European environmental leadership: The EU approach to GM foods

Like fashion, policy initiatives come in waves. For more than two decades, and until the mid-1980s, US policy makers pursued detailed comprehensive environmental and consumer protection legislation that routinely exceeded standards regarded appropriate by their European counterparts (Brickman, Jasanoff and Ilgen, 1985; Jasanoff, 1993; Vogel, 2003). The US was a pioneer in identifying toxic substances in the air, water, soil, and food chain and followed with comprehensive precautionary legislation to protect the consumer and the environment. However, since the late 1980s, the tables have turned and the European Union through the European Commission has taken the lead in pushing for strict environmental and consumer protection legislation while the US has only reluctantly engaged in regulatory activity.