The following is an editorial summary.
The United States and European Union are in the process of negotiating a sweeping free-trade agreement, but the EU’s long-standing suspicion of and heavy restrictions on genetically modified crops presents a sticking point for what could be a massive boost to the US and EU economies.
Farmer John Reifsteck frames the issue:
Here in the United States, our science-based regulations approve biotechnology as a safe tool of sustainable agriculture[…] In Europe, however, everything is political, including the regulatory process that controls what products farmers can use. Many scientific groups in Europe, such as Britain’s Royal Society, have endorsed GM crops[…] Yet European governments ignore these recommendations, preferring to let anti-biotech activists drive consumer ignorance and dictate policies.
So GM crops have become a major area of transatlantic disagreement—a non-tariff barrier to healthy commerce in food.
But we must not take biotechnology off the table, he argues: “Rather than taking biotechnology off the table, let’s make it a centerpiece.”
Read the full story here: Don’t Allow Biotechnology to be Taken Off the EU-US Negotiating Table
