EuropaBio, The European Association of Bioindustries, has issued an updated report on the EU’s GM product approval process. It criticizes the European Commission’s habit of delaying decisions on GM product approval, even after a product has been successfully evaluated by independent scientists. An excerpt:
The EU’s strict laws for GM products state that approval decisions have to be taken quickly once a product is declared safe by independent scientists. However, the European Commission routinely delays such decisions, often for years. The combined undue delay for all GM products? 51 years.
The EU has one of the world’s strictest approval systems for GM crops, but the fact that it doesn’t seem to trust its own legal and scientific framework for approving these products sends a confused signal. If such strict guidelines are not enough to ensure quick, efficient approval for products that do pass muster, then what is needed to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of GM technology?
Read EuropaBio’s article about the updated report here: Half a century of undue delays in the EU approval of GM products
Read the full report (PDF) here.
Related on the SLP
Additional Resources:
- “Monsanto, Dow Crops Face Delays as U.S. Increases Scrutiny,” Bloomberg Businessweek
This problem with delays in the EU approval system reflects a recent controversy in the US over the FDA’s decision to withhold approval of AquaBounty’s GM salmon for several months after the fish was successfully evaluated and deemed safe. Here are some articles on that controversy.
