Youtube: https://youtu.be/166RceJgonA John Bryant is Professor Emeritus of Cell and Molecular Biology in the School of Biosciences and Research Associate in the Centre for Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter. He is a Past-President of the Society for Experimental Biology and a former adviser on Bioethics to the UK’s Higher Education Academy. --- This webinar will discuss the relevance of bioethics to plant science and will deal with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships between plant science, plant biotechnology, politics, law and philosophy. The webinar introduces ethical thinking and will help the attendee to apply that thinking to issues relating to plant research. There will a particular focus on environmental ethics and on the relationship between agricultural innovation and global justice.

1. BIOETHICS AND PLANT SCIENCE
John Bryant
University of Exeter
j.a.bryant@exeter.ac.uk
Global Plant Council, March 9, 2022

2. • Ethics: making decisions about what is morally
right/good and what is morally wrong/bad
• Bioethics is the application of ethics to medical and
biological science
ETHICS AND BIOETHICS

3. • Rules and Laws – Deontology – Kant
• Rights and Duties
• What happens if …? – Consequentialism – J S Mill, Bentham
• Utilitarianism - the right decision is the one that makes the most people
happy
• Rational egoism – the right decision is the one that is best for me
• What is a virtuous course of action? – Virtue Ethics – Aristotle,
Aquinas, MacIntyre
• Notes:
• Animals
• Communitarianism v Individualism
HOW DO WE MAKE ETHICAL DECISIONS?

4. QUESTION
Can we relate any of this to Plant Science?

5. QUESTION
Can we relate any of this to Plant Science?
Research Ethics

6. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOETHICS
Medical ethics
Nurnberg trials
Transplant surgery

7. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOETHICS
Medical ethics
Nurnberg trials
Transplant surgery
Environment
Rachel Carson
V R Potter (1971)

8. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOETHICS
Medical ethics
Nurnberg trials
Transplant surgery
Environment
Rachel Carson
V R Potter (1971)
Biotechnology
GM (1973)
Many applications
Dates
Bacteria: 1973
Animals: ca 1980
Plants: 1983
First product: 1977
Different ethical systems are appropriate for different issues

10. SOME THOUGHTS ON GM CROPS
• In the 1990s the campaign against GM crops surprised many of us in
the plant science community
• It was widespread, coordinated, vocal and on occasions very
aggressive
• Opposition focussed on supposed dangers to consumers, to
biodiversity and to the environment in general
• No amount of evidence would convince the campaigners

11. BUT THERE WERE SOME ISSUES
• Patenting genes
• Some aspects of the commercialisation of the technology
• Poor availability to LMI Countries

12. QUESTIONS
• Are there areas of Plant Science research that are ethically
questionable?
• Are there applications of Plant Science research that are ethically
questionable?

13. WHERE NOW FOR PLANT SCIENCE RESEARCH?
ARE THERE ETHICAL IMPERATIVES TO FOCUS ON
PARTICULAR AREAS OF RESEARCH?

14. PLANTS AND CLIMATE: A PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
• Biofuels may be a good replacement for fossil fuels but we
need to be realistic: using all the UK’s agricultural land for oil-
seed rape would provide about 15% of the annual use of
petrol/diesel.
• Tree planting is also good – trees photosynthesise and ‘lock
up’ carbon dioxide for many years. However, covering the
world with trees would only remove a small proportion of
the excess carbon dioxide – we are burning millions of years-
worth of photosynthesis …

15. Aerial photo of the lands taken by Addax Bioenergy for its
sugar cane plantation in Sierra Leone.
(Photo: Le Temps)

16. Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest
resilience since the early 2000s
Chris A. Boulton, Timothy M. Lenton & Niklas
Boers
Nature Climate Change (2022)

17. FOOD AND CLIMATE
• How will we feed 9 billion people without making climate
change worse?
• A perfect storm: feeding more people, using less land and
fewer agrochemical inputs in the face of a changing climate

18. DATA FROM 2020 /2021
• 800 million people are malnourished
• About 9 million people died from malnutrition in 2020
• Poverty is one of the main drivers – food needs to be more
readily and cheaply available but food production also
needs to increase
• Total deaths from Malaria, HIV, TB and flu: 3.17 million
• Note: COVID-19 deaths so far: 6 million

19. Also need to consider land use

20. SOME OF MY PRIORITIES
• Pests and diseases – life cycles, resistance
• Plant growth, development, differentiation and
productivity
• Plant nutrition; agronomy
• Resilience to climate change

21. AND FINALLY …
• Good, clear communication (not just publication) is vital
• As is technology transfer to those who need it

22. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
John Bryant
University of Exeter
j.a.bryant@exeter.ac.uk
Global Plant Council, March 9, 2022