Commission stands by gene editing survey slammed by NGOs

A coalition of NGOs has joined forces to lambast the European Commission’s consultation process on its upcoming policy initiative on gene editing technologies – but the EU executive insists that a broad range of voices have already been heard on the contentious issue.

The letter, signed by a range of European and national campaign groups, holds that a targeted survey – designed to feel the pulse of key stakeholders ahead of the upcoming review of the EU’s rules on the technology – is “fundamentally flawed”.

As such, it is inadequate for a serious evaluation of the regulation of new genomic techniques (NGTs), the NGOs argue in the letter, sent to the EU’s food safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides on Tuesday (4 October).

The term NGTs – or new plant breeding techniques (NBTs) – describes a number of scientific methods used to alter genomes with the aim of genetically engineering certain traits into plants, such as drought tolerance.

As per the 2018 EU court ruling, organisms obtained by new plant breeding techniques are categorised as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), meaning that, in principle, they fall under the EU’s GMO Directive.

But following the outcome of a 2021 Commission study, which concluded that the current legal framework governing gene editing is insufficient, the EU executive is currently reevaluating the EU’s rules on technology.

The targeted survey, together with a consultation which closed in July 2022, is designed to feed into the Commission’s proposal for a legal framework for plants obtained by certain genetic techniques, known as targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis.

But according to the NGOs, while both the consultation and the survey were “characterised by strong bias” in terms of tone, content, and questions and response options, the targeted survey was “even more biased” in favour of the far-reaching deregulation of GMOs in agriculture and food.

NGOs also raised concerns about the absence of policy options in the public consultation material and subsequent lack of transparency on this topic, calling it “alarmingly one-sided”.

The letter comes on the back of a strong renewed push from EU agriculture ministers to open up the EU to the technology, arguing this is needed to bolster the sector in the face of increasing droughts, climate change, and yield losses.

This sentiment was echoed by biotech industry stakeholders, as well as the EU farmers’ association COPA-COGECA, for whom the change could not come fast enough.

“We need rapid solutions for new genetic techniques,” Christiane Lambert, president of COPA, told a meeting of EU agriculture ministers on Friday (16 September).

EU agri ministers renew push on genetic techniques to bolster sector

EU agriculture ministers are pushing the European Commission to relax rules on new genomic techniques (NGTs), arguing this is needed to bolster the sector in the face of increasing droughts, climate change and yield losses.

Commission: a ‘transparent’ process

For its part, a Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV that, while the EU executive does not comment on letters, this one will be “read very carefully”. 

“We indeed very much welcome a broad range of views on our policy initiative on NGTs,” they said, acknowledging that the initiative potentially impacts a large and diverse group of citizens and stakeholders. 

“This is why the Commission consults in full transparency with stakeholders having various scientific expertise,” he explained, stressing that their feedback and views will be taken into account by the Commission in the policy process. 

“Our ongoing impact assessment indeed considers a broad range of policy options. These reflect the full range of views received as feedback from different stakeholders, including that of maintaining the current GMO framework,” they added.

As such, the spokesperson said that the Commission remains “confident that all the different views within the scientific community are covered by this broad consultation”.

Asked whether there were any plans to repeat parts of the impact assessment in light of the criticism, the spokesperson declined to comment directly, instead pointing out that the impact assessment is still ongoing, reiterating that in this process “we build very much on the input from the broad group of stakeholders and researchers”.

Timmermans: Gene editing 'clear part' of sustainability action in agrifood

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans added his voice to the growing list of those in the EU executive advocating for gene editing, a move condemned by campaigners who accuse the Commission of already making their mind up on the technology.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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