Sometimes I’m not sure whether Europe’s seemingly deliberate ignorance of biotechnology calls for optimism or pessimism. Will the Europeans eventually come to their senses? Or will their consumers continue to prefer primitive superstition to modern science - living in fear of a bogeyman that doesn’t exist?
I’ve always been an optimist because I like happy endings, but pessimism tempts me once in awhile. I sometimes remember what former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said, “I’m an optimist, but I’m an optimist who carries a raincoat.”
From my perspective, there has been too much pessimism for too long. For five years, the European Union has refused to approve a single new biotech crop. This refusal has affected trade and cost American farmers hundreds of millions of dollars.
The EU’s moratorium is in reaction to their consumer’s lack of knowledge and their elected politician’s reaction to their consumers fears. In my view, the moratorium is illegal under the rules of the World Trade Organization--and the United States rightly filed a WTO complaint last year. It’s hurting the EU in other ways, too. For example, some of their top scientists are leaving because they have not seen a future for themselves in Europe.
On January 28, however, the Europeans gave me a pleasant surprise: the European Commission endorsed a genetically enhanced form of sweet corn.
It’s about time. During the EU’s five-year ban on biotech approvals, the United States has approved more than 50 different genetically enhanced products. But then we have a sensible policy - and a strong, credible regulatory system - that lets science govern our decisions about whether certain foods are completely safe for consumption.
There are still a few more hurdles to clear before Europe’s moratorium finally comes to an end. In the bureaucratic labyrinth that is European politics, the Commission’s proposal now goes before a council of government ministers. They have 90 days to act. They can approve or refuse the Commission’s recommendation. Or they can do nothing, in which case the Commission has the power to authorize its own suggestion.
I’m not going to issue a forecast. I have no idea what the EU ultimately will do. But I would like to recognize the Commission’s decision for what it is: a step in the right direction.
Circumstances call for cautious optimism because the EU now faces mounting international pressure to demonstrate that it isn’t irrevocably opposed to all biotech food--and because it would have been very easy to maintain the status quo of rejecting everything. This is the first genuine indication we’ve seen in a long time that the Europeans are ready to abandon an emotional position they have accepted for far too long and adopt a science-based one.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Rome wasn’t built in a day--and five years of emotion doesn’t come to an end just because a single variety of sweet corn stands on the threshold of an EU endorsement. European regulators and elected politicians have a lot of catching up to do. They need to embrace all forms of safe and healthy food. There is simply no scientific reason for them to do otherwise.
Unfortunately, for half a decade, too many European consumers have been confused and scared by the ‘green groups’ inferred message falsely linking biotech to mad cow disease and foot & mouth disease. What Europe needs is a campaign of public education that tells the truth about genetically enhanced foods.
The sweet corn decision is going in the right direction. Hopefully dozens of other products will begin to receive similar treatment and soon. But even if they do, Europe’s new labeling requirements will need careful scrutiny. Starting in April, food containing biotech enhanced ingredients will bear special labels saying so. The particulars still haven’t been announced and the devil is always in the details. But hopefully, they’ll result in a system that doesn’t frighten consumers but rather reassures and educates them.
As the issue of biotech acceptance continues to “boil” in Europe, I’ll hang up my raincoat and follow the example and words of E.C. McKenzie -”Remember the steam kettle; though it’s up to its neck in hot water, it continues to sing”. I’m optimistic the EU commissioners will continue to do the right thing and I’ll be “singing” in support of a happy ending.
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Sometimes I’m not sure whether Europe’s seemingly deliberate ignorance of biotechnology calls for optimism or pessimism. Will the Europeans eventually come to their senses? Or will their consumers continue to prefer primitive superstition to modern science - living in fear of a bogeyman that doesn’t exist?
