UK on deregulatory path, eyeing the precautionary principle…

    150 150 ioana bere

    The UK’s new Prime Minster Johnson declared in his first speech that it is time “to liberate the UK’s bioscience sector from anti genetic modification rules”. EU policy on genetically modified organisms (GMO) is guided by the precautionary principle. At the moment, only one GMO has been granted an EU authorisation for cultivation (MON 810 corn from Monsanto, now Bayer). Nineteen countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Poland, have banned GMO cultivation altogether. Whilst the US, followed by Brazil, is the world’s largest GMO cultivator with over 100 million hectares (around 20% of its farmland).

    Prime Minister Johnson’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, is portrayed as an ultra-free market ideologue and has in the past spoken in favour of economic liberalisation and deregulation. Last year she also allegedly met US groups to discuss deregulation and the benefits of Reaganomics.

    … but US help is uncertain

    Immediately after the change of power in the UK, some US government representatives declared a readiness to agree a trade deal as soon as possible. They also “enthusiastically” supported a no-deal Brexit which they consider to be a window of opportunity to strike a “very substantial trade agreement”. But Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, ruled out the House’s support for any trade agreement with the UK which jeopardises the Good Friday Peace Agreement

    Boris Johnson’s first speech as Prime Minister (24 July 2019)
    European Parliament on GMOs cultivation ban in the EU
    The Guardian on Liz Truss
    Politico on US backing no-deal Brexit
    The Irish Times on Nancy Pelosi
    Brexit Watch previous related articles (see under section Trade)

    In order to facilitate the use of our website, we use cookies.

    Please confirm if you accept our tracking cookies. When declining the cookies, you can continue visiting the website without sending data to third party services. Read our complete cookie statement here.