The UK government has introduced a Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill which would set different rules from the EU following Brexit.
But the idea has been dismissed by environment secretary Mairi McAllan.
In turning down the UK government’s offer to include Scotland in its gene editing scheme, the Scottish government is not saying “never”.
Its preference is to wait for an EU-wide review of the technology, rather than to press ahead, with England, using the policy-making freedom that Brexit allows.
That is partly political – SNP ministers opposed Brexit and want to stay closely aligned to EU rules in the hope Scotland can one day rejoin the union as an independent country.
There’s also a more practical consideration – that divergence could lead to new trade barriers with the European single market if it wants to keep gene-edited produce out.
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Gene editing is supported by the National Farmers Union (NFU) in Scotland but Scottish ministers have consistently railed against it, aiming to keep as close as it can to EU regulations.
However, the EU has recently launched a consultation on bringing forward similar legislation for plants, food and feed produced from new genomic technologies.
