ABSTRACT
In Europe the application of the Precautionary Principle has generally made environmental regulation more risk averse than the US and public opinion tends to support this approach. However, American regulations regarding the handling of potentially carcinogenic substances are far stricter than in the Europe, However, it is not unknown for US companies to respond quickly and publicly to consumer fears related to GMOs. Since 1999 McCain Foods, the world’s largest producer of chips (French fries), has adhered to a policy that its foods would not include GMOs. Other major US-based companies have been at the forefront of promoting the assumed environmental and other benefits of GMOs. More recently, environmental policy and regulation in the US and EU seems to have reversed positions, with European regulation today more relaxed than the US in some areas, with the US now becoming a little stricter.
