Around the world, the British are known as a tradition-bound people.
“In England,” wrote H.G. Wells, “we have come to rely on a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century intervening between the perception that something ought to be done and a serious attempt to do it.”
Wells is probably best known for his 1898 science-fiction classic, The War of the Worlds. He had a fertile imagination, but not even he could have foreseen what has become one of the greatest wars in our world today: the battle over biotechnology.
The good news is that our current struggle doesn’t involve an army of invading Martians determined to wipe out the human race. Yet the Europeans are nevertheless doing what they can to make it as aggravating as possible. They may require British leadership to change their ways.
That’s because Prime Minister Tony Blair has become increasingly frustrated with his continent’s knee-jerk rejection of biotechnology. If you listen to him closely, he is an eloquent critic of the “precautionary principle” that has thwarted so much progress.
“What we need at some point,” said Blair last week in an interview with the Observer, is “a real debate about risk.”
Blair continued: “We are in danger of--depending on whatever is the media campaign of the day--ending up spending literally hundreds, sometimes millions, of pounds meeting quite a small risk, when actually that money would be far better used in other ways.”
He cited two recent public panics, the first over cell phones supposedly causing brain tumors and second concerning the red-dye food additive Sudan-1.
In a moment of candor--so rare in politicians--Blair also acknowledged: “It is probably best not to [mention] this in the heat of an election campaign.”
He may be right about that, and Britain is hurtling toward a round of national elections. Unlike the United States, which elects its federal officials on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the eleventh month of even-numbered years, the British schedule their political races at the last minute and at the discretion of the prime minister. Much of the current speculation has swirled around May 5 as Britain’s next election day.
Odds are that no matter when voters go to the polls, Blair and his Labor party will prevail (though perhaps with a reduced a majority). If Blair does triumph, I hope he will use his victory to encourage his countrymen, as well as the entire European Union, to understand that biotechnology is not a threat but an opportunity.
Too many Europeans continue to see biotechnology as a threat. Just last week the EU, once again, delayed a vote that might have permitted the importation of a biotech sweetcorn. Since the EU lifted its de facto moratorium on biotech foods nearly a year ago, it has approved only two specific products. If this is progress, then watching paint dry is entertainment.
In fairness, Blair is not the only European who apparently understands the promise of biotechnology. Spain allows its farmers to grow biotech crops. In 2004, they planted about 150,000 acres (1/8 of their crop) to biotech corn--double the amount from a year earlier. There is every reason to believe this rapid growth will continue.
At some point, the Europeans will reject their irrational fears over biotechnology--though it will take leadership from figures like Blair and countries like Spain. The EU needs to have a frank discussion about risks versus benefits. Consider the problem of deaths caused by highway accidents. There’s an obvious solution: We could all go back to horses and buggies. But who wants to do that? The risk of dying in a car crash is far outweighed by the everyday benefits of fast and comfortable travel. This is common sense.
Besides, if we went back to old-fashioned horsepower, the manure on I-80 would be waist deep by now.
I don’t have a strong preference over who wins the upcoming British elections (though I do appreciate Blair’s solid support of the United States). But I hope that Britain’s next leader, whether it’s Blair or another, continues on the course that Blair appears to be setting.
H.G. Wells may have thought the British lagged behind the times by five decades or more, but another one of his well-known books perhaps can point his countrymen in the right direction. It’s called The Time Machine. At last, the time has come for Europe to set the controls for the future.
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Around the world, the British are known as a tradition-bound people.
