ARTICLE
28 January 2016

Commission To Provide Legal Analysis On Applicability Of GMO Legislation To New Plant Breeding Techniques

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The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements EU has published a position paper urging the EC to classify such techniques as falling within the scope of the GMO legislation.
European Union Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences

A European Commission ("EC") spokesperson has confirmed that a legal analysis discussing whether new plant breeding techniques should or should not fall under EU GMO legislation will be completed by the first quarter of 2016. The technologies under consideration include gene-editing techniques, cisgenesis, intragenesis (technologies using transformation with genetic material restricted to the species' own gene pool), emerging techniques to induce controlled mutagenesis or insertion (ODM, Zinc Finger Nuclease technologies 1-3), and other applications such as grafting on GM rootstocks or reverse breeding. Plants derived from such new breeding techniques contain no foreign DNA and arguably may have developed naturally by chance mutations or through an application of classic mutagenesis. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements EU has published a position paper urging the EC to classify such techniques as falling within the scope of the GMO legislation. However, supporters of the technology argue that such techniques show great technical potential and are necessary to meet the challenges of global changes such as population growth and climate change. Whatever the outcome of the EC's analysis is, the spokesperson from the Commission reminded that "it is the sole prerogative of the European Court of Justice to provide a final and binding opinion on the interpretation of EU law."

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