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abstract: This dissertation explores conditions under which food messages backfire among consumers leading them to engage in behaviors that are opposite to what was intended by the messages. The first essay shows when and how food-related warnings can backfire by putting consumers in a state of reactance. Across three studies, I demonstrate that dieters (but not nondieters) who see a one-sided message focusing on the negative aspects of unhealthy food (vs. a one-sided positive or neutral message) increase their desire for and consumption of unhealthy foods. In contrast, dieters who see a two-sided message (focusing on both the negative and positive aspects of unhealthy food) are more likely to comply with the message, thereby choosing fewer unhealthy foods. My research suggests that negatively-worded food warnings (such as PSAs) are unlikely to work – nondieters ignore them, and dieters do the opposite. Although preliminary, the findings also suggest that two-sided messages may offer a better solution. The second essay shows how certain messages advocating for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can backfire by activating consumers’ thoughts about risk of GMOs. Across four studies, I demonstrate that strong anti-GMO (but not weak anti-GMO) consumers who see a pro-GMO message claiming that GMOs are safe for human consumption (vs. a neutral message) perceive higher risk from GMOs, resulting in more unfavorable attitudes toward GMOs and lower intentions to consume GMOs. My research also suggests that a pro-GMO message claiming that GMOs are beneficial will be more effective in persuading both strong and weak anti-GMO consumers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2016

The global fish population is declining. Aquaculture production is saturated and the global fish stock is operating at an unsustainable level. Genetically modified (GM) fish is a potential solution to relieve the natural fish stock, if the FDA grants the approval. The global fish population is harmed by environmental conditions and the inability for fish to adapt to changing conditions and human interactions. Genetic modification is a growing technology that has the ability to alleviate the fishing industry by modifying fish to grow faster, be disease tolerant, eat plant-based food, and be more nutritious. However, the approval process has been halted by complications in the approval process and government leaders responding to public fears and concerns of the safety of genetically modified fish. This thesis reviews the background of the fishing industry, concerns over GMOs, and analyzes the politics preventing the approval of GM fish. Lastly, this thesis recommends six approaches the FDA should mandate to reassure the public of the safety of GM fish.

This thesis analyses the process of institutionalisation of the concept of genetically modified organism (GMO) in the UK between 1986-1993. The existing accounts of the GM debate have focussed on either the 1970s or the 1990s. Very little, however, has been said about the 1980s, long before that of GMOs became a popular issue. Through a detailed examination of the PROSAMO initiative – a series of experiments aimed at determining the environmental impact of GMOs with a regulatory purpose in mind – this thesis have been able to explore the important but rather neglected role of the UK dominant institutions in the historical development of the debate over the release of GMOs into the environment. In analysing the way ‘GMO’ institutionalised between the late 1980s and early 1990s, this thesis shows that the concepts of risk and uncertainty – which have dominated the GM debate – need to be conceived as collective constructs that are used strategically in order to pursue various objectives related to the context in which people using them operate. It is also argued that the legitimate use of these concepts is bound to the credibility and the authority of science. These considerations have stimulated some reflections on the nature and role of regulation in the GM debate. In particular, it is argued that the move from a voluntary system of controls to a statutory one represents a move from an epistemic community approach to policy-making to a logic of bureaucratic politics, in which the literal interpretation of rules became a solution to political disagreement. As rule following became a political requirement, GMOs became a bureaucratic issue and scientists turned into bureaucrats. Within these changes, the role of scientific expertise in the definition of GMOs decreased. From this point of view, the way ‘genetic modification’ and GMO institutionalised gave rise to new practices and behaviours that turned around GMO as a controversial but nevertheless stable category.

