Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops

• We highlight paradoxes in current EU agricultural policies, specifically on GE products, which are contradictory and irrational.
• There is a huge discrepancy in EU regulations on home-grown and imported GE products.
• We provide case studies to show how EU agricultural policies are damaging the European and International economy.
• We show how research and innovation is being stifled and driven abroad.
• We recommend a bottom-up revision of the regulatory framework governing GE crops.

European Union (EU) agricultural policy has been developed in the pursuit of laudable goals such as a competitive economy and regulatory harmony across the union. However, what has emerged is a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. In this review, we present case studies highlighting differences in the regulations applied to foods grown in EU countries and identical imported products, which show that the EU is undermining its own competitiveness in the agricultural sector, damaging both the EU and its humanitarian activities in the developing world. We recommend the adoption of rational, science-based principles for the harmonization of agricultural policies to prevent economic decline and lower standards of living across the continent.