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CIRAD-INRA Common Advisory Committee for Ethics in Agricultural Research

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Marie Gasquet
Secrétaire du Comité d’éthique
Paris, France
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Taking up the food challenge and that of non-food use of agricultural products. The case of liquid biofuels

11/06/2010 - Article

The second statement issued by the CIRAD-INRA common advisory committee for ethics in agricultural research covers the food challenge and that of non-food use of agricultural products, and more particularly the case of liquid biofuels. It was issued on 19 March 2010.

According to the FAO, in 2009, more than a billion people worldwide were going hungry. At the same time, agricultural production capacity was being given over to non-food uses from profitable markets geared towards taking up new energy and environmental challenges. This situation raises ethical questions, particularly as regards liquid biofuels. According to the committee, far from requiring merely arbitration between food and non-food use of agricultural products, these ethical issues call for an in-depth rethink of the end aims of research.

The committee invites INRA and CIRAD to keep a close watch on the ethics of the end aims of research on biofuels, working methods, and the relations between research policy and agricultural policy. It also recommends that the two establishments work to develop impact assessment methodologies specific to biofuels.
The statement, which was adopted at the committee meeting on 19 March 2010, makes nine recommendations on general operations, research methods, and partnerships.

Statement abstract (in French)

Full statement (in French)

The nine recommendations made are based on the framework of principles the committee has set itself, and encourage the researcher community to place food security and consumption pattern issues on various levels, notably national and international, in their social, institutional and environmental context.

The principles adopted by the Ethics Committee (in French)

The mission of the common advisory committee for ethics in agricultural research, created in October 2007 by CIRAD and INRA, is to discuss, advise, raise awareness and sound the alarm. It examines ethical questions raised by research activities and the research process in the field of agriculture, food, the environment and sustainable development, particularly those that concern the relationships between science and society.