A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) classifies genome-edited plants as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and thus subjects them to prohibitive premarket risk evaluations. This decision not only ignores the science of agricultural improvement but almost certainly will impede developments that would enhance the sustainability of agriculture and world food security ….
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The progress of genetics toward a next generation of crops that can meet the needs of a rapidly warming planet has resulted from the joint effort of scientists in Europe, the United States, and many other countries. The reception of these advances, however, has not been uniform. The same genome-edited potato will now be treated differently in the United States, Australia and Argentina on the one hand, and in all of Europe on the other, even though the basic tenets of genetics and the principles of genome editing are universal.
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We support the call made by plant scientists at the 2018 International Plant Molecular Biology meeting for an immediate review of the CJEU ruling on plant genome editing. We believe that the benefits of crop improvement, whether through genome editing or other means, should be available to farmers who want them ….
Read full, original article: A call for science-based review of the European court’s decision on gene-edited crops
