Rationalizing the GMO Debate: The Ordonomic Approach to Addressing Agricultural Myths

Stefan Hielscher, Ingo Pies, Vladislav Valentinov and Lioudmila Chatalova
Additional contact information
Stefan Hielscher: Chair of Economic Ethics, Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Grosse Steinstraße 73, Halle 06108, Germany
Ingo Pies: Chair of Economic Ethics, Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Grosse Steinstraße 73, Halle 06108, Germany
Vladislav Valentinov: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2, Halle 06120, Germany
Lioudmila Chatalova: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2, Halle 06120, Germany

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: The public discourse on the acceptability of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not only controversial, but also infused with highly emotional and moralizing rhetoric. Although the assessment of risks and benefits of GMOs must be a scientific exercise, many debates on this issue seem to remain impervious to scientific evidence. In many cases, the moral psychology attributes of the general public create incentives for both GMO opponents and proponents to pursue misleading public campaigns, which impede the comprehensive assessment of the full spectrum of the risks and benefits of GMOs. The ordonomic approach to economic ethics introduced in this research note is helpful for disentangling the socio-economic and moral components of the GMO debate by re- and deconstructing moral claims.

Keywords: agricultural myths; discourse; ethics; GMO; morality; ordonomics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/476/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/476/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:5:p:476-:d:69706

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().