After several months of negotiations under highest public attention and debate on the regulation of plants derived from new genomic techniques, the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) agreed on a proposal on January 24, 2024, to be considered by the Plenary.
Relevance and significance
The New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) include methods such as the CRISPR-Cas gene scissors, which can be used to specifically modify individual DNA building blocks without inserting foreign DNA segments.
The application of these NGTs can help develop plants with improved adaptive capabilities to counter the effects of climate change. Thanks to targeted genetic modifications, crops can already be developed that have increased resistance to disease, drought, and other environmental stressors. This can increase yields and make food production more efficient to ensure a sustainable food supply for a growing world population.
The proposal agreed on by the ENVI Committee
The ENVI Committee agreed on the proposal that in the future, certain category 1 NGT plants, which are acquired by targeted mutagenesis or cisgenesis techniques and are thus not distinguishable from plants acquired by conventional breeding techniques, will be exempted from the strict approval procedures for genetically modified organisms. The strict genetic engineering rules should continue to apply to the field of organic agriculture. For transparency, the Commission is aiming for a public database that introduces seed labeling and relevant information in variety catalogs. Varieties that do not fall into Category 1, for example because genes from another species have been introduced (transgenesis techniques), would continue to be subject to labeling requirements and the existing approval process.
The position of GASB
The German Association for Synthetic Biology welcomes the Committee’s proposal, as this presents a major step towards a science-based regulation of NGTs and can lay the foundation to making our agriculture more sustainable.
The understanding of crop genetics as well as the possibility and accuracy of editing them has seen significant progress in recent years. The application of new genomic techniques can make breeding of new varieties significantly faster and more efficient, which is crucial in facing the current challenges of climate change and food insecurity. Additionally, plants considered category 1 NGT plants under the legislative proposal present no increased risk profile compared to traditionally bred varieties, as targeted mutagenesis can be applied to edit a crop’s genome in a more precise and predictable manner, even eradicating the abundance of unintended mutations acquired by random mutagenesis, which has already been exempted from GMO framework for a long time.
The adoption of the legal file agreed on by the ENVI Committee can present a major step in safeguarding the future and sustainable design of Europe’s food production system and to enable a legal framework that ensures the European economy is not left behind in global comparison. It is now up to the European Parliament to adopt the proposal and thus to make a mark for science-based legislation and potentially foster synergistic effects to promote the European bioeconomy.
The European Parliament’s plenary will vote on the proposal in early February 2024.