The big agribusiness companies have achieved “regulatory capture” of government agencies–but not in the way that many people think. At the urging of industry, since the 1980s federal agencies have over-regulated genetically engineered plants, animals and microorganisms–at great cost to U.S.-based R&D and, ultimately, to consumers.
The regulatory burden on the use of the newer techniques is far greater, and the opportunity costs of unnecessary regulatory delays and inflated development expenses are formidable. Billions of dollars have been squandered by the public and private sectors on complying with superfluous, redundant, unscientific regulatory requirements that have priced public sector and small-company R&D out of the business.
These inflated development costs are the primary reason that more than 99% of genetically engineered crops that are being cultivated are large-scale commodity crops–corn, cotton, canola, soy and sugar beets.
Read full original article: Lies, Damn Lies And Genetic Engineering
