Biotech Baby Steps

NZ’s recently altered stance on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is the subject of an in-depth Technology Reviewfeature. “NZ, of all places, may have found a solution [to public and political resistance to GMOs], proving once again that the best ideas pop up where they are least expected.” According to the article’s numerous US and European interviewees, NZ’s rigorous regulatory system for proposed agbio ventures “gives NZers more power to participate in the approval process for local GMO research and development projects than any other people in the world,” making it “the gold standard” for government regulators in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Brazil. The long-term effectiveness of the system – politically, economically and socially – remains to be seen, but both national and international proponents of agbio research regard it as a very promising start.