Finnish green party says restrictions on agricultural gene editing should be relaxed to encourage sustainable farming

Sign that says "GMO-free state" in Finnish. Credit: Hej Da GMO
Sign that says "GMO-free state" in Finnish. Credit: Hej Da GMO

The [Finnish] Green Party council supports the dismantling of the regulation on genetically modified organisms (GMO). The party council approved an updated agricultural political program, which states that breeding methods using genetic technology should be regulated in the same way as traditional breeding methods.

The initiator, the chairman of the Green Youth, Jami Haavisto, considered the policy change historic. “No other parliamentary party has yet dared to propose a similar change to GMO regulation,” Haavisto said in the press release.

The party council unanimously approved the new policy.

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The means of genetic technology will be needed in the future, when climate change reduces cultivated areas and weakens the conditions for food production. 

“This means that the yield must be increased. This cannot be done without the use of genetic breeding methods in plant breeding,” Haavisto said.

According to Haavisto, GMO varieties are also a huge opportunity for Finnish agriculture.

“We have the necessary excellence in research and development, as well as favorable conditions for experimental cultivation of different varieties.”

[Editor’s note: This article has been translated from Finnish and edited for clarity.]

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here

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