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Trends in Genetically Engineered Crops' Approval Times in the United States and the European Union

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  • Richard Danvers Smart
  • Matthias Blum
  • Justus Wesseler

Abstract

Genetically engineered (GE) crops are subject to regulatory oversight to ensure their safety for humans and the environment. Their approval in the European Union (EU) starts with an application in a given Member State followed by a scientific risk assessment, and ends with a political decision-making step (risk management). In the United States (US) approval begins with a scientific (field trial) step and ends with a 'bureaucratic' decision-making step. We investigate trends for the time taken for these steps and the overall time taken for approving GE crops in the US and the EU. Our results show that from 1996-2015 the overall time trend for approval in the EU decreased and then flattened off, with an overall mean completion-time of 1,763 days. In the US in 1998 there was a break in the trend of the overall approval time. Initially, from 1988 until 1997 the trend decreased with a mean approval time of 1,321 days; from 1998-2015, the trend almost stagnated with a mean approval time of 2,467 days.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Danvers Smart & Matthias Blum & Justus Wesseler, 2016. "Trends in Genetically Engineered Crops' Approval Times in the United States and the European Union," Economics Working Papers 16-03, Queen's Management School, Queen's University Belfast.
    • Handle: RePEc:qub:wpaper:1603
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vigani, Mauro & Olper, Alessandro, 2013. "GMO standards, endogenous policy and the market for information," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 32-43.
    2. Henseler, Martin & Piot-Lepetit, Isabelle & Ferrari, Emanuele & Mellado, Aida Gonzalez & Banse, Martin & Grethe, Harald & Parisi, Claudia & Hélaine, Sophie, 2013. "On the asynchronous approvals of GM crops: Potential market impacts of a trade disruption of EU soy imports," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 166-176.
    3. Vigani, Mauro & Raimondi, Valentina & Olper, Alessandro, 2012. "International trade and endogenous standards: the case of GMO regulations," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 415-437, July.
    4. Wesseler, Justus & Zilberman, David, 2014. "The economic power of the Golden Rice opposition," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 724-742, December.
    5. Maarten J. Punt & Justus Wesseler, 2016. "Legal But Costly: An Analysis of the EU GM Regulation in the Light of the WTO Trade Dispute Between the EU and the USA," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 158-169, January.
    6. Smart, Richard D. & Blum, Matthias & Wesseler, Justus, 2015. "EU Member States’ Voting for Authorizing Genetically Engineered Crops: a Regulatory Gridlock," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 64(04), December.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Richard D. Smart & Amer Ait Sidhoum & Johannes Sauer, 2022. "Decomposition of efficiency in the global seed industry: A nonparametric approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2133-2147, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    GE; Genetically modified organism (GMO); Transgenic; US; EU; Regulatory oversight; Authorization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

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