AAAS editorial: Shift GMO regulations to focus on “consequences of doing nothing”

In Canada, a trait-based regulatory system is used in which the actual trait, such as drought or disease resistance, rather than the method used to derive it, is the basis for regulation. Such a trait-based system is analogous to the regulation of new agents in medicine, which takes into account the context in which the product will be applied…

The contextual notion used in regulating new medicines may also be helpful in debates around the assessment of new varieties of crops or other engineered products. It is important to consider their benefit-to risk ratio in the context of the likely harm of making no intervention to combat the problem that the new product is aimed at solving, such as fungus resistance…

…[S]uch a contextual framework will at least facilitate a more constructive debate that is more consistent with other forms of regulation in Europe and elsewhere and which should aid the translation of new research into application.

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