Road to approval for US biotech crops in China beset with massive delays, costing industry billions of dollars
div > div.group > p:first-child"> Industry groups and members of Congress have been urging the Trump administration to press China to make its regulatory process for approving agricultural biotech products more transparent and timely.
"The GMO approvals protocols are very oblique and yet have been a huge problem for the U.S.," said Joseph Glauber, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture chief economist and now a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. "We are encouraged that systemic improvements in the regulatory process in China remain an important focus in ongoing negotiations," said Christi Dixon, a spokesperson for Bayer, which last year completed the acquisition of U.S. seed giant Monsanto."We support the goal of these negotiations — enabling a predictable, timely, transparent and science-based process that fuels both global innovation and trade.
Regardless, American farmers have been hesitant to buy GMO seeds not approved by Beijing because the Chinese have historically been large buyers of U.S. agricultural commodities, including soybeans and corn. For example, the Chinese government in the past has turned away corn when it was found to have contained new biotech traits not approved by Beijing.
According to experts, some biotech products have waited more than six years for approval in China, and they insist there is no scientific basis for these lengthy delays. Also, Beijing agreed more than a year ago to make changes after being pressed, but sources insist the regulatory process has, in fact, become less transparent and less predictable.
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