Report Highlights the Cost of Europe Saying ‘No' to Gene Editing

Breakthrough Institute and the Alliance for Science released a report about the economic costs of regulating new genomic techniques in the European Union. The report, titled The €3 Trillion Cost of Saying No: How the EU Risks Falling Behind in the Bioeconomy Revolution, presents that the EU's policies are not up-to-date, classifying gene-edited crops as genetically modified organisms, which is governed by a 2001 regulatory framework. Thus, the NGT regulations hamper economic advancement, employment, and environmental sustainability in the continent and other regions.

The highlights of the report include the following:

• NGTs have the potential to contribute to economic growth through the agriculture and food; materials, chemicals and energy; and human health sectors.
• The potential economic benefits of NGT use per year from 2020 up to 2040 reach 2020 billions of euros in order to calculate the opportunity cost of non-adoption. 
• Non-adoption of NGTs led to economic benefits foregone to the EU, amounting to €171-335 billion per year. This compounds to an economic loss, estimated at over €3 trillion of economic benefits over a decade. 

Download the report for more information.