The Precautionary Principle and Non-scientific Factors in the Regulation of Biotech Foods

Abstract

In the current climate of rising food insecurity, new technologies such as modern agricultural biotechnologies, i.e. the genetic modification of plants and animals, and the cloning of animals, are identified as one of the main solutions to achieve sustainable intensification. The development of modern agricultural biotechnologies and their derived products have been controversial. Biotech foods are allegedly underpinned by scientific uncertainty. To regulate such technologies and to ensure information and safety, the European Union has adopted a precautionary approach relying on premarket authorisation and mandatory labelling. Despite these provisions, biotech foods continue to attract close scrutiny, in particular from the EU public. Against this background, this opinion explains why I came to research biotech foods, how these foods are currently regulated in the EU and why the existing regimes could be improved to allow for the consideration of consumer preferences and more generally non-scientific factors.