Switzerland edges towards embracing gene edited foods

[After a 20-year moratorium on genetically modified crops], the Swiss parliament asked the government to prepare a draft act for consultation [to introduce] a risk-based approval system for plants and seeds developed using CRISPR technology. This will give an exemption to the GMO ban, permitting trials of plants that have been subjected to genetic engineering techniques, that do not contain foreign genes and that offer added value for agriculture, the environment, and consumers.

Among those likely to participate in the consultation process is the Swiss-based Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), one of the world’s leading institutes in organic agriculture. The organisation is concerned about the potential impact of gene editing on organic farming and is putting together its own official position on the issue.

“We see the potential of gene editing to help to reduce the application of synthetic pesticides in the short term for conventional agriculture,” says Monika Messmer, co-Group Lead of Plant Breeding at FiBL. “However, we are afraid that the overpromising of such fast technical fixes bears the great risk that the important and urgently needed transformation towards more sustainable agricultural and food systems will be further postponed.”

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