If the EU Commission proposal is adopted, plants obtained from new genetic engineering (or new genomic techniques, NGTs) with up to 20 genetic changes could be placed on the market without having to undergo environmental risk assessment or food labelling. The fact that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in a targeted way to develop hazardous NGT plants with changes below the proposed threshold is being completely overlooked.
For example, a publicly available AI tool (ChatGPT 4o) can be used to design the genetic blueprint for an insecticidal maize plant that could subsequently be produced using NGTs. This has been demonstrated for the first time in a proof-of-concept experiment. The criteria proposed by the EU Commission formed the basis of a ‘construction’ manual to circumvent mandatory risk assessment.
The insecticidal plants may not only be toxic to the targeted pest species, but may also pose serious risks to non-target organisms, food webs, ecosystem functions and biodiversity. Current EU legislative proposals would categorise these plants as NGT-1, thus allowing them to be released into the environment and marketed with no prior environmental risk assessment. Food products containing the plants would also not be subject to labelling requirements.
In actual fact, there is no reliable scientific justification for NGT plants with less than a ‘magic threshold’ of 20 genetic changes to be considered safer than other genetically engineered plants.
The insecticidal AI maize can be seen as appropriate experimental proof that the EU Commission proposal for the future regulation of NGT plants is inadequate and already outdated, even before it could be implemented. Testbiotech is, therefore, demanding that the proposal be withdrawn.
Labs around the world are working to combine artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. This will further accelerate the already dynamic technological developments. It is crucial to not only see the possible advantages, but also the risks. Against this backdrop, much more emphasis must be placed on the precautionary principle.
Contact:
Christoph Then, info@testbiotech.org, Tel + 49 151 54638040
Further information: