ABSTRACT
Despite strong lobbying from many applied scientists and multinational firms represented through the Senior Advisory Group on Biotechnology (SAGB 1989), the European Commission proceeded in 1990 with processbased legislation that required all genetic manipulation to be notified and in some cases prior authorization to be sought from national authorities. All environmental releases required prior authorization with waiting periods of up to 90 days (EC Directives 219/90 and 220/90) before a consent could be granted.
