Thinking across time: A 20-Year perspective on biotech policy

Abstract

Presented is a broad historical view of critical moments in the biotech industry that have framed the current issues with stress on the need for independent voices with limited ties to industry to serve as a science-based forum to address agriculture and food policy. Agree, with its broad cross-sectional representation of the food and agricultural system, is an organization that strives for consensus among groups with differing views. Such organizations can address complex questions, such as whether biotechnology can aid the organic industry rather than put farmers with differing production approaches at odds. However, the complex issues surrounding coexistence are unlikely to be fully resolved by voluntary or market forces, but will almost certainly require government regulation. The statutory authority of the USDA empowers the agency to issue “fair and transparent regulation” as a solution to coexistence.