in this newsletter at the opening up of the European Union rail system to competition through three batches of EU legislation since 2001. The Commission says that the practical application of these laws is unsatisfactory, but the author explains that the problems encountered by countries in this domain, unlike aviation, road or sea transport, include a physical limit on capacity. The way he sees it, it is too soon to measure the positive outcome of opening up to competition, which will have little impact on high-speed travel but might, if the social question is harmoniously settled, have a significant impact on regional transport. He points out that unlike the situation in Germany, liberalisation of rail freight has failed in France.
(MT)
*** PHILIPPE HAMMAN, CHRISTINE BLANC, CECILE FRANK: La négociation dans les projets urbains de tramway. Éléments pour une sociologie de la « ville durable ». Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 -email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). Ecopolis series, No. 14. 2011, 246 pp, €33-50. ISBN 978-90-5201-761-7.
What is a sustainable city? How can sustainable cities be collectively built? Much ink is spilled these days on the theme of 'citizen involvement,' but what role do inhabitants actually play when it comes to building the fabric of a city? What stakeholders and institutions interact in this domain, and which conflict? To answer such questions, the authors of this book analyse the way tram projects have been negotiated in the French cities of Strasbourg and Montpellier, explaining that when it comes to transport and urban mobility, stakeholders and decision-makers are asked to contribute to both attachment to neighbourhoods and movement within neighbourhoods within the urban arena. It emerges from this sociological research intermeshed with town planning and political science that 'big projects' give rise to variable combinations of economics, the environment and sustainable development and usually generate resistance. Clearly there is no single model of sustainable mobility.
(MT)