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role of science and politics in the assessment and management of risk to modern
European societies. Let us consider each in turn.
2.1. GMOs as a Multi-Sectoral Challenge
Unlike many of the policies examined in other chapters of this book, the
regulation of biotechnology, and even the narrower question of the regulation and
marketing of genetically modified foods and crops, is an inherently complex and multi-
sectoral policy, involving actors and perspectives from many distinct issue-areas. For
example, within the Commission – which has played a leading role in both formulating
and implementing EU policies – biotechnology policy raises important questions for the
Directorates-General with responsibility for the internal market, industrial policy,
research and technological development, environmental protection, food safety and
consumer protection, agriculture, and international trade. Each of these issue-areas,
moreover, raises distinct issues regarding the regulation of GMOs:
1. With regard to the internal market, the primary concern is the free movement of
goods, services, labor and capital, and hence more specifically the free movement
of genetically modified seeds, crops, and food within the Union. Indeed, as we
shall see, the need to complete the internal market was claimed by the
Commission as the primary legal basis of much EU legislation in this area.
2. In addition to the internal market, however, the question of biotechnology has
consistently been an important question for the Union’s industrial policy, as the
Commission and others have sought to secure a regulatory environment
conducive to the development of a European biotechnology industry capable of
competing with that of the United States.
3. Related to this last point, biotechnology appeared at an early stage on the agenda
of the Union’s research and technological development policy, as an area in
which the Union seeks to sponsor collaborative cross-national scientific research.
Convention