First the good news: the European Union has approved six biotech corn varieties for import, although it still isn't allowing the cultivation of genetically-modified crops.
"When I read this I was really shocked," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. "Most of Europe is so against biotechnology."
"If they're going to import these biotech crops from America and Argentina then there's no reason they can't do this for Africa," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "It's a big step forward, although the EU has a very long way to go to join the 21st Century approach to biotech agriculture. The tragedy is that their fears are all based on superstition and excessive precaution."
Now the bad news. Excessive regulation and testing requirements mean it won't be until 2012 at the earliest that so-called "Golden Rice" comes to market, the crop's co-inventor writes in an editorial in the journal Nature. "Golden Rice" has been genetically modified with a vitamin A precursor; an estimated 250,000 children go blind each year from vitamin A deficiency in Africa and Southeast Asia.
"I therefore hold the regulation of genetic engineering responsible for the death and blindness of thousands of children and young mothers," the co-inventor, retired plant scientist Ingo Potrykus, writes in the editorial.
"It's a very strong statement, but it's very true," says Dr. Whelan.
And ACSH's Jeff Stier wonders what vital research is never performed in the first place, because of excessive regulation. People think, "why should we do the research, if there's going to be all this trouble."
