ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews how the controversies over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have created different scopes for public engagement in different political settings. It examines the implementation of coexistence regimes for GMO and non-GMO crops in three EU countries with particular attention to the possibilities created for public engagement. For this purpose, the chapter briefly recounts how coexistence regimes were established in Denmark, the UK and Germany. The implementation of regulatory regimes to ensure the coexistence of GM crops with conventional and organic agriculture provides a good case for exploring how public engagement with bio-objects is embedded in politico-cultural settings, which may imbue such objects with different social meanings. GMOs have served as a catalyst for a number of public concerns in relation to the rapid developments in modern biology, such as risk management, long-term socio-economic consequences of biotech innovation as well as ethical issues.
