Genetically modified (GM) crops developed for insect control express cry genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These genes produce target specific insecticidal proteins that protect the plant against insect pest attacks throughout the growing season. The largest threat to the continued success of these insecticidal GM crops is the potential development of target pest resistance. Models and theories suggested several possible strategies to delay the development of resistance. Of these strategies the high-dose/refuge strategy was selected as the optimal insect resistance management (IRM) option and is currently implemented throughout the world. The high-dose/refuge strategy comprises planting Bt maize plants that produce high doses of the toxin and non-Bt plants (refugia) in close proximity to one another. The theory behind this strategy is that the high dose of toxin kills nearly all the individuals of the target pest while the refuge area sustains susceptible pest individuals that survive on the crop and mate with survivors on the Bt crop. Recent reports of resistance development to Bt crops has raised questions about the refuge concept. In the cases where resistance has developed it was largely ascribed to non- compliance to the prescribed refuge requirements or non-functionality of the refuge approach. The Bt crops used throughout the world were developed in North America against the insect pests that occur there. Since there are differences in the lifecycles and behaviour of insect species targeted by Bt crops the refuge areas also needs to be specified for different target pests. For example, the currently used IRM strategies do not differentiate between polyphagous and monophagous pests and also do not take into account differences that exist in biology and behaviour of different pest species. These IRM strategies have also been developed mainly with large scale commercial farming systems in mind and do not take into account farming systems in developing countries. Current IRM strategies need to be revised and adapted for use by small-scale African farmers. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Genetically modified (GM) crops developed for insect control express cry genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These genes produce target specific insecticidal proteins that protect the plant against insect pest attacks throughout the growing season. The largest threat to the continued success of these insecticidal GM crops is the potential development of target pest resistance. Models and theories suggested several possible strategies to delay the development of resistance. Of these strategies the high-dose/refuge strategy was selected as the optimal insect resistance management (IRM) option and is currently implemented throughout the world. The high-dose/refuge strategy comprises planting Bt maize plants that produce high doses of the toxin and non-Bt plants (refugia) in close proximity to one another. The theory behind this strategy is that the high dose of toxin kills nearly all the individuals of the target pest while the refuge area sustains susceptible pest individuals that survive on the crop and mate with survivors on the Bt crop. Recent reports of resistance development to Bt crops has raised questions about the refuge concept. In the cases where resistance has developed it was largely ascribed to non- compliance to the prescribed refuge requirements or non-functionality of the refuge approach. The Bt crops used throughout the world were developed in North America against the insect pests that occur there. Since there are differences in the lifecycles and behaviour of insect species targeted by Bt crops the refuge areas also needs to be specified for different target pests. For example, the currently used IRM strategies do not differentiate between polyphagous and monophagous pests and also do not take into account differences that exist in biology and behaviour of different pest species. These IRM strategies have also been developed mainly with large scale commercial farming systems in mind and do not take into account farming systems in developing countries. Current IRM strategies need to be revised and adapted for use by small-scale African farmers. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The demand for plant and other production is increasing with the growth of human population when the territory where plants can be grown is continually decreasing. The present agricultural production of food, industrial materials and drugs of plant origin is not enough for people, as for the effort to achieve higher environmental comfort, especially in developed countries. We are trying to find a simpler, cleaner and cheaper ways of crop production. The genetic modification is one of the modern ways how to achieve this goal. Students get a lot of information about this topic from various sources, but mainly just from the internet and television. It is recommended that students should be able to compare information received from the media with school knowledge as for avoiding opinion pressure and manipulations.

Since the 1990s, genetically modified (GM) agriculture has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Despite the rapid commercialization of GM crops in the United States, global controversy has slowed the adoption of the technology in developing countries. Yet, few studies have examined regulatory disputes outside of the United States and Europe. Debates in the United States and Europe focus on issues of human health and consumer choice. In other parts of the world, particularly Latin America, disputes center on the threats that GM agriculture poses to unique centers of biodiversity and food security, as well as issues related to bio-fuel expansion and the control over genetic resources and knowledge. My dissertation takes research on biotechnology in a new direction by analyzing the political process through which regulatory knowledge related to GM agriculture is negotiated, contested and reformulated. Guatemala is a key case to examine the politics of biotechnology regulation because despite strong US trade and transnational commercial interests, it is still illegal to grow biotech crops. The question becomes: what explains resistance to agricultural biotechnology? To address this issue, my dissertation focuses on three primary themes. First, I examine historical Mayan rural livelihood strategies within a context of political exclusion and state violence during the country's 36-year civil war. This history, in turn, informs a contemporary context characterized by the continued importance of subsistence-based corn production in the face of mounting rural inequality. Second, I contend that biotechnology regulatory debates in Guatemalan state institutions are integrally tied to a unique national context of corn biodiversity. I focus specifically on disputes between US-sponsored biotechnology regulations based on the principles of free trade and a more cautionary United Nations biosafety program. Third, I argue that resistance to agricultural biotechnology is bringing together diverse Guatemalan Mayan organizations until recently divided by the violence of the civil war. These organizations are deploying sophisticated cultural, economic and environmental knowledges that are effectively challenging efforts to commercialize GM agriculture. On a broader level, this study asserts that resistance to agricultural biotechnology is emblematic of broader struggles over the definition of legitimate knowledge in neoliberal development.

