The EU’s use of the precautionary principle on agricultural technologies is a bad, broken compass. How far lost are we? The EU went from being a region producing food surpluses to a trade zone that can no longer feed itself. Banning most GMO production, the EU is forced to import GM feed in order to raise livestock. The recent precautionary moves on neonicotinoids and now glyphosate means that certain insect infestations . . .and the inability to efficiently control weeds, will further reduce agricultural yields.
. . . . There will be those in 15 years who will pat themselves on the back saying: “Yay! We still have bees!” Well … the bees, as data shows, were not suffering as claimed, and where there were issues, it was not from pesticides!!!
The EU compass has taken us down a non-GMO route for two decades. . . . we can see . . . that other countries . . . have done very well with a wide variation of seed technology and agro-innovation. If our regulators would look up from their spinning magnetic needle they would maybe reconsider the path they had chosen. . . .
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Getting lost with a bad compass: Precaution and pesticides
