7. Biotechnology

Abstract

This report summarizes the key developments during 2012 in the international governance of biosafety, agricultural biotechnology, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This year was one of relative quiet, with no major political controversies or breakthroughs in the international law arena. GMOs have now been on the market for seventeen years, and some GM crop varieties have reached nearly 100 percent market domination in a number of countries. According to the annual global status report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), the extraordinary growth trend in the global uptake of GM crops continued during 2012. This year’s new record of 170.3 million hectares of planted GM crops represents a 100-fold increase from the 1.7 million hectares planted in the introduction year of 1996. Moreover, during the past seventeen years, the accumulated worldwide hectarage has grown to 1.7 billion hectares, which is equivalent to an area that is 50 percent larger than the total land mass of the United States or China. Despite these impressive growth numbers, the annual increase rates seem to be slowing slightly. After nearly a decade and a half of double-digit growth numbers, in the last two years such growth has slowed to an annual increase of 8 percent and 6 percent respectively. Perhaps this is indicative that the commercialization peak has nearly been reached, and market saturation may be in sight, unless new crops and novel traits (that are perhaps more consumer benefit oriented) are developed.