The Economic and Marketing Challenges of Horticultural Biotechnology - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 181

b anS on Gmo S
The. United. States. was. an. early. and.aggressive. adopter.of.agricultural.biotechnol-
ogy;.the.E.U..was.not..In.fact,.it.adopted.a.precautionary.approach.that.emphasized.
a.zero-risk.tolerance.and.resulted.in.a.de.facto.ban.on.GM.technologies.for.a.decade,.
ending. only. in. 2008.. The. typical. explanation. for. the. stark. divergence. in. policies.
is. that. European. consumers. are. more. risk. averse. than. American. consumers,. in.
part. because. of. their. history. with. major. food. scares. 45-48 . Graff. and. Zilberman,.
however,.rejected.this.conventional.wisdom.because.risk.preferences.for.agricultural.
chemicals.and.intra-E.U..trade.reveal.a.level.of.acceptance.that.is.inconsistent.with.
the.zero-risk.tolerance.that.deined.GM.food.policy. 49 .They.instead.offered.an.expla-
nation. for. policy. divergence. based. on. political. economy. considerations. in. which.
Europeans.sought.to.protect.the.agrochemical.industry.in.which.they.had.a.compara-
tive.advantage.from.the.agricultural.biotechnology.industry.dominated.by.American.
irms..Graff.et.al..formalized.this.hypothesis.in.a.model.in.which.interested.parties,.
like.chemical.companies,.environmental.activists,.and.some.farming.cohorts,.per-
suaded.consumers.to.be.wary.of.GM.foods. 50 .Consumer.sentiment.then.inluenced.
policy,.resulting.in.regulations.that.may.not.serve.the.interests.of.consumers.in.the.
E.U..or.elsewhere.
The. European. ban. on. GM. foods. has. inluenced. policies. in. Africa,. which. has.
largely. banned. agricultural. biotechnology. in. spite. of. the. potential. for. substantial.
gains. 51 . African. countries. largely. rely. on. European. countries. for. export. markets,.
so. they. are. unlikely. to. deviate. from. European. policy.. Still,. there. is. evidence. that.
existing.technologies.could.generate.cost.savings.in.agricultural.production.of.10%.
and.that.yields.would.climb. 52 .Subsequent.generations.of.agricultural.biotechnology.
could.yield.even.greater.beneits.for.Africa,.providing.drought-tolerant.varieties.and.
boosting.the.nutrient.content.of.staple.crops.
The. European. ban. on. GM. food. imports. has. impacted. the. adoption. decisions. of.
farmers. beyond. Africa. 48 . For. instance,. Europe. is. a. major. destination. for. U.S.. farm.
production. and. vice. versa.. Following. the. institution. of. the. GM. food. moratorium. in.
Europe,.U.S..corn.exports.to.the.region.essentially.halted.out.of.fear.of.comingling.GM.
and.non-GM.corn. 53 .A.consequence.of.GMO.bans.around.the.world—and.especially.
in.Europe—is.that.the.market.for.GM.traits.is.artiicially.constrained..Even.though.
the.adoption.of.agricultural.biotechnology.has.been.rapid.by.historical.standards,.only.
about.one-fourth.of.the.world's.countries.planted.GM.seeds.in.2009—and.half.of.it.
was. planted.in.the. United. States. 1 . Farmers.in. nonadopting.countries.cannot. use. the.
new.technologies.even.if.they.want.to.use.them,.and.those.in.adopting.countries.may.
not.want.to.use.them.if.adoption.would.jeopardize.export.markets.
Without.a.robust.market.for.new.seed.technologies,.the.R&D.pipeline.shrinks,.
stranding. traits. that. have. already. been. created. and. slowing. the. creation. of. new.
traits..Graff.and.Zilberman.show.the.fall.in.patent.applications,.investment.dol-
lars,. and. irm. start-ups. that. occurred. during. the. European. ban. 49 .While. stringent.
regulation.may.have.been.intended.to.protect.against.risks.associated.with.damage-
controlling.GM.traits,.they.also.surely.delayed.the.introduction.of.quality-enhancing.
traits.. The. introduction. of. the. second-generation. GM. crops. is. long. overdue.. The.
European. moratorium,. then,. may. prove. to. have. signiicant. and. lasting. social.