The Cultural Risks Generated by Biotechnology
Abstract:
In this article, I explore a ‘dark side’ of biotechnology by critically examining gene-editing. While contemporary discussion largely focuses on the benefits of biotechnology to economy or security, and the risks in relation to health and environment, my research aims to address a knowledge gap related to culture, by examining a case of how the adoption of biotechnology can generate cultural risks in Japan, within the Japanese agricultural (and natural) context and through the gene-editing of rice. Given rice’s significance to the Japanese, not solely an economic commodity, but also as an irreplaceable singularity to the culture, I have argued that if gene-edited rice is framed as unnatural, the government policy that allows for a lack of labelling and lack of safety evaluation may lead to a scenario in which all domestic Japanese rice may lose its singularity. This loss in the purity of rice poses a potential risk to the Japanese culture, which has held rice as sacred for centuries.
Keywords: Culture, ethics, relations, gene-edit, rice, GMO, values, singularity, commodity, Japan