Science and technology committee damns EU rules on authorisations for genentically-modified crops as politicised and unscientific.
The UK should be handed the regulatory power to green light genetically-modified crops because the EU’s GM rules are politicised and unscientific, an influential committee of MPs have said.
A new report from the committee is damning of regulatory delays caused by the EU’s consideration of GM under a ‘precautionary principle’ which obliges caution where scientific evidence is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertain.
“Opposition to genetically modified crops in many European countries is based on values and politics, not science,” said Andrew Miller, the chair of the science and technology committee. “The scientific evidence is clear that crops developed using genetic modification pose no more risk to humans, animals or the environment than equivalent crops developed using more ‘conventional’ techniques.”
The report argues that the EU’s regulatory system allows countries opposed to GM research to block growth in other countries, driving research out of Europe and endangering the UK’s ability to be a global biotech player.
More on: www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/26/uk-should-be-given-power-to-regulate-gm-crops-mps-say
