In an era of political gridlock, biotechnology is becoming a rare bipartisan cause — a kind of Noah’s Ark project uniting Democrats and Republicans to preserve American scientific leadership.
Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) have teamed up to propose six new initiatives (see Graphic) in the forthcoming Farm Bill. Another legislative package, folded into the 2026 Intelligence Authorization Act, would solidify biotech as a major national security focus.
Biosecurity and biotechnology are no longer niche concerns. From brewing beer to cultivating cells for medicine, from making biodegradable packaging to mining minerals, biotech is becoming the next frontier of global power.
Unless the US and Europe act, the allies risk ceding dominance to China. For two decades, Beijing has treated biotechnology as a cornerstone of its industrial policy and a key pillar of its 14th Five-Year Plan, investing billions into genomics, synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and advanced biomanufacturing. Chinese firms such as BGI and WuXi AppTec operate in close alignment with the state, amassing global genetic data and refining tools that serve both commercial and military ends.
Skepticism has at times slowed momentum in both Europe and the US. Despite numerous studies reaffirming the safety of genetically modified crops, European policymakers long rejected them, fearing the development of “Frankenstein” foods. In the US, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has slashed nearly $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research owing to his long-held doubts about vaccine safety.
But these same US and European skeptics are now embracing biotech. Secretary Kennedy advocates “making American biotech accelerate,” and is pushing to ease regulations, spur rare-disease research, and promote health wearables. The EU is moving toward easing restrictions on gene editing for crops.
Both Europe and the US build on significant strengths. The US remains the world biotech superpower, and Europe has scored successes. Denmark, for example, has become a biotech superpower, channeling its agricultural expertise and clean-energy ethos into world-leading bio-industrial innovation. US and European scientists are responsible for many of the key biotech innovations. German researchers Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci built on American scientists Drew Weissman and Katalin Kariko’s groundbreaking work on mRNA technology to develop the revolutionary COVID-19 vaccine.
American Jennifer Douda and France’s Emmanuelle Charpentier shared the Nobel Prize for developing CRISPR gene editing, which has unleashed the modern biotech revolution. Britain’s co-founder of Google’s DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, and American John Jumper won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work on AlphaFold2, an AI model that predicted the structure of virtually all known proteins.
“US–EU collaboration is essential — we must be aligned, interoperable, and mutually reinforcing,” Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan told the 2025 CEPA Forum. “China is making biotech a strategic technology and blurring the lines between commercially viable and military applications. If we work aggressively, we can continue to be competitive.”
For the first time in decades, Washington seems to understand the high stakes. A catalyst came from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, which delivered its Charting the Future of Biotechnology report to Congress in April 2025. It argued that biotechnology is not a niche sector — it touches agriculture, health, defense, and supply chains.
The proposed laws build on the report and show how Congress is acknowledging that biology now defines security as much as the control of data or energy. If implemented, the legislative overhaul could catalyze a whole-of-society transformation — linking universities, startups, and national labs to drive innovation. Unlike the race for semiconductors or AI, the biotech contest is not just about chips or code — it’s about life itself, how we heal disease, make sustainable materials, clean up the environment, and secure supply chains.
Biotech’s power lies in its versatility. Consider the humble mushroom. Mycelium-based technologies are already producing biodegradable packaging, sustainable building materials, and even road components. The same biological processes that ferment beer can now grow materials stronger than concrete and lighter than plastic — without carbon emissions. Or take biomining. Using specialized microbes to extract rare minerals from waste or low-grade ore, scientists are discovering ways to reduce US dependence on China for critical rare earths. These tiny organisms can dissolve rock, liberate metals, and reclaim materials without the toxic byproducts of traditional mining. In strategic terms, biotechnology could help America re-engineer its supply chains from the cellular level up.
These powerful innovations require vigilance: it’s a thin line between innovation and weaponization. The same biotech technologies that produce vaccines and clean energy could enable surveillance or biological manipulation.
Biotechnology’s frontiers promise to strengthen global prosperity and health. The question is whether the United States and Europe can match China’s ambition.
Elly Rostoum is a Senior Resident Fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
Bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic cooperation on tech policy. All opinions expressed on Bandwidth are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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