It is worth emphasizing the importance of understanding causality — why events happen —in trying to assess the role of biotechnology in the food and agriculture systems of both developed and developing nations. There is currently much change in these sectors, and so care must be taken to evaluate these changes objectively and not lay blame on any one of these changes. Consumers play a decisive role in this evaluation. Only by understanding causality will there be a serious prospect of affecting outcomes, which is the real reason to be thoughtful in sorting through the complexity and ambiguity of change.