The debate around genetically modified food and crops has proved to be complex and far-reaching, involving diverse stakeholder groups and many issues. Although the extent of global uptake of GM crops has been substantial (23 countries and 114.65 million hectares by 2007), it is significant that four countries are responsible for 86% of all GM plantings, and that a number of key food markets (for example the EU and Japan) remain largely "GM-free‟. This suggests that there is reluctance on the part of many countries to embrace GM technology. There are likely many reasons for this, but one significant issue is that of the perception of the risks associated with the technology. There is a distinction between risk that exists in the world and that can be measured (objective risk) and risk that is perceived by an individual to exist and that is constructed by them based on their values and preferences. When technical measurement of actual risks is not possible, peoples‟ own perceptions of risks become important. This thesis aims to investigate the topic of risk perceptions associated with GM food and crops. Different stakeholder groups have been targeted, and a range of methodologies from a variety of disciplines have been employed to investigate what factors can be shown to influence risk perception. A range of factors were identified from existing literature, as having potential impact on risk perceptions. A number of these were investigated, some of which were found to have some influence on levels of risk perception. Results demonstrate that factors influencing peoples‟ perceptions of risk relating to GM food and crops, include the uncertainty associated with the technology, and trust in regulators, policy makers and others with control over the future development of the technology. Other factors found to be important to levels of risk perception held by different stakeholder groups, were a range of socio-demographic and cultural variables, the relationship between perceived risks and benefits, the equity of impacts, and the influence of third parties. There are a number of implications for the development of the GM debate arising from the findings. First, as there are socio-demographic and cultural factors linked to the perceptions of risk associated with GM technologies in food and agriculture, it is important to recognise that different people will react differently to the technology. Specifically, results from this thesis show that it may be that men, those who are more highly educated, those with a less ecocentric worldview, and those living in urban areas, are likely to respond more favourably to targeted promotional campaigns. As regards the farming community, results show that the first farming adopters are likely to be those who are both owners and tenants, not in an urban fringe location, potato growers, and not barley growers. Second, this thesis provides evidence that third parties are particularly important to farmers, thus it is crucial to recognise that there is potentially a long chain of action and reaction amongst many different stakeholders and actors impacting on farmers' levels of risk perception, and hence willingness to adopt the technology. Third, results from this research demonstrate that the linked issues of the relationship between risks and benefits, and the equity of (positive and negative) impacts, require that all stakeholders are content that they will receive a share of the benefits (if any) to be derived from the technology, and that neither they nor any other group of stakeholders are unduly impacted by the risks or negative impacts (if any) of the technology. Important here is the recognition that perceptions are as important as actual impacts. Fourth, the issue of trust has been shown by the results obtained by this research to be extremely important to peoples' perceptions of risk. It can be concluded that trust is of wider social and political importance that relates to the need to ensure greater democratisation of decision-making in order to re-establish trust in authorities. In the case of GM food this may require a rethinking of the EU legislation relating to the technology. This also relates to point below about the delivery of messages and education. Information sources must be trusted by those at whom the messages are aimed. More importantly though, if people are to trust decision making processes, there needs to be stakeholder involvement at an early stage of decision making, that allows some impact on decisions taken. In the case of the GM debate it may indeed be too late as decisions about the technology, its applications, the regulatory processes and its inclusion within the food chain are well established. Perhaps the best that can be hoped for is that lessons will be learnt and applied to future technology developments of relevance to the food chain, such as, nano-technology. Finally, this thesis has shown that uncertainty is central to peoples' perceptions of risk. This could be addressed through a combination of additional research into what is uncertain to people, the impacts and implications of the technology, more effective dissemination of existing knowledge, and impartially delivered messages and education strategies from trusted sources that address the concerns that people have about the technology. Importantly however there must be an acknowledgement that uncertainty is not restricted to "knowledge deficit‟ but encompasses the scientific uncertainties inherent within the technology, and is framed by the social and cultural values of those whose views are considered. This thesis uniquely targeted diverse groups and employed a combination of different methods from a variety of disciplines. By doing this the study has increased understanding of the views of two groups (campaigners and farmers) who are crucial to the uptake of the technology, and who are seldom researched in the area of attitudes to GM technologies. The diversity of groups, methods and disciplines brought together in this thesis is important because the issue of GM has proved to be complex and far-reaching, and previous discussions of risk perceptions have been complex and disjointed. All groups investigated here are stakeholders in the process, and as such their views and concerns relating to risk perceptions of GM technologies ought to be taken into consideration.

