Abstract
The maintenance and use of biological diversity in agriculture are explored through a futuristic scenario. The scenario is structured to examine some of the underlying technical and political issues surrounding the commercialization of biotechnology, such as the issues of equity in the control over genetic resources and the increased potential for genetic vulnerability of major crops. The expansion in intellectual property laws and the “Great Blight” of 2005 lead the discussion of crop vulnerability. The loss of species through mass extinction by 2005 and the destruction through fire of the National Germplasm Storage Facility (NGSF) in 1991 raise issues about the dichotomy between in-situand ex-situpreservation approaches. The scenario introduces the possibility of a Gene Clone public libraries and a World System and Treaty for Genetic Resources.
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Robert S. Grossmann recently finished his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and works as the special assistant to the Director of Health for the State of Hawaii. He has served as a legislative aide to Hawaii's House Health Committee and as an analyst to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
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Grossmann, R.S. Scenario: A look toward the future. Agric Hum Values 7, 19–22 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01557306
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01557306