PG Economics Report Urges UK to "Bring Back" Sound Science in Crop Regulation Post-Brexit

An independent analysis reports that the UK's failure to diverge from some aspects of EU regulation of crop biotechnology and new breeding techniques (NBTs) after Brexit will represent missed opportunities that could lead to the UK failing to take advantage of available economic and wider societal benefits.

Written by agricultural economist Graham Brookes of PG Economics Ltd., the report examines three scenarios for the regulation of gene edited crops and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The report concludes that if the UK sets its own sound-science-based regulatory system, it will provide a first-class food safety assessment system that potentially gives farmers better seed, improves their competitiveness, better meets consumer demands, and maximizes long-term benefits to the UK. These benefits are likely to be at the highest if the UK sets its own path on regulating both GMOs and NBTs based on sound science, consistent with the regulatory systems operating in most other countries of the world.

Currently, all crop biotechnology innovations are subject to the EU's regulatory framework. In July, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that NBTs will be subject to the same regulations.

For more details, read the press release from PG Economics.