Magister Legum - LLM / The aim of this study is to examine laws and policies relating to food safety in South Africa, specifically with regard to labelling requirements in the food industry. It is hoped that this research will serve as a pointer for policy and legislative reforms in a bid to identify weak areas as well as encourage accountability and strengthen government’s response to the realisation of the right to safe food as a human right imperative. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Advances in DNA micro and macroarray technologies made these high-throughput systems good candidates for the development of cheaper, faster and easier qualitative and quantitative detection methods. In this study, a simple and cost effective sandwich hybridization-based method has been developed for the rapid and sensitive detection of various unmodified recombinant elements in transgenic plants. Attention was first focused on the optimization of conditions such as time, concentration and temperature using commercial ssDNA, which in turn could be used for real sample detection. In this sandwich-type DNA chip platform, capture probes complementary to the first half of recombinant element (target adapter) were immobilized onto poly-L-lysine covered conventional microscope slides. PCR-amplified un-purified target adapter and biotin labeled detection probe, which is complementary to the second half of target adapter, were hybridized in solution-phase to complementary capture probes to create a sandwiched tripartite complex. Later, hybridization signal was visualized by the attachment of streptavidin conjugated Quantum Dot to the sandwiched complex under UV illumination. Sandwich based array system that has been developed in this study allows multiplex screening of GMO events on a single DNA chip platform. 35S promoter, NOS terminator, CRY1Ab and BAR target sequences were successfully detected on the same DNA chip platform. The platform was able to detect unlabeled PCR amplified DNA fragments of CaMV 35S promoter sequence and NOS terminator and BAR transgene sequences from transgenic potato plants and NK603 Certified GMO Reference material, respectively. The DNA-chip platform developed in this study will allow multiple detection of label-free PCR-amplified transgenic elements from real GMO samples on a single slide via a cost effective, fast, reliable and sensitive sandwich hybridization assay.

This thesis argues from a contrarian point of departure that the successes of GMO agriculture have thus far been limited or underwhelming. It thus asks what accounts for the limitedness of the GMO food economy. From this overarching question, the research is divided into three further questions that consider the roles of law, the structural requirements of the capitalist system, and the use of discourses of nature amongst activists respectively as factors influencing the underdevelopment of GMO agriculture. These questions form the basis for three chapters that comprise the thesis. Chapter one draws on the work of Antonio Gramsci and Karl Polanyi in evaluating the consequences of legal regimes that regulate GMOs. Against the tide of neoliberalism, I discuss how a binding, precautionary agreement over international trade in GMOs emerged through the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. I argue that this Protocol is an example of what Polanyi termed the “self-protection of society,” the second phase of his double movement. Chapter two uses Marxist theories of agrarian capitalism to understand both the early successes and later setbacks of GMOs as a capital accumulation strategy. I argue that the successes and failures of GMO agriculture are partly circumscribed by the structural requirements of the capitalist system, as well as by the materiality of GMO crops themselves. The chapter builds on the work of Gabriela Pechlaner and David Goodman to show how processes of appropriationism, expropriationism and the logic of capital more generally can explain not only why some innovations have succeeded but also why so many others have been unsuccessful. Innovations that are geared at consumers rather than farmers have largely failed due to their status as value-added products (whose value is subjective and market-driven) rather than capital goods. Chapter three considers the role played by nature narratives in structuring the cultural politics of GMO agriculture. It argues that natural purity discourses have been central to the success of GMO activism as they have mobilized widely resonant nature-culture dualisms that separate the natural world from the human world. However, though strategically effective, these discourses hold dubious political implications, as they entrench or naturalize unequal power relations in the social world and deflect attention away from the problematic political economic consequences of GMOs under neoliberalism. The chapter argues that activist campaigns that directly target the political economic, neocolonial, and class implications of GMOs within the context of neoliberalism have also had successes without resorting to appeals to the purity of nature, an approach that I argue ought to frame opposition struggles against GMOs going forward. The thesis uses a mixed methods approach that includes document analysis, historical analysis, discourse analysis and literature review. It incorporates a wide lens approach, drawing on a range of case studies from multiple scales to animate the conceptual arguments being analyzed. By problematizing how GMO agriculture has evolved as a capital accumulation strategy for large transnational corporations, this thesis seeks to critically evaluate the practical social justice implications of anti-GMO resistance efforts for those opposed to neoliberal globalization. / Graduate / 0366 / 0615 / mylesc@uvic.ca

