Second, the talk develops a framework, informed by work in science and technology studies, to try to explain why knowledge has not proven sufficient for authoritative decision making in this case.

This framework is applied to three critical stages in the recent GMO debate. The talk will also examine whether the problems besetting knowledge for decision-making purposes in this case are widespread and pervasive.

Moreover, current challenges, chiefly from the US authorities, intended to force the EU to liberalize its policy towards GMOs will be discussed. As these challenges have mostly been launched through the WTO the talk will consider whether the institutional setting of the WTO makes any difference to the way in which arguments about the testing of GMOs will be received.

Finally, Yearley will attempt to draw out some implications of this particular case for envisioning the role of expertise in decision-making in sustainable societies.

About Steve Yearley
Steve Yearley has recently been appointed Professor of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Professorial Fellow of the ESRC Genomics Forum.

Before that he was Professor and Head of Sociology at the University of York; he is also a Senior Research Fellow of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York. He is a sociologist of science who has specialized on the sociology of the environment.

He is the author of a number of books, including the following: The Green Case: A Sociology of Environmental Arguments, Issues and Politics (1991) Sociology, Environmentalism, Globalization (1996); Making Sense of Science: Understanding the Social Study of Science (2005); Cultures of Environmentalism: Empirical Studies in Environmental Sociology (2005) and The SAGE Dictionary aof Sociology (2006).