Canadian breeders and seed technology companies are anxious about how regulators will handle new crops developed through gene editing.
Gene editing is the latest breakthrough in crop breeding. It involves tweaking existing genes within a plant as opposed to genetic modification, which involves inserting genes into a plant.
Ian Affleck, vice-president of plant biotechnology with CropLife Canada, said gene-edited crops could hit the market in 2019 yet Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have given no indication if or how they will be regulated.
“If that is not addressed soon, this uncertainty could most definitely put Canadian farmers and plant breeders at a disadvantage,” he said.
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Stuart Smyth, agri-food innovation chair at the University of Saskatchewan, said regulatory reviews in Canada typically take about 18 to 22 months.
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So, if gene-edited crops were regulated in Canada, farmers might have to wait nearly two years to get their hands on new crops already being grown in the U.S.
All of the plant breeders he has spoken to at the university use gene-editing techniques in their labs. They are worried about how it will be regulated at home and abroad.
“A lot of them are really concerned about how external export markets are going to regulate this,” he said.
Read full, original post: Rules for gene editing a worry
