Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Christopher Rodgers
The uncertainty surrounding the potential impact of the growing of GM crops on a commercial scale has been reflected in a broadly precautionary stance taken by both EU and UK legislation regulating their field-testing and commercial exploitation. Nevertheless, there remains a failure of public trust in “sound science” and in the ability of the regulatory system for overseeing commercial releases to safeguard public health and the wider environment. Against this background, the question of potential liability for harm resulting from the release of GMOs to the environment has assumed prominence in the debate over the commercialization of GM crops. The debate raises a number of issues concerning the ability of the law of tort to efficiently allocate risk among the various stakeholders involved in disputes over the planting of GM crops. There is also a question whether GM technology should be singled out for special treatment when there is no special liability regime for other areas of agricultural innovation and crop improvement. This paper considers the potential role of the law of nuisance in resolving property rights disputes arising from GMO releases, and the complementary role which the public liability regime proposed in the EC Draft Directive on Environmental Liability might play. It argues that the law of nuisance has a significant role to play in regulating land use involving GMOs. There is, however, a fundamental tension between the interests protected by the law of nuisance and environmental policy interests. If the law of nuisance is to play a meaningful role in this area, a radical reappraisal of a number of its basic tenets will be required.
Author(s): Rodgers CP
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Cambridge Law Journal
Year: 2003
Volume: 62
Issue: 2
Pages: 371-402
Print publication date: 01/07/2003
Date deposited: 21/04/2011
ISSN (print): 0008-1973
ISSN (electronic): 1469-2139
Publisher: Cambrige University Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0008197303006354
DOI: 10.1017/S0008197303006354
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
