As the European Commission is considering how to regulate genetically modified (GM) products created with new GM technology, Eleonora Evi argues that the EU must continue to label all GM food as such, regardless of the technology used to produce it.
The public debate on genetic engineering in agriculture is largely characterised by misinformation, myths and a confused understanding of nature, writes plant breeding and gene editing expert, Professor Hans-Jörg Jacobsen (PhD).
In the last two decades, the cultivation of genetically biofortified crops, such as Golden Rice, to help solve the global humanitarian crisis of “malnutrition” remains elusive. Let’s consider the facts.
The new EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides recently told EURACTIV.com that her “priority is to gather more information” on gene editing. To this end, she said, "we will be preparing a study on new genomic techniques, foreseen for spring 2021”. Clearly, the design and set-up of such a study will be crucial to its outcome, writes Nina Holland.
The EU is leading the science-based fight against climate change and it will also lead on science-based plant innovation, writes former EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.
Europe seems increasingly ready to face the challenges of the 21st century and to lead the way to a ‘greener’ and more sustainable future. But what role can the EU Parliament play in the face of recent unsubstantiated “objections” against GMOs?
For many years leading European food retailers have been following a strict non-GMO policy. Retailers are the parties most concerned when it comes to GMO regulation. For them, the proper implementation of the ECJ ruling is crucial, writes Heike Moldenhauer.
The EU's rules on GMOs risk stifling innovation in biotechnology and could lead to China and the US increasing their patent domination, writes Marcel Kuntz.
It has been over 12,000 years since the Neolithic Revolution, when our nomadic ancestors began planting roots, quite literally -- trading in their hunter-gatherer lifestyles to cultivate crops. Today we’re facing another revolution in agriculture – one we must tackle together, writes Neal Gutterson.
On 25 October 2018, the European Parliament adopted a new legislative framework for veterinary medicinal products and medicated feed, which are a step forward in preventing the rise in antibiotic resistance.
While some may see the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the EU that states that organisms obtained by mutagenesis are GMOs and are therefore subject to obligations laid down by the GMO directive as a win for consumers, the reality is just the opposite, writes Neal Gutterson.
Reading the opinion of Greens / EFA members of the European Parliament on plant breeding, one can’t help but be amazed by their obsession with GMOs, writes Garlich von Essen.
The EU Court of Justice will soon publish its ruling concerning the legal statute of a group of biotechnologies, which have been called “new plant breeding techniques” by the industry.
Britain’s business world sees the transition period as a positive achievement, but for the UK it would be like jumping out of the EU plane without a parachute, writes Daniel Guéguen.
Albert Einstein said, “It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom.” A persistent prejudice in the EU is that against GMOs. An EU court judgment has restated that fears are unfounded, but will Europe take the opportunity to become a science-based society, ask Roberto Defez and Dennis Eriksson.
The German-Hungarian ‘Soya Declaration’ finally gets us talking about what matters in CAP reform, write Olivier De Schutter, Oscar Rivas and Karin Nansen.
As the world focuses elsewhere, two untested varieties of genetically modified maize are slowly manoeuvring their way through the legislative hoops of the European institutions towards Europe’s fields, writes Mute Schimpf.
The European Commission is set to guide the regulatory fate of new biotechnologies crucial to the future of plant breeding. To meet such agricultural challenges, we need a product-oriented, flexible and adjustable regulatory system, write Klaus Ammann and Marcel Kuntz.
We should be worried that the European Commission’s chief scientific adviser position is under attack as an incoming EU president prepares to review legislation on GMOs, write Marcel Kuntz and John Davison
Policy makers generally trust the scientific recommendations of independent EU agencies. But in the GMO area, a vicious circle of lack of approvals and decreased trust in the technology is being perpetuated, leading to a negative precedent of “politics over science”, writes Nathalie Moll.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can foster more sustainable farming, more crop varieties and healthier crops, but the debate on GMOs is politicised and lacks scientific justification, writes Marc Van Montagu.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could be the ultimate way to solve the US-Europe GMO dispute, writes Andreas Geiger.
The demand to transfer powers from the EU back to the national level is politically en-vogue in several EU member states at the moment. EU policy on agricultural biotechnology, however, is an interesting exception, writes Maria Weimer.
The EU’s post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy and EU other legislation must guarantee that organic and conventional farmers and food producers are no longer threatened by the risk of GMO contamination, argues Antje Kölling.
