Socio-environmental questions around the world's first transgenic wheat

Abstract

This paper analyses the authorization of the first transgenic wheat, with the aim of analysing exclusion processes of scientific approaches and citizen voices in the approval process. From an analytical framework that combines contributions from the history of science and social rural studies, scientific discourses are explored as primary sources, along with regulatory documents and specialized secondary sources. Conclusions indicate that the production of knowledge constitutes a fundamental element for the intensification of rural extractivism. They also show that the exclusion of certain scientific approaches and voices of the civil society has prompted the emergence of environmental and social critics.