Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

International trade and the global pipeline of new GM crops

Nature Biotechnology volume 28, pages 23–25 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

To the Editor:

In a previous issue, Paul Christou and colleagues1 highlighted the patchwork of laws and regulations governing tolerance levels for approved genetically modified (GM) material in non-GM food and in the labeling and traceability of GM products. A related but different problem is that of 'asynchronous approval' of new GM crops across international jurisdictions, which is of growing concern due to its potential impact on global trade. Different countries have different authorization procedures and, even if regulatory dossiers are submitted at the same time, approval is not given simultaneously (in some cases, delays can even amount to years). For instance, by mid-2009 over 40 transgenic events were approved or close to approval elsewhere but not yet approved—or not even submitted—in the European Union (EU; Brussels) (for more details, see Supplementary Data). Yet, like some other jurisdictions, the EU also operates a 'zero-tolerance' policy to even the smallest traces of nationally unapproved GM crops (so-called low-level presence). The resultant rejection of agricultural imports has already caused high economic losses and threatens to disrupt global agri-food supply chains2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Current numbers and estimations of future numbers of GM crops worldwide.

References

  1. Ramessar, K., Capell, T., Twyman, R.M., Quemada, H. & Christou, P. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 975–978 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Vermij, P. Nat. Biotechnol. 24, 1301–1302 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mitchell, P. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 1065–1066 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. DG AGRI. Economic Impact of Unapproved GMOs on EU Feed Imports and Livestock Production (European Commission, Brussels, 2007). <http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/publi/reports/>

  5. Brookes, G. Economic Impacts of Low Level Presence of Not Yet Approved GMOs on the EU Food Sector (Graham Brookes Consulting, Gloucester, 2008). <http://www.agindustries.org.uk/document.aspx?fn=load&media_id=3118&publicationId=396>

    Google Scholar 

  6. Backus, G.B.C. et al. EU Policy on GMOs: a Quick Scan of the Economic Consequences (LEI Report 2008-070, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Hague, 2008). <http://www.lei.wur.nl/UK/publications+en+products/LEI+publications/default.htm?id=932>

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hornby, C. et al. EU Rejects More US Soy with GM corn traces. Reuters, September 18, 2009 <http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKTR58H4GG20090918>

  8. Fischer Boel, M. GMOs: letting the voice of science speak. (European Commissioner for Agriculture, SPEECH/09/474, European Commission, Brussels, 2009). <http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/474>

    Google Scholar 

  9. Stein, A.J. & Rodríguez-Cerezo, E. The Global Pipeline of New GM Crops: Implications of Asynchronous Approval for International Trade (JRC Technical Report EUR 23486 EN, European Communities, Luxemburg, 2009). <http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=2420>

    Google Scholar 

  10. Graff, G.D., Zilberman, D. & Bennett, A.B. Nat. Biotechnol. 27, 702–704 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Batson, A. & Areddy, J.T. Beijing gives nod to modified rice. Wall Street Journal, p.A13 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125959909959569901.html> (1 December 2009).

  12. Gruère, G & Sengupta, D. Food Pol. 34, 399–406 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Seville, Spain

    Alexander J Stein & Emilio Rodríguez-Cerezo

Authors
  1. Alexander J Stein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emilio Rodríguez-Cerezo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Alexander J Stein or Emilio Rodríguez-Cerezo.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stein, A., Rodríguez-Cerezo, E. International trade and the global pipeline of new GM crops. Nat Biotechnol 28, 23–25 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0110-23b

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0110-23b

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing