But governments have been very careful and conservative in their approaches to biotech regulation. Biotech regulation has been at least as rigid as the regulation process for pesticides. It's tempting, simply, to blame the activists and their organizations - always eager for new causes to champion, and new donations to solicit. But there has to be more to it than this. The public has become immune to 'the sky is falling' messages to which they are exposed endlessly.
Agricultural biotechnology is seen as the domain of big-name multinational corporations.
It is seen to be a means for large companies, many of them with backgrounds in the chemical industry, to exert more control on food production. The public doesn't like it. Neither, in fact, do a lot of farmers. Interestingly, the public generally accepts the dominance of large multinationals in other sectors - automobile manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and oil refining being examples. Accepted is the fact that large-scale investment is needed to ensure achievement in these areas.