Shoppers will be unable to tell if they are eating ‘gene-edited’ foods as part of new government plans to speed up the development of crops and livestock with altered DNA.
The new Genetic Technology Bill, due to be introduced to Parliament [May 25], could pave the way for bird flu-resistant chickens, wheat which can withstand climate change, and crops that are more nutritious.
But it will also allow these gene-edited products to be sold without being labelled.
Under previous European rules, gene editing of livestock and plants was banned along with genetically modified (GM) produce — dubbed ‘Frankenfood’.
But post-Brexit, the Government is keen to embrace gene editing in an attempt to reduce the need for pesticides in farming, which would make it cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
Gideon Henderson, Defra’s chief scientific adviser, said there were currently no plans to introduce a labelling system for gene-edited products.
‘The intention at present is not to introduce a labelling system for gene-edited products which are in many cases identical to those which could be produced in other ways through traditional breeding and cannot actually be identified,’ he added.
‘So it will be scientifically not sensible to label them as such. But the labelling issue does remain an active question.’
