Option
The EU Commission wants to abolish the proven rules for risk assessment, authorization procedures and labeling requirements for the majority of “new genetic engineering” plants. That would be the end of transparency and freedom of choice. Member states should no longer be able to prohibit the cultivation of "new genetic engineering" plants.
On July 5th, the EU Commission intends to put the proposal for the revision of European genetic engineering laws, which has already been postponed several times, on the table. A first leaked draft has been available since last week – in which, however, essential shortcomings and weaknesses criticized by the EU Committee for Regulatory Scrutiny (Regulatory Scrutiny Board) in April of this year have not yet been remedied. If this version were to be implemented, a large proportion of the food and feed produced using “new genetic engineering” processes (such as CRISPR/Cas) would no longer have to be labelled. Scientific risk assessment, traceability and approval procedures would also be eliminated. Only a reporting procedure – the scope and quality of which is not defined – and seed labeling would be required.
The softening of the existing genetic engineering laws should apply to all plants "that also occur in nature or can be produced by conventional breeding" - i.e. the vast majority of the "new genetic engineering" plants that can come onto the market. However, the definition of such plants in the draft remains arbitrary and anything but scientifically sound. According to the proposal, the remaining "Neue Gentechnik" plants should continue to be labeled as such, but should also carry a questionable sustainability label.
EU Commission carelessly jeopardizes competitive advantage
“The present draft by the Commission is half-baked and contradictory. It is definitely not an instrument for more sustainable food production, but, on closer inspection, an affront to the GMO-free agriculture and food production, which have been highly successful in Europe. In doing so, the EU Commission is recklessly jeopardizing the great competitive advantage of farmers, manufacturers and retailers in Europe, who internationally stand for GMO-free quality production, in the interest of a few players. Austria, as a Europe-wide pioneer for GMO-free food, would be particularly affected,” explains Florian Faber, Managing Director of the ARGE Gentechnik-frei trade association. In Austria alone, the annual turnover with non-GMO food in the conventional sector is around 2,5 billion euros; in the organic segment another turnover of around 2 billion euros is achieved. In 2022, around 16 billion euros were sold "Ohne Gentechnik" in German retail.
Arbitrary and contradictory requirements for labeling
The draft stipulates that the use of "new genetic engineering" for organic farming will remain prohibited. However: How and at what cost this can be guaranteed without a legally anchored labeling obligation and traceability remains completely unclear in the draft. Likewise, the central questions of coexistence, i.e. the coexistence of "new genetic engineering" and "without genetic engineering" - this should be clarified by the member states. However, it should no longer be possible to ban the cultivation of these “new genetic engineering” plants nationally (“opt-out”).
“The EU Commission cannot and must not get away with this messed-up plan. That would be completely contrary to what consumers want, and also fatal in economic terms. No one understands the purely arbitrary distinction between genetic engineering that requires labeling and gene technology that does not. GMO-free and organic production are completely left out in the rain with this design. After all, how are they supposed to ensure in future that no genetic engineering gets into their products if the EU Commission sacrifices labeling and thus transparency and freedom of choice?” says Florian Faber.
Political process is only beginning now
The proposal could still change before the planned submission on July 5th. Only then does the political process begin, the so-called trilogue, in which further changes are likely and in the end the European Parliament and national governments would have to agree. In any case, the currently available, leaked draft has already met with severe criticism from the non-genetically modified economy, NGOs and organic associations.
Photo / Video: ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplah.