Certaines applications issues des biotechnologies sont actuellement controversées d’un point de vue sociotechnique. A l’analyse, il s’avère que les protagonistes de ces controverses utilisent des arguments évolutionnistes de façon récurrente à propos de questions très diverses et parfois de façon apparemment contradictoire. Afin de comprendre les raisons d’un tel usage, d’une part, nous avons procédé dans cette thèse à une analyse de discours des controverses relatives au diagnostic préimplantatoire (DPI) et aux OGM agricoles à partir d’essais et d’articles issus de revues spécialisées ou de vulgarisation. D’autre part, nous avons effectué une étude de l’histoire de l’évolutionnisme scientifique et non scientifique. Nous avons ainsi pu établir que se rejoue à travers ces controverses sociotechniques une partie des controverses structurantes de la pensée évolutionniste et que l’évolutionnisme constitue un cadre de représentations prégnant permettant de débattre collectivement des nouvelles techniques du vivant. / Some biotechnologies are currently socially debated. One may notice that the protagonists of the controversies make regular use of evolutionist warrants concerning very diverse subjects and sometimes in an apparently contradictory way. In order to understand this fact, on the one hand, we analysed controversies relating to preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and GMOs in agriculture on the basis of some essays, review papers and newspaper articles. On the other hand, we studied the history of scientific and non-scientific evolutionist theories. Thus, we established that some essential controversies of evolutionism were repeated into the social controversies about PGD and GMOs and that evolutionism represents a meaningful framework in which new biotechnologies can be collectively debated.

O estabelecimento de regras, normas e padrões internacionais relacionados ao comércio de produtos geneticamente modificados é bastante complexo e envolve uma diversidade de interesses. Essa complexidade pode ser evidenciada pela demora em se definir a forma de operacionalizar o Protocolo de Cartagena sobre Biossegurança - PCB. O PCB estabelece normas e padrões para regulamentar o comércio transfronteiriço de organismos vivos modificados com o objetivo de proteger a biodiversidade. Ele afeta diretamente o mercado internacional de commodities agrícolas, podendo alterar a competitividade dos países. Nesse estudo, calcula-se que o PCB atinge 81,2% das exportações mundiais das principais lavouras GM da atualidade: soja, milho, algodão e canola. Nesse contexto, o Brasil ocupa uma posição peculiar, pois foi o único grande produtor mundial de commodities agrícolas que ratificou o acordo. O objetivo central desse trabalho foi verificar as implicações (em termos de custos) e os impactos potenciais da ratificação do PCB pelo Brasil e seus possíveis efeitos no mercado internacional. A análise centrou-se nas negociações referentes ao Artigo 18 do PCB, que define procedimentos para transporte, manuseio, embalagem e uso de OVMs e restringiu-se ao mercado de soja. Primeiramente, definiu-se uma base teórica para analisar os efeitos de barreiras regulatórias no comércio internacional e no mercado doméstico de exportadores e importadores. Verificou-se que esses efeitos são incertos e dependem da capacidade da medida em questão de resolver ou minimizar falhas de mercado. Posteriormente, calculou-se os custos adicionais de identificação de carregamentos contendo OVMs com base em propostas feitas pelos países-Partes durante as negociações: \'contém\' com fornecimento de uma lista de eventos, \'contém\' com quantificação de eventos, e adoção de um sistema de preservação de identidade. Para fins de comparação, esses cálculos não foram feitos apenas para o Brasil, mas se estenderam para a Argentina e EUA, principais competidores brasileiros no mercado de soja. Os números demonstraram que os custos adicionais de implementação do PCB são mais elevados no Brasil do que nos concorrentes e que essa diferença aumenta à medida que as exigências de identificação tornam-se mais rígidas. Por fim, para verificar o impacto desses custos no mercado internacional, utilizou-se o Equilibrium Displacement Model e definiram-se dois cenários. O Cenário 1 considerou que apenas o Brasil cumpriria as normas de identificação do PCB e o Cenário 2 considerou que Argentina e EUA também adotariam medidas equivalentes. Os resultados evidenciaram que ambas situações