Submitted by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2017-04-20T13:22:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CarolinedeAndradeBezerraTese2013.pdf: 3627255 bytes, checksum: 986d1d31944191fff8eaee68ee8ef653 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2017-04-20T13:22:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CarolinedeAndradeBezerraTese2013.pdf: 3627255 bytes, checksum: 986d1d31944191fff8eaee68ee8ef653 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-20T13:22:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CarolinedeAndradeBezerraTese2013.pdf: 3627255 bytes, checksum: 986d1d31944191fff8eaee68ee8ef653 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-18 / Coffee is in international and Brazilian economical scenery as the second most important natural commodity. Despite that, coffee crops suffer great damage due to the coleopteran coffee borer (Hypothenemus hampei) attack leading to around US$ 500 million loss. In order to control the coffee borer, one strategy is the inhibition of the insect digestive enzyme ??-amylase by Phaseolus vulgaris amylase inhibitor 1 (??AI1). In this context, the research group of Plant-pest Molecular Interaction Laboratory developed GM coffee (Coffea arabica) plants expressing the P. vulgaris ??AI1 gene. This is a promising event to be used in coffee borer control by inhibiting starch insect digestion. However, releasing a GM crop for commercialization and human consumption is possible only after assessing food and environmental safety status, based on international and national procedures. This work is divided in two chapters. In the first chapter is presented the isolation of an amylase cDNA from H. hampei, designated AmyHha. The highest transcript levels of this amylase coincide with the feeding stages of insect, the second instar and adult stage. The Southern blot analysis showed the presence of only one copy of the AmyHha in the H. hampei genome. Finally, was carried out the construction of a structural model based on the AmyHha predicted protein sequence. In the second chapter, food safety of GM coffee crops expressing P. vulgaris ???-AI1 was evaluated. First, the evaluation of allergenic potential of GM coffee grains expressing ???-AI1 and the study of hemolytic effect and thermostability using coffee grains suggest absence of feeding risks concerning cytotoxic effects and inhibition of ???-AI1 after heat treatment. Otherwise, in vitro resistance to digestibility and in silico analysis suggest an allergenic risk of GM coffee grains due to ???-AI1 expression. Thus more investigation must be carried out in order to clarify allergenicity risks and in vivo consequences of this GM coffee grain consumption. / O caf?? destaca-se no cen??rio econ??mico nacional e internacional como a segunda maior ???commodity??? natural. No entanto, a cultura cafeeira apresenta grandes perdas monet??rias em torno de US$ 500 milh??es por ano devido ao ataque da broca-do-caf?? (Hypothenemus hampei). Uma estrat??gia para o controle do H. hampei ?? a inibi????o da enzima digestiva ???-amilase deste inseto pelo inibidor de ???-amilase 1 (???-AI1) de Phaseolus vulgaris. Assim, o grupo de pesquisa do Laborat??rio de Intera????o Molecular Planta-Praga desenvolveu plantas de caf?? Coffea arabica geneticamente modificadas (GM) expressando o gene para o ???-AI1 de P. vulgaris. Entretanto, a libera????o de plantas GM para comercializa????o e consumo humano s?? ?? poss??vel ap??s avalia????es de seguran??a alimentar e ambiental. Esta tese ?? dividida em dois cap??tulos. No primeiro cap??tulo ?? apresentado o isolamento de um cDNA de uma amilase de H. hampei ??? AmyHha. Os maiores n??veis de transcritos desta amilase coincide com as fases de alimenta????o do inseto, o segundo instar larval e a fase adulta. A an??lise por Southern blot demonstrou a presen??a de apenas uma c??pia de AmyHha no genoma do inseto, por fim realizou-se uma constru????o do modelo estrutural com base na sequencia proteica predita de AmyHha. No segundo cap??tulo que trata da avalia????o de seguran??a alimentar de plantas C. arabica GM expressando o inibidor de ???-AI1 de P. vulgaris, o estudo de efeito hemol??tico e termoestabilidade com os gr??os de caf?? GM sugerem a aus??ncia de risco alimentar quanto aos efeitos citot??xicos e inibi????o pelo ???-AI1 ap??s tratamento t??rmico. J?? a resist??ncia ?? digestibilidade in vitro e as an??lises in silico sugerem um potencial risco alerg??nico dos gr??os de caf?? GM devido ?? express??o do ???-AI1. Entretanto, mais investiga????es devem ser realizadas para maiores esclarecimentos quanto ao risco de alergenicidade dos gr??os de caf?? GM expressando ???-AI1 e as consequ??ncias de seu consumo in vivo.

