Institut économique Molinari (IEM) in Paris released the results of a study conducted by Hiroko Shimizu which showed that most people have acknowledged and accepted the importance of genomics in the field of medicine but they are reluctant about its application in agriculture. Shimizu said that they should not be afraid because the benefits of new technologies are real. The fear of stagnation and burdensome regulation have caused growing regulatory costs and delays such as:

• Average development and registration times for new pesticides in 2005–8 were up 15% since1995.
• Average cost reached US$ 256 million, 11 times what it was between 1975-1980.
• From 2008 to 2012, the world average cost for commercializing a new GE crop was US$ 136 million, about US$35 million of which served to meet regulatory constraints.
• In 2011-13, a total of 842 million people (about one human in eight) were thought to suffer from chronic hunger.

Shimizu concluded that while no innovation can never be perfect, our primary concern should always be whether or not a specific innovation creates lesser problems than those that existing before. The role of innovation is to find better, less damaging ways of doing things, a process which is hindered by the precautionary principle.

Read the press release at http://www.institutmolinari.org/new-technologies-not-perfect-but,1737.html and the study at http://www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/note1113_en.pdf.