Here, we argue that limiting the ethical discussion about agricultural biotechnologies to questions of risk assessments is problematic for at least two reasons.  First, doing so incorrectly assumes that the potential risks and benefits of agricultural biotechnologies, as normally understood in current risk assessments, are the sole significant normative concern.  Although risk assessments are certainly important, there are many other ethical and social concerns that must also be addressed with respect to agricultural biotechnologies.  Second, framing the debate as one that involves only technical problems effectively limits who can legitimately participate in the discussion.  Presumably, only scientific experts are trained sufficiently to determine the risks or benefits of GMOs, and non-scientists are therefore disqualified from participating in the dialogue.  But this erroneously presupposes that the evaluation of risks and benefits requires only scientific and technical analysis.  Nonetheless, risk assessments not only involve scientific values, but also ethical and social ones.  Thus, we make the case that these normative issues must not be left to scientific experts in a democratic society, but should be subjected to proper public deliberations?not ones steered by the media or pressure groups.