‘Precautionary Principle’ justifies GMO bans, restrictions

If you want to know where someone stands on health and environment there can be few better barometers than their views on the Precautionary Principle (PP).

The PP has come back into the fore recently. Firstly, its application to the issue of GM crops is being scrutinised by a cross party Parliamentary inquiry which is considering whether it gets in the way of UK scientific competitiveness.

But it is also being debated as the US and EU hash out a sweeping trade agreement known the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Protocol (TTIP).

Under the guise of everyone working together – ‘harmonisation’ is what this is called in political and regulatory parlance – it promises to create massive profits and more jobs through trade liberalisation. All that we have to lose are some of the most basic approaches to safety.

Last October a barely-noticed Environment Committee report for Parliament found four areas which could be negatively impacted by the regulatory harmonisation required by TTIP:

GMOs: “Whereas the EU employs the precautionary principle and a thorough risk assessment process in determining which GMOs are allowed on the market, regulators in the US assume that GMOs are ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GMO counterparts and allow them on the market without a distinct regulatory regime.”…

Read the full original article: GMOs – Throwing precaution to the wind

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