Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes how expertise is defined in the regulation process of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in Japan, how experts are recruited, what kind of chances for participation individual citizens and consumer advocacy groups have and how transparent the GMO regulation process is.

Paper long abstract:

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been a highly contested issue in Japan since the late 1990s. In 2001, when the Japanese government was reforming its food safety regulation system, it reacted to anti-GMO campaigns by consumer and farmers organizations and established mandatory labeling. In 2004, the newly established Food Safety Commission (FSC) was put in charge of mandatory risk assessment. Based on interviews with scientists advising the FSC's expert committee on genetically modified organisms and bureaucrats working at the FSC, this paper analyzes their perceptions of expert and lay knowledge and the role of public participation and transparency. While scientific and political communities often claim that the public is lacking the expertise to understand certain kind of risks or technologies and thus should not participate in risk-related decision-making processes, many scholars from the social sciences agree that public participation in decision-making increases trust in political actors and institutions. However, in Japan (as elsewhere), this participation is often limited to public comments or public consultation activities within or outside of deliberation councils and does not often result in different outcomes. The paper analyzes how expertise is defined against the backdrop of a distinction made between lay and expert knowledge, how experts are recruited, what kind of chances for participation individual citizens and consumer advocacy groups have and how transparent the GMO regulation process is. It also shows how policy makers and professional scientists hierarchize knowledge as either irrelevant lay knowledge or relevant expert knowledge. The paper thus addresses the complex relationship between scientists, bureaucrats, the parliament, MHLW and FSC, the food industry and consumer advocacy organizations, with a focus on conflicts and chances for cooperation. In this way, the paper provides a new perspective on power relations within the Japanese society and contributes to the discussion on public participation in food safety governance in Science and Technology Studies and the debate about the democratization and participation in Japanese politics.