<p>The world is growing more and more genetically modified (or engineered) crops (GM crops). In Argentina farmers grow almost only GM soy, and no conventional soy. It is a controversial subject, since genetic engineering has many advocates and critics. The positive sides of GM crops are that it can create higher yields and incomes for the farmers. Those are the main objects of growing GM crops. Critics, on the other hand, say that GM crops have bad effects on the environment, and the risks could be too high. For example GM crops can spread to neighboring farms, where organic crops are growing. Many scientists claim that nobody really have enough knowledge of the effects of growing GM crops, and therefore thorough risk assessments are needed to examine the effects and possible risks of growing GM crops before starting to grow them. Politicians, too often, make decisions on false scientific grounds, when they claim that genetic engineering is a safe and precise method. The large corporations developing GMOs are heavily influencing political decision making. Scientists have studied the genetic engineering process and the results show that the method is not precise. It is difficult to know exactly what gene is transferred, and where it ends up. It is also important to discuss the precautionary principle in the decision making process.</p>

<p>Continuous improvement is one of five principles in General Motors – Global Manufacturing System (GM-GMS). GM-GMS has been used by Saab Automobile AB since 2003 and is a central component for realisation of GM’s vision. Internal audits have discovered problems with one of the tools, practical problem solving (PPS), which needs to be improved. The department manufacturing of press and body (PK) wants to survey the problems and initiate a process of improvement. The purpose of this thesis work is to develop a foundation for future re-designs of the PPS process. Employees have been interviewed and observed in order to explore possible difference theoretical and practical problem solving with PPS. The result of the investigation shows 4 different and interrelated problem categories. 1. Information transfer, PPS hand over to product quality engineers (PQE) department cause problem when general assemblies (GA) are excluded from the improvement work. General assemblies do not get any feedback information from (PQE) about planed countermeasures. 2. Problem solving, team leaders has difficulties with identifying the true problem. Using “five-why” during the analysis work causes problem, since team leaders do not have the knowledge of how to use the tool in a proper way. 3. Documentation of PPS, the content in the PPS-form is a problem according to team leaders. Lack of knowledge and understanding of how to use the PPS-document leads to incomplete and incorrect analysis. 4. Coordination of involved people, support and help are missing from the management and quality engineer according team leaders. PPS from Global Costumer Audit are imposing time stress according to team leaders. Recommendations for further work is to investigate the opportunities with a web based PPS and process to improve information transfer and documentation of PPS. A second recommendation is to train and coach team leaders in problem solving and improve coordination of involved people and skills in problem solving.</p>

The objective of this thesis study is to identify factors that influence Alberta food processors' food safety decisions. Data for this study were collected in a 2008 survey of Alberta food processors. It is hypothesized that pressures from government, industry, and consumers influence firms' food safety decisions. Data on respondent firms' perceptions, attitudes and characteristics are analyzed using nonparametric statistical approaches; logit models are estimated. Analysis indicates that firms perceive their consumers as viewing potential hazards to be more dangerous to food safety than the firms themselves consider these hazards. Firms' responses associated good manufacturing practices with both improved food safety and improved business performance. Only minimal support is found for government, industry and consumer pressures as influencers of HACCP adoption in Alberta. Structural issues are identified which may impact policy implementation. The conclusions provide insights into Alberta food processors' food safety strategies and may contribute to food safety policy. / Agriculture and Resource Economics

Crop Biotechnology could help achieve a more food-secure world. However, the strong opposition to GM food, particularly in Europe, will undoubtedly affect the diffusion of GM crops worldwide, delaying or preventing the world from realizing the potential benefits of GM crops in terms of food security. This braking effect could deprive the world of a potential tool to increase or stabilize the future worldwide availability of food under a changing or more volatile climate. It is therefore essential to understand how the opposition to GM food has and will affect the diffusion of biotechnological innovations worldwide in order to estimate the effect of this opposition on global food security. <p> The main objective of the thesis is to estimate the loss in global food security if the EU does not relax their opposition to GM food. To meet this objective a market model is combined with a GM diffusion model to create a global food security (GFS) model. The focus of the model is GM wheat, due to the vital importance of conventional wheat to global food security. This approach allows us to evaluate dynamic economic responses to food production shocks, such as climate change. The GFS model is calibrated using production, consumption and price data for wheat. A number of scenarios are analyzed to consider the range of potential effects of the EU opposition on global food security. The results of the analyses will better inform the ongoing GM policy debates, which often ignore food security impacts.