GM Crop Regulation

Abstract

GMOs are more heavily regulated than any other agricultural technology. The regulation focuses primarily on the assessment and management of biosafety and food safety risks. Other important areas of regulation include labeling requirements for GM foods, as observed in some countries, and, related to labeling, rules of coexistence to facilitate segregation of supply chains for GM, conventional, and organic crops. Another area of regulation with immediate relevance for GM crops are intellectual property rights (IPRs) for biological materials and technolo-gies. In this chapter, I review regulatory approaches and discuss the wider implications for GMO research, commercialization, international agricultural trade, and market structure in the biotech industry.