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Disputes continue to flare over acceptable safety standards for biotechnology products, and the potential for these technologies to address agricultural needs. Benefits have been documented for a limited number of genetically modified (GM) crops, however, official permission to plant GM seeds in developing countries has not been granted in most countries. Six country studies examined regulatory decision-making, efficiencies, and bottlenecks for GM crops. Building on these, a Conceptual Framework is proposed for implementing biosafety. The paper then highlights political, trade, and market issues external to the Framework, and concludes with recommendations to help unlock GM safety approvals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Frederick Buttel was one of the pioneers in studying the social impacts of biotechnology, claiming originally that it will involve profound changes in social structure. Recently Buttel turned around his argument proposing that, rather than revolutionary, biotechnology is more a "substitutionist" technological form to be applied to declining sectors of the economy than an "epoch-making" technology. This paper provides both external and internal critiques of Buttel's new position based on the concept of the "third technological revolution," looking at the impact of new technologies as a global and interrelated phenomenon, and not on an individual case-by-case basis. The concluding section suggests the necessity of bringing into the analysis those living in the Third World: 60% of this population lives from agriculture and will be affected by the deployment of agricultural biotechnologies, whether through "substitutionism" or through totally new products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]