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The Civil Liability of GM Crops Producers for the Environment and Consumers: Iran Case

Alireza Pouresmaeili, Mohammad Reza Vaezi Kakhki


The cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in order to ensure food security and reduce the world’s hungry population has taken an upturn since 1996. This research is made to investigate the liability arising from the cultivation and supply of GM crops to consumers in the context of Iran and the EU through a comparative view. In Iran, GM crops cultivation began in 1985, and today a variety of products is available in the food basket of consumers. The European Union (EU) strongly opposed the cultivation and marketing of GM crops from 1996 to 2003. The EU has been protecting the rights of consumers since 2003 by lifting various bans and restrictions on the cultivation, supply and import of GM crops. One of the main reasons for the EU’s opposition to the cultivation and supply of GM crops is misgiving about harming consumers, compromising the health of consumers and causing environmental pollution. The authors suggest that legislators in Iran, like the EU, recognize the system of strict liability by amending the laws in order to pass laws that protect the environment and consumers from the potential risks of GM crops and transgenic products and, therefore, must accept the strict liability system.

Alireza Pouresmaeili, Associate Professor, Private Law, Department of Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran. For Correspondence: <a.pouresmaeili@hsu.ac.ir>. Mohammad Reza Vaezi Kakhki, Assistant Professor, Plant Physiology and Genetics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran. This study has been financially supported by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) (Project No: 95842221) and the authors would like to thank INSF for providing necessary facilities for this research. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript.

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