Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
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has invested great capitals in the research on applied biotechnology.<br />
The prestigious ETH Zürich, one of the greatest beneficiaries of<br />
these investments and a key actor in Swiss debate usually shares and<br />
defends the opinions of the company. A high alarm about GMO will<br />
influence very negatively the allocation of public and private founds<br />
to the biotechnological research.<br />
On the other side of the barricade, the Union of Swiss Farmers<br />
considers the reject of GMO plants as a mark of distinction and quality<br />
of Swiss products. One of the first strategies in their fight against<br />
GMO plants was the creation of the Suisse garantie labels in 2004.<br />
The renunciation to the employ of gen techniques is a sine qua non<br />
requisite for national and regional products, which benefits from a<br />
great national costumers’ trust.<br />
Consumers associations are also highly concerned about technological<br />
evolution and their hypothetical risks. All the political parties<br />
made their own statements about the matter. The complexity of the<br />
Swiss federal system, in which very important rights to vote in referendum<br />
or promote a popular initiative are accorded to citizens, is<br />
one of the main causes of the great diversity of opinions between the<br />
parties and also inside the parties (CVP, SVP,…). That is why the Green<br />
Party, introducer of the popular initiative plays a key role but <strong>do</strong>esn’t<br />
monopolize the creation of public opinion in Switzerland.<br />
191<br />
FEDERALISM, DIRECT<br />
DEMOCRACY AND THE<br />
QUALITY OF PUBLIC<br />
DELIBERATION: THE<br />
GMO DEBATE<br />
José Luis Egío<br />
9. GMO Plants in Saint Galler Tagblatt<br />
• First regional newspaper in Eastern Switzerland. Daily circulation:<br />
99.000.<br />
• Presence of local editorial offices in 11 towns of the region.<br />
• Less dependent on national and international press agencies than La<br />
Opinión or El Periódico.<br />
• Period of news’ compilation: 2004-11 March 2010.<br />
• Key word of the research: gentechnisch, gentechnologie.<br />
• http://www.tagblatt.ch/suche/