implicariam em perdas para o Brasil. Considerando todo o complexo, as perdas poderiam chegar a US$ 133 milhões no Cenário 1 e a US$ 329 milhões no Cenário 2. Apesar das exportações brasileiras de soja em grão terem diminuído nos dois casos, as vendas de farelo e óleo aumentaram no Cenário 1, o que indica um incentivo ao processamento. No Cenário 2, entretanto, apenas as exportações de óleo apresentam bons resultados. Com relação aos outros países, o Cenário 2 apresenta melhores resultados. Dessa forma, espera-se que Argentina e EUA também adotem medidas semelhantes às exigidas pelo PCB. / The development of international rules, norms and standards related to the trade of GM products is complex and involves a diversity of interests. This complexity can be verified by the tough negotiations aiming at establishing procedures to put the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety - CPB in place. The CPB establishes norms and minimum standards to control the transboundary movements of Living Modified Organisms - LMOs in order to protect the biodiversity. It has a direct effect in the international agricultural commodities market and can even alter the countries\' competitiveness. This work estimates that 81.2% of the main GM crops (soybean, corn, canola and cotton) global exports are affected by the CPB. In this context, Brazil is in a peculiar position, as it was the only country among the biggest world agricultural commodities producers that has ratified the agreement. The main objective of this dissertation was to verify the implications (related to additional costs) and potential impacts of the CPB to Brazil and its possible outcomes for the international market. The analysis was restricted to the Protocol\'s Article 18 - which states the rules related to transport, handling, packing and use of LMOs - and to the soybean international market. First, a theoretical framework was defined in order to analyze the effects of regulatory barriers to the international trade and to the domestic markets of exporters and importers countries. Then, the necessary additional costs to identify the cargoes containing LMOs were calculated considering the main proposals submitted by CPB members during the negotiations: \'contains\' with a list of events, \'contains\' with quantification of events and the adoption of an identity preservation system. In order to compare the CPB effects on different countries, this procedure was not only applied to Brazil, but also to Argentina and the US, two important soybeans exporters that have not signed the agreement. The outcomes revealed that the compliance costs of the CPB requirements are greater in Brazil than its competitors and that this difference increases as the exigencies become stricter. Last, the potential impacts of these additional costs in the international market were estimated using the Equilibrium Displacement Model - EDM. Two scenarios were constructed: under Scenario 1 it was considered that only Brazil complied with CPB standards; under Scenario 2, Argentina and the US also adopted equivalent measures with those established by the Protocol. The results showed that Brazil would be harmed in both situations. Considering the whole soybean complex, the country could loose US$ 133 million under Scenario 1 and US$ 329 million under Scenario 2. Though Brazilian soybean exports decreased in both circumstances, it could be verified that there was a stimulus to meal and oil production in the country under the conditions settled in Scenario 1. In Scenario 2, however, the rise of exports concentrated only in the oil market. Regarding Argentina and the US, the Scenario 2 presented better results that Scenario 1. Therefore, it is almost certain that these countries will comply with CPB requirements. It implies that Brazil will incur in greater losses.

O estabelecimento de regras, normas e padrões internacionais relacionados ao comércio de produtos geneticamente modificados é bastante complexo e envolve uma diversidade de interesses. Essa complexidade pode ser evidenciada pela demora em se definir a forma de operacionalizar o Protocolo de Cartagena sobre Biossegurança - PCB. O PCB estabelece normas e padrões para regulamentar o comércio transfronteiriço de organismos vivos modificados com o objetivo de proteger a biodiversidade. Ele afeta diretamente o mercado internacional de commodities agrícolas, podendo alterar a competitividade dos países. Nesse estudo, calcula-se que o PCB atinge 81,2% das exportações mundiais das principais lavouras GM da atualidade: soja, milho, algodão e canola. Nesse contexto, o Brasil ocupa uma posição peculiar, pois foi o único grande produtor mundial de commodities agrícolas que ratificou o acordo. O objetivo central desse trabalho foi verificar as implicações (em termos de custos) e os impactos potenciais da ratificação do PCB pelo Brasil e seus possíveis efeitos no mercado internacional. A análise centrou-se nas negociações referentes ao Artigo 18 do PCB, que define procedimentos para transporte, manuseio, embalagem e uso de OVMs e restringiu-se ao mercado de soja. Primeiramente, definiu-se uma base teórica para analisar os