ABSTRACT
When asked to predict the next wave of technological revolution for key and core technologies, policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic would probably include biotechnology as one of the most promising sectors. Since the 1980s both Europe and the United States have consistently acknowledged the enormous economic potential of biotechnology. Two decades later their status of commercialization of agricultural biotechnology is very different. In the European Un ion (EU) eighteen genetically engineered plants (GEPs) have been authorized so far for commercial release (including use in animal feed) and a total of sixteen GEPs for use in human food.1 In contrast, the United States has approved fifty-eight GEPs for environmental release and for food/feed purposes.2 These differences are more strik ing when looking at the total area used for commercial cultivation of GEPs. In the EU so far only Spain is growing GE plants. Only about 32,000 hectares comprising only one genetically modified maize variety are involved whereas total area of GEP in the United States amounts to 42.8 million hectares, comprising mainly various cultivars of maize, soybean, canola, cotton.3
