Landes Highlights

stuart smyth and Peter Phillips, both from the University of saskatchewan, review the consequences of an increasingly divergent regulation structure in the biotechnology sector. Regulatory decisions for genetically modified (gM) crops in north america and numerous countries in Latin and south america, australia, and asia are, in the views of the authors, predictable and efficient. in stark contrast, regulatory decisions reached in the european Union are described as politically motivated rather than being guided by science and well established risk assessment methodologies. the authors argue that the establishment of the european Food safety agency (eFsa) has resulted in a decoupling of the risk assessment and product approval processes within the eU. eFsa conducts the risk assessment using science-based methodologies and provides a report of their assessment to the european Commission, while the product approval process resides with committees of the european Commission, resulting in the politicization of risk. several examples are given where the current restrictive politics have led to severe economic consequences and significant costs in the absence of any objective risk for human health or the environment. thus, the authors see a pressing need to consider the appropriate role for science and society in the evaluation of new risks imposed by transformative technologies, in this case by the introduction of biotechnology in the agrifood system.