As that report predicted when the regulation was proposed more than a decade ago, it discourages the development of new pest-resistant crops and prolongs and increases the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, limits the use of the technology mainly to larger developers who can pay the inflated regulatory costs, and handicaps the U.S. in competition for international markets.

FORBES: Wrongheaded regulation will prolong the recession.

This approach, which has been repeatedly condemned by the scientific community, has discouraged the development of new pest-resistant crops, encouraged greater use of synthetic chemical pesticides, and limited the use of the newest genetic engineering technology mainly to larger developers who can pay the inflated regulatory costs.

FORBES: EPA Biotech Regulation Bucks The Scientific Consensus

There were concerns the development pesticide-resistant GM crops meant consumers were being exposed to increasingly toxic residues, some of which could damage embryos in the womb.

BBC: GM crops