Ethical Tools to Support Systematic Public Deliberations about the Ethical Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnologies

This special issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics presents so-called ethical tools that are developed to support systematic public deliberations about the ethical aspects of agricultural biotechnologies. This paper firstly clarifies the intended connotations of the term “ethical tools” and argues that such tools can support liberal democracies to cope with the issues that are raised by the application of genetic modification and other modern biotechnologies in agriculture and food production. The paper secondly characterizes the societal discussion on agricultural biotechnology and defends the thesis that normative perspectives fuel this discussion, so one cannot come to grips with this discussion if one neglects these perspectives. The paper thirdly agrues that no such thing exists as “one” societal debate in which these issues should be discussed. There are several interwined debates, and different actors participate in different discourses. Some practical instruments are necessary in order to include the right issues in these debates. These instruments will be coined as “ethical tools,” since they are practical instruments that can be used (tools) in order to support debates and deliberative structures for a systematic engagement with ethical issues (hence, ethical tools). Finally, the paper clarifies the ethics of these ethical tools and presents the tools as discussed in the remainder of this special issue: 1) tools to include ethical issues in public consulation and involvement; 2) tools to support systematic reflection upon ethical issues in decision-making; and 3) tools to support explicit communication about values in the food chain.     

GM Crops: Patently Wrong?

This paper focuses on the ethical justifiability of patents on Genetically Modified (GM) crops. I argue that there are three distinguishing features of GM crops that make it unethical to grant patents on GM crops, even if we assume that the patent system is in general justified. The first half of the paper critiques David Resnik’s recent arguments in favor of patents on GM crops. Resnik argues that we should take a consequentialist approach to the issue, and that the best way to do so is to apply the Precautionary Principle, and that the Precautionary Principle, in this case, supports patents on GM crops. I argue that his argument in favor of a consequentialist treatment is invalid; his Precautionary Principle in any case appears to be incompatible with consequentialism; and his conception of reasonable precautions is too ill-defined to have any argumentative purchase. In the second half of the paper, I argue against GM crop patents, on three grounds. First, there is insufficient evidence to say whether allowing patents on GM crops will make research go faster than not having patents, whilst there is a good reason to think that, other things being equal, a society that allows patents on GM crops will be less just than one that does not. Second, even assuming that patents on GM crops will increase the pace of GM crop research, there is no social need to do so. Third, patents on GM crops will frequently have ethically unacceptable side effects.     

灰色GM(1,2,M,N)在地面沉降预测中的应用

通过分析地面沉降过程与地下水开采量之间可能存在的时滞性以及非线性关系,将原有的灰色GM(1,2)模型改进为灰色GM(1,2,M,N)模型。通过对天津市塘沽、汉沽以及大港三区的沉降实例进行计算,发现新的模型能够较好地拟合和预测历史沉降过程,并且预测结果合理。     

The Political Import of Intrinsic Objections to Genetically Engineered Food

Many people object to genetically engineerehd (GE) food because they believe that it is unnatural or that its creation amounts to playing God. These objections are often referred to as intrinsic objections, and they have been widely criticized in the agricultural bioethics literature as being unsound, incompatible with modern science, religious, inchoate, and based on emotion instead of reason. Many of their critics also argue that even if these objections did have some merit as ethicalobjections, their quasi-religious nature means that they are entirely irrelevant when interpreted aspolitical objections regarding what public policy ought to be. In this paper, we argue that this widespread view is false. Intrinsic objections have much more political import than has previously been recognized, and indeed the requirements of political liberalism and its associated idea of liberal neutrality, once properly understood, protect intrinsic objections from many of the most common objections. That is, policy-makers may not legitimately base public policy on grounds that are inconsistent with intrinsic objections, even when they believe those objections to be flawed in the ways mentioned above. This means that in the context of a political debate about GE food, the discussion should not center on the substantive merits of the intrinsic objections themselves but rather on the appropriate political norms for achieving democratically legitimate policy on issues that touch people’s deepest religious and moral beliefs.     

基于GM模型的城市火灾危险性分析

伴随着城市的快速发展，城市面临的火灾危险性及其造成的损失越来越大，如何根据火灾发生规律研究预测火灾的发生是关键的问题。本文对火灾发生的季节和区域规律进行研究，在灰色系统理论中的GM（1，1）模型基础上利用等维灰数递补GM模型对城市火灾发生的规律进行了预测与分析，计算结果表明，预测值与实际情况基本一致，具有一定的指导意义。     

基于B样条曲线的GM(2,1)动态组合预测模型应用

突发事件具有较强的随机性,且在对某类突发事件的预测研究过程中,往往会出现研究数据样本少或数据缺失的情况。运用工程技术中3次B样条插值和GM(2,1)预测模型对这种情况进行分析、研究,建立基于3次B样条曲线的GM(2,1)动态组合预测模型,在高质量弥补数据缺失的同时,也使预测结果体现局部动态性和全局性的特点。运用该模型对广东省雷电灾害指数进行实证分析,结果显示,预测结果的等级误判率为11%,2010年的灾害指数等级预测区划分布结果与实际情况相吻合。     

基于灰色理论的甲型H1N1流感传染人数预测模型研究

就我国甲型H1N1流感传染人数的预测运用灰色系统理论,建立了GM（1,1）模型和1阶残差修正模型GMε（1,1）,并分别作了精度分析。研究了GMε（1,1）的变化趋势,提出了临界值和有效域概念。用MATLAB确定了模型参数及模型预测值。     

应用GM(1,1)模型预测阿什河水质变化趋势

GM(1,1)模型在水质预测中得到了较为广泛的运用。本文应用GM(1,1)模型对阿什河入松花江口内断面中高锰酸盐指数和氨氮两项指标的浓度变化趋势进行了预测,结果表明:高锰酸盐指数浓度呈上升趋势,氨氮浓度呈下降趋势。对比灰色动态模型群和子模型的预测结果精度,发现对于两极分化的数据,模型群预测结果的关联度低于子模型。本文将为制定阿什河水质改善方案提供科学依据。     

基于GM(1,1)模型的长沙市生态安全综合评估预测

区域资源与城市自然系统是城市社会经济发展的重要基础和载体。城市生态安全评估是对未来的预测,以实现城市的可持续发展。文章以长沙市为例,在城市生态安全主要影响因素识别的基础上,研究了长沙市近11年来生态安全的变化趋势。研究结果表明,1999-2009年间长沙生态安全的趋势由较不安全向较安全状态发展,人文环境响应是长沙生态安全改善的主导因素,筛选出了长沙市生态安全的10个敏感因子,可为长沙生态城市建设提供参考。     

山东省辖淮河流域河流水质趋势的灰色预测

目前,灰色系统模型越来越多地应用在水质预测中。山东省辖淮河流域包括南四湖流域和沂沭河流域,流域区域内的河流水质不仅与区域的社会经济发展相互联系,而且也影响着南水北调东线的水质。因此,依据2000-2009年流域内河流的国控断面高锰酸钾指数、NH3-N的监测数据资料,在对数据进行处理的基础上,文章利用灰色GM(1,1)模型结合新陈代谢原理预测河流水质的发展趋势。结果表明:大多数河流水质呈好转的趋势,但河流水环境变好趋势较缓慢,特别是沭河高峰头断面的水质呈变差趋势。河流水质的变化趋势应值得高度重视,为区域水环境保护和制定水环境规划提供参考。