The perfect storm: GMO governance and the EU technocratic turn

This chapter explores the GMO regulatory conundrum against the broader backdrop of evidence-based and socially acceptable risk approaches to the governance of uncertain risks. Drawing on recent case law and regulatory developments, the chapter points to the gap between the narrow evidence-based perspective of EU institutions and socially acceptable approaches, advocated throughout the years by NGOs, societal stakeholders and a plurality of Member States. The Commission has failed to put forward a convincing case that, taking precautionary levels of protection and all relevant other legitimate factors into due consideration, the uncertain risks posed by GMOs are socially acceptable and worth running. On these grounds the chapter concludes that the Commission’s technocratic focus and its failure to acknowledge EU-wide aversion to GMOs have ultimately created more problems than they solved.