The European Commission is currently planning the extensive deregulation of plants obtained from new genetic engineering (NGTs). If implemented, the vast majority of these plants would in future no longer be tested for environmental risks. Labelling would also be abolished for food produced from these plants. Testbiotech has published a new brochure to explain why this is a bad idea.
The Commission proposal claims that 20 genetic changes in a plant would be harmless. This means that NGT plants with 20 or less genetic changes would be categorised as equivalent to conventional breeding. However, there is no scientific justification for this ‘magic threshold’. On the contrary, there are many examples of NGT plants with fewer changes that differ significantly from plants obtained from conventional breeding – and are therefore new to the environment.
As recently shown, the planned EU guidelines would allow the cultivation of insecticidal maize without prior mandatory risk assessment. It is also possible to use AI to develop genetic blueprints for these kinds of plants.
To the opinion of Testbiotech, one does not have to be against genetic engineering to demand appropriate regulation of the risks. On the contrary: if the NGT plants are to be used in agriculture and released into the environment, it is actually the proponents who should ensure that only safe products are brought to market. In any case, minimum standards should be observed:
- every organism must be tested for intended and unintended genetic changes;
- releases must be controllable in terms of time and space;
- transparency, traceability and labelling must be guaranteed throughout the entire production chain.
The EU is expected to make a decision by the end of the year on the Commission proposal. Therefore, Testbiotech is asking interested citizens to help inform politics and the public and share the new brochure online.
Contact:
Christoph Then, info@testbiotech.org, Tel + 49 151 54638040
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