ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why GM food and feed has been largely accepted in the US and why it has been so vigorously resisted in the EU. It then explores the considerable differences of opinion among the EU member states regarding GM products and how these differences often make negotiations with external actors such as the US more complicated. The chapter presents some evidence that continuing disagreements between the US and EU on matters of genetic engineering may, paradoxically, result in modest convergence of corporate practices. The single largest source of disagreement is the fact that the American administration or political leadership is still keen to further the growth of agricultural genetic engineering. Rather than acknowledging that greater caution and some regulatory intervention may be warranted to prevent harmful health and environmental effects, the Bush administration continues to lend strong support to the development of 'designer' crops that go beyond herbicide or insect resistance.
