News

2023-10-27 |

Rules for New Genomic Techniques

Position Paper October 2023 Consumers

On July 5, 2023, the European Commission published a proposed regulation that provides for new regulations for plants produced using new genetic engineering (NGT). The EU Commission divides NGT plants into two categories with different requirements. NGT Category 1 plants are classified like conventionally grown plants. According to the draft regulation, there is no risk assessment for human health and the environment for this category, no labeling for consumers as a genetically modified organism, no traceability of genetic engineering along the value chain and no detection procedures.

2023-10-26 |

The role of the precautionary principle in dealing with new and emerging gene technologies

New GMOs - Scientific knowledge, what do we know ? Regulation and risk assessment, where do we come from ? 26 Oct 2023 EU Parliament Brussels

2023-10-26 |

Unmasking new GMOs protecting farmers and consumers’ right to transparency

BRIEFING ON THE RISKS OF EUROPEAN GMO LABEL DEREGULATION

The European Commission’s proposal to widely deregulate the new generation of Genetically Modified Organisms (new GMOs) - now called New Genomic Techniques or NGTs for political purposes - plans to take away farmers’, food processors’, retailers’ and consumers’ right to be informed whether the feed and food they buy contains new GMOs. The law proposal of the EU Commission is one that meets the demands of the agribusiness lobby rather than its citizens’ best interests. Studies show that, as long as consumers have the information whether their food contains GMOs or not, they prefer to choose conventional, organic or GMO-free options.1 This means that, if there is not a demand for GMO products, (many) farmers would not buy new GM seeds, limiting the European market and global pesticide corporations’ sales of these products.

2023-10-25 |

GMOs: the Commission ignores its experts to reassure industry

Has the European Commission based its proposal to deregulate GMOs/NTGs on “ sound science ” or on the demands of seed companies? Documents obtained by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) show that the Commission chose to listen to the companies rather than its own experts at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The EFSA had indeed asked for an assessment - albeit a relatively light one - of the risks of “ new GMOs ”. However, the European Commission has proposed to abolish this requirement, as requested by certain companies.

2023-10-25 |

Genetic Technologies in Food and Farming – A Manifesto for the Next Government

Genetically engineered organisms in food and farming are regulated, first and foremost, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Whatever subsequent legislation has appeared over the years, this is their appropriate context.

In recent years the UK government has sought to recontextualise genetic technologies in the narrowest possible terms, as a science and innovation issue. The result was the 2023 Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act – a highly contested piece of legislation which removes all regulatory control from genetically modified gene-edited organisms in England and imposes them on the whole of the UK market, unlabelled, unmonitored and untraceable.

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