The draft Swiss federal legislation on plants obtained from new genomic techniques (NGTs) was presented and released for consultation at the beginning of April. The Federal Council proposal gives considerably more weight to the protection of the environment and the interests of consumers than an EU legislative proposal currently being negotiated. The regulation of NGT plants in Switzerland is also to be relaxed, but without completely ripping it up as in the EU.
The Swiss authorities examined the EU Commission and EU Parliament proposals during the preparation phase of drawing up their draft legislation, but these were found to be insufficient. The explanatory report published together with the draft law states: “However, the Federal Council has decided against these variants [for future regulation of NGT plants]. For the Council, it is clear that the risk-based approach must enable innovation and the more sustainable use of natural resources. At the same time, it wants to take account of the precautionary principle and public concerns about genetic engineering. It therefore wants a more cautious opening with stronger control mechanisms for approval than the EU.“
In particular, the Swiss legislation does not include a category of NGT plants that will be generally exempt from risk assessment. Instead, every new NGT plant must be tested for risks. A risk assessment can only be waived if another NGT plant of the same species that inherits the same genetic changes, has already passed a safety assessment. This requirement is intended to prevent NGT plants from being placed on the Swiss market without being tested for safety. In the EU, however, this would be allowed for over 90% of NGT plants. In addition, the provisions in the Swiss legislation for labelling and traceability would go beyond what is currently planned in the EU.
Although Testbiotech sees a need to clarify the details, the Swiss proposal is considered to be much more suitable than the EU proposal. A proposal made by the competent French authority ANSES could be used as a basis for the clarification of open questions.
Whatever the case, the EU Parliament, member states and the EU Commission should abandon a concept that is ultimately based on pseudoscience, which seeks to introduce an arbitrary ‘magic threshold’ regarding the number of mutations considered to be safe.
Contact:
Christoph Then, info@testbiotech.org, Tel + 49 151 54638040
Further information:
Testbiotech briefing on draft NGT legislation in Switzerland