Relaxation of genetic engineering law: A milestone for genetic engineering in plant breeding

   “The EU Commission has presented plans to relax genetic engineering legislation. The hope: New techniques should produce resilient plants more quickly. This should also reduce the use of pesticides.

 

     The EU Commission is serious: It wants to significantly relax the existing European genetic engineering law. Certain breeds that are produced using new genetic engineering methods are to be exempted from the strict genetic engineering rules. The same safety requirements then apply to them as to conventional breeds that have arisen, for example, through crossing and selection. The legislative proposal published by the European Commission on Wednesday essentially corresponds to the previously announced draft.

 

     This should make it easier to grow new plants for food and do it more quickly using methods such as the Crispr/Cas gene scissors. The hope: the new technologies will lead to more targeted, more precise and faster changes.  

 

     The new legal framework is urgently needed to make agriculture more sustainable and resilient, Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels on Wednesday. “Farmers get new, resilient plants. They can use it to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and adapt to climate change," he said.

 

     Simplify complex procedures

 

     The proposal only concerns plants resulting from site-directed mutagenesis and cisgenesis and their food and feed products. In both methods, no genes from alien organisms are introduced. The proposal expressly excludes the introduction of foreign genetic information (transgenesis). 

 

In essence, plants produced using new genetic engineering techniques (NGT) are to be divided into two categories.

 

     First, plants that are comparable to naturally occurring or conventional plants. These should in fact be put on an equal footing with classic breeds. The decisive factor is that the plant in question or the change in this form could also have been produced using the tried and tested methods. The second group are NGT plants with more complex changes. These go through the more complex procedure of the GMO Directive. The seeds of plants from the first category should be marked accordingly. This can prevent the seeds from being used in organic farming. It's still banned there.

 

     Less bitter mustard through genetic engineering

 

     According to the Commission, new genetically engineered products are already on the market or about to be launched that are resistant to pests and diseases, more resistant to environmental stress, contain improved nutritional values or require fewer pesticides. For example, a less bitter mustard vegetable is on the market in the USA. Non-browning bananas are allowed in the Philippines, said to reduce food waste and carbon emissions. It will also be possible to develop improved crops, such as low-gluten wheat or virus-resistant corn.

 

     The EU Commission does not see any risk for people or the environment in the new proposals, on the contrary.  The EU Commission explained that current regulations - most notably GMO regulations - have lagged behind scientific and technological progress. Numerous researchers and scientific organizations would push for deregulation.

 

     Consumers should also benefit from the easing. It is hoped that in future they will be able to choose from a larger number of foods, such as those with a better taste or with a lower content of allergenic substances. 

 

In order to ensure freedom of choice along the supply chain, a public register is to provide information on the use of new breeding methods.

 

     Discussion about patents

 

     The Commission proposal does not include the question of how patent law is to be dealt with. In the run-up to this point, there had been explosives between the different interest groups. Brussels wants to counteract this and closely monitor the effects of the new legislation. Critics have already complained that large corporations can gain even more influence on food through patents and circumvent the existing variety protection. The German Farmers' Association also criticizes the patents, but sees the proposal as positive overall. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, for example, was more critical. New genetic engineering techniques could have potential risks and negative impacts on ecosystems.”

 

  

As always, the unelected by the electorate Commission of the European Union panders to huge corporations because the Commission of the European Union expects big bribes. If the new plant varieties are harmful to fungi and insects (don't worry, just "resistant" to them) whose genomes are similar to ours, then the new plant varieties will also be harmful to us humans. That harmfulness may occur over a longer period of time, so it may not be immediately apparent. Delicious and healthy food has been one of Europe's attractive factors until recently. Now they want to destroy it. If the European Union Commission wants such food, then let it eat it. Have a good time doing that.