ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Several commodity and agriculture-related organizations have asked officials charged with approving new biotechnology products for use in the European Union (EU) to improve the regulatory process.

Thirteen biotechnology traits for soy, maize, rapeseed and cotton have been waiting – some for several years – for approval in the EU. In a letter last month to officials with the European Commission’s health and food safety panel, the U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance said the slow approval process has “led to large disruptions in the transatlantic trade in raw materials used by EU food and feed producers, and increased costs for producers, the agricultural supply chains and EU consumers.”

The letter was signed by 13 organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA), the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers Assoc. and the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

The situation is still undecided well over a month after the March 12 letter was sent, said Wade Cowan, ASA president. “Like most things in Europe, you can talk to them until you’re blue in the face,” he said. “It’s not anywhere near clear when, how or if they’ll proceed. It makes it tough on producers and (biotech) companies.”

Delays in approving current biotechnology may impede future growth, Cowan stated.

“It really scares me that we might be missing out on that next generation of biotechnology; that next generation of modified crops that really provide help to many. We can’t afford to sit back and miss these opportunities.”

He doesn’t understand the apparent general reluctance of Europeans to accept biotech products. “It’s always been perplexing to me that an area of the world known for enlightenment regarding its ability to make scientific breakthroughs is stuck in flat mode when it comes to agriculture,” Cowan said.

“They have some of the best technology when it comes to (things such as) cars and computers. Why do we go back to the Stone Age to look at agriculture?

“If I thought it would harm one person, I wouldn’t use it,” he noted. “We have to get a positive message out – it’s been tested and studied, it’s safe and effective and lowers the cost of food. It helps improve your food.”

The agency overseeing the approval process has a new leader and that may have contributed more recently to a delay in permitting the 13 traits, Cowan said.

In its letter to the European agency, the biotech alliance made suggestions for officials to consider as they review the regulatory process in the EU. The agency should commit to full transparency during the review, the letter said. It should provide for EU access to the global supply of proven safe crop products enhanced through the use of biotechnology in the interest of EU agriculture and consumers.

The letter also asks the agency to maintain the risk assessment process and to develop a more efficient science-based risk assessment process for stacked biotech events. And, the agency should uphold the EU’s single-market for imported biotech crops and not use the review as a way to “further delay decisions on products that have completed all risk assessment and administrative procedures and only await final commission action.”