News
2023-12-12 | permalink
New GE: No majority for the EU Commission proposal Calls for mandatory risk assessment intensify
The EU agriculture ministers did not approve the proposal to deregulate plants derived from new genetic engineering (New GE, also new genomic techniques, NGT) at their meeting on 11 December. The Spanish EU Council Presidency put the regulatory proposal to the vote with only minor amendments. If approved, the Commission proposal would allow the release and marketing of genetically engineered plants, e. g. plants altered with CRISPR/Cas gene scissors, without prior mandatory risk assessment.
testbiotech: New GE: No majority for the EU Commission proposal2023-12-12 | permalink
New GE: No majority for the EU Commission proposal
Calls for mandatory risk assessment intensify
The EU agriculture ministers did not approve the proposal to deregulate plants derived from new genetic engineering (New GE, also new genomic techniques, NGT) at their meeting on 11 December. The Spanish EU Council Presidency put the regulatory proposal to the vote with only minor amendments. If approved, the Commission proposal would allow the release and marketing of genetically engineered plants, e. g. plants altered with CRISPR/Cas gene scissors, without prior mandatory risk assessment. Several agriculture ministers very clearly disagreed with the proposal, and demanded that the risks must be examined on a case-by-case basis before any approval is granted.
2023-12-11 | permalink
EU Agriculture Council challenges the deregulation of new GMOs
Today's outcome is "a relief for nature protection, our right to transparency, our right to know what we buy and eat, and our freedom of choice"
Today Europe's agriculture ministers challenged the Spanish presidency's proposal to widely deregulate the new generation of genetically modified plants (new GMOs, or now so-called "new genomic techniques" or NGT). The ministers' evident lack of support[1] is a warning to lawmakers that excluding new GMOs from the current EU GMO rules would flood European fields with patented new GM seeds and increase monopolies in the farming sector.
2023-12-11 | permalink
Agriculture ministers reject compromise over GM crop regulation reform
The EU Council has rejected a Spanish bid to forge a joint position on a proposed deregulation of genetically modified (GM) crops produced using new genomic techniques (NGTs), with governments voicing concerns over safety, labelling and social acceptance.
2023-11-30 | permalink
Policymakers should respect organic's choice not to use NGTs
BRUSSELS, 30 NOVEMBER 2023 – Speaking at an online press conference this morning, Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe, called on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and Member States to respect organic farmers and operators’ choice to not use novel genomic techniques (NGTs) and maintain the ban on the use of NGTs in organic production as laid out in the Commission’s proposal. Bernard Lignon, IFOAM Organics Europe Board member and sector representative for processing and trade, called on policymakers to include full traceability on the use of NGTs in the production chain and the possibility for coexistence measures at national level in the legislative proposal.