efeitos de barreiras regulatórias no comércio internacional e no mercado doméstico de exportadores e importadores. Verificou-se que esses efeitos são incertos e dependem da capacidade da medida em questão de resolver ou minimizar falhas de mercado. Posteriormente, calculou-se os custos adicionais de identificação de carregamentos contendo OVMs com base em propostas feitas pelos países-Partes durante as negociações: \'contém\' com fornecimento de uma lista de eventos, \'contém\' com quantificação de eventos, e adoção de um sistema de preservação de identidade. Para fins de comparação, esses cálculos não foram feitos apenas para o Brasil, mas se estenderam para a Argentina e EUA, principais competidores brasileiros no mercado de soja. Os números demonstraram que os custos adicionais de implementação do PCB são mais elevados no Brasil do que nos concorrentes e que essa diferença aumenta à medida que as exigências de identificação tornam-se mais rígidas. Por fim, para verificar o impacto desses custos no mercado internacional, utilizou-se o Equilibrium Displacement Model e definiram-se dois cenários. O Cenário 1 considerou que apenas o Brasil cumpriria as normas de identificação do PCB e o Cenário 2 considerou que Argentina e EUA também adotariam medidas equivalentes. Os resultados evidenciaram que ambas situações implicariam em perdas para o Brasil. Considerando todo o complexo, as perdas poderiam chegar a US$ 133 milhões no Cenário 1 e a US$ 329 milhões no Cenário 2. Apesar das exportações brasileiras de soja em grão terem diminuído nos dois casos, as vendas de farelo e óleo aumentaram no Cenário 1, o que indica um incentivo ao processamento. No Cenário 2, entretanto, apenas as exportações de óleo apresentam bons resultados. Com relação aos outros países, o Cenário 2 apresenta melhores resultados. Dessa forma, espera-se que Argentina e EUA também adotem medidas semelhantes às exigidas pelo PCB. / The development of international rules, norms and standards related to the trade of GM products is complex and involves a diversity of interests. This complexity can be verified by the tough negotiations aiming at establishing procedures to put the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety - CPB in place. The CPB establishes norms and minimum standards to control the transboundary movements of Living Modified Organisms - LMOs in order to protect the biodiversity. It has a direct effect in the international agricultural commodities market and can even alter the countries\' competitiveness. This work estimates that 81.2% of the main GM crops (soybean, corn, canola and cotton) global exports are affected by the CPB. In this context, Brazil is in a peculiar position, as it was the only country among the biggest world agricultural commodities producers that has ratified the agreement. The main objective of this dissertation was to verify the implications (related to additional costs) and potential impacts of the CPB to Brazil and its possible outcomes for the international market. The analysis was restricted to the Protocol\'s Article 18 - which states the rules related to transport, handling, packing and use of LMOs - and to the soybean international market. First, a theoretical framework was defined in order to analyze the effects of regulatory barriers to the international trade and to the domestic markets of exporters and importers countries. Then, the necessary additional costs to identify the cargoes containing LMOs were calculated considering the main proposals submitted by CPB members during the negotiations: \'contains\' with a list of events, \'contains\' with quantification of events and the adoption of an identity preservation system. In order to compare the CPB effects on different countries, this procedure was not only applied to Brazil, but also to Argentina and the US, two important soybeans exporters that have not signed the agreement. The outcomes revealed that the compliance costs of the CPB requirements are greater in Brazil than its competitors and that this difference increases as the exigencies become stricter. Last, the potential impacts of these additional costs in the international market were estimated using the Equilibrium Displacement Model - EDM. Two scenarios were constructed: under Scenario 1 it was considered that only Brazil complied with CPB standards; under Scenario 2, Argentina and the US also adopted equivalent measures with those established by the Protocol. The results showed that Brazil would be harmed in both situations. Considering the whole soybean complex, the country could loose US$ 133 million under Scenario 1 and US$ 329 million under Scenario 2. Though Brazilian soybean exports decreased in both circumstances, it could be verified that there was a stimulus to meal and oil production in the country under the conditions settled in Scenario 1. In Scenario 2, however, the rise of exports concentrated only in the oil market. Regarding Argentina and the US, the Scenario 2 presented better results that Scenario 1. Therefore, it is almost certain that these countries will comply with CPB requirements. It implies that Brazil will incur in greater losses.