Britain鈥檚 biggest bioscience company last week vowed to lobby through
鈥榚very available channel鈥� for less strict European regulations governing
biotechnology. This would mean amending a European directive which forms
the basis for national laws in each member state.
鈥楾he directive itself is flawed and needs revising,鈥� said Ed Dart, the
research director of Zeneca Seeds, in evidence to the House of Lords Committee
on Science and Technology.
Dart said that the directive was too strict and had forced the Department
of the Environment to introduce laws that were unnecessarily impractical
and bureaucratic. 鈥楾he regulations from the current directive are a lead
ball on our feet compared with elsewhere in the world,鈥� he said.
Advertisement
Last week President Clinton approved guidelines for regulating biotechnology
in the US that were far more practical and cheaper. For example, companies,
wishing to do tests outdoors with genetically-engineered versions of the
country鈥檚 six most important crops had to submit a two-page application
and give just 30 days鈥� notice of the experiment.
