Regulatory approval times for genetically modified (GM) crops are increasing
in many countries. The impact of unjustified regulatory delays due to policy
inefficiencies, lack of coordination or unnecessary and redundant
requirements may particularly affect the public sector and international R&D
investments which are intended to address the need for GM crops in
developing countries.

The first in a series of policy briefs released by the SEARCA Biotechnology
Information Center (SEARCA BIC) is based on a study co-authored by Dr. Jose
Benjamin Falck Zepeda, a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy
and Research Institute (IFPRI) and Policy Team Leader at the Program for
Biosafety Systems (PBS). The study sought to analyze the economic impact of
regulatory delays for GM crops. By modeling several regulatory delay
scenarios, results reveal that longer regulatory delays are associated with
higher investment risk which could possibly discourage investments in the
development of a GM crop. Findings of the analysis also emphasize the need
for regulators, decision-makers, and developers to reduce time delays and
increase the efficiency of coordinating decision points along the product
development cycle -- for R&D, regulatory review, and compliance to optimize
costs and time in delivering a product.



The 2018 Policy Brief series is produced in partnership with the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA), Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP),
Department of Agriculture-Biotechnology Program Office (DA-BPO), Program for
Biosafety Systems (PBS), and DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).

[bic.searca.org]
-delays-for-genetically-modified-crops/