P R O G R E S S  R E P O R T S

Communicating the Economics and Social Impacts of Agrobiotechnologies & Continuing Web-based Communication About Agrobiotechnology
Submitted by Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, University of Missouri

Kalaitzandonakes: KalaitzandonakesN@missouri.edu
Authoritative, timely and clearly communicated research on the socioeconomic impacts of agbiotechnology is essential in order to inform the public debate. This grant has provided continuing support for AgBioForum which aims to meet this need. Specific outcomes from this funding include the following:

  • AgBioForum published 9 issues on key topics related to agbiotech during the funding period including: The Economics of Neutriceuticals and Functional Foods, a special double issue on Understanding the Differences in US-EU Biotech Regulation, The Codex Alimentarius Commission and GM Food Labeling, the Influence of Government Policy on Biotech Innovation in Europe, and Communicating About Agrobiotechnology. Each issue consists of 8 to 16 papers from experts in industry, academia, law, media, and public policy.
  • Internationally recognized indexes are now indexing AgBioForum. For instance, the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL), JEL-online, ECONLIT, and AGRICOLA have included AgBioForum in their indexes in 2002.
  • National, international, and departmental university libraries are including AgBioForum as an electronic journal for their patrons. Virtual online libraries are using AgBioForum as a resource. The expanded inclusion in libraries and online indexes further facilitates access to ABF by national and international students (13% of our membership are students). At the same time, requests to translate articles into other languages have increased significantly. Most recently permission has been given to translate articles into Japanese and Danish.
  • The linkability of ABF in the WWW has increased significantly. ABF's site popularity is high. AgBioForum is now listed on the top WWW search engines including: Altavista, MSN, Alltheweb, AOL, Excite, Google, Iwon, Looksmart, Lycos, Overture, Netscape, and Yahoo. This allows web- users to more easily find ABF material online.
Since its launch in September 1998, over 105,000 readers have downloaded articles from AgBioForum. AgBioForum has provided a forum in which informed academics, experts, and opinion leaders openly debate current issues in the field of agbiotech. The nontechnical format of AgBioForum facilitates communication with a broad set of decision makers in Europe, North America, Australia, Argentina, and many other parts of the world. In addition to informing the general public and decision makers about agricultural biotechnology, AgBioForum also fulfils the important role of disseminating current socioeconomic research to scientists of various disciplines. See attached addendum on AgBioForum statistics.

Bibliography of Research

Kalaitzandonakes, N. (2000). Functional foods: Technical, institutional and market innovation. AgBioForum, 3(l),1-2. Available on the World Wide Web: http://www.agbioforum.org.

Kalaitzandonakes, N. (2000). Why does biotech regulation differ so much between the US and EU? AgBioForum, 3(2&3), 75-76. Available on the World Wide Web: http://www.agbioforum.org.

Kalaitzandonakes, N. and Phillips, P. (2000). GM food labeling and the role of the Codex. AgBioForum, 3(4), 188-191. Available on the World Wide Web: http:/twww.agbioforum.org.

Marks, L.A. (2001). Communicating about agrobiotechnology. AgBioForum, 4(3&4),152-154. Available on the World Wide Web: http://www.agbioforum.org.

Marks, L.A. and Kalaitzandonakes, N. (2001). Mass media communications about agrobiotechnology. AgBioForum, 4(3&4),199-208. Available on the World Wide Web: http://www.agbioforum.org.

Addendum