Fifty years after the famous 1975 Asilomar biosafety conference — a moment of self-reflection and self-regulation of molecular biologists— a group of historians and bioengineers organized a three-day conference in the same place to reflect and learn for the future. Naomi Kosmehl of Save Our Seeds got hold of a grant to attend this exclusive event.
On 6 May, final negotiations will begin on the deregulation of plants engineered using new genetic modification (GM) techniques, such as CRISPR/Cas. During so-called trilogue talks, the European Parliament, Council of Ministers and European Commission will finalise an agreed version of the proposed Regulation on plants obtained through “new genomic techniques” (NGT).
Proposals to relax EU GMO laws could violate international law, according to a new legal opinion. The planned EU law on “new genomic techniques” (NGT) may be incompatible with the Biosafety Protocol of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
More than 60,000 citizens have taken part in a postcard campaign organised by Bavarian organic farming and environmental organisations against the deregulation of plants engineered with so-called ‘new genomic techniques’ (NGT). The ‘No free flight for GMOs’ campaign called for mandatory labelling, traceability and risk assessment for NGT plants.
On Friday 14 March, the 27 EU member states reached an agreement on the deregulation of plants produced using new genetic engineering techniques, known as “new genomic techniques”. A qualified majority of member states backed the compromise proposal put forward by the Polish EU presidency. Many agricultural and environmental organisations had criticised the proposal.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) sees no new risks from the use of new genetic engineering techniques on animals. Its draft scientific opinion is available for comment until 19 March. Testbiotech has criticised the “wrong approach”.
In a joint statement, more than 200 organisations bringing together small-scale and organic breeders, farmers’ organisations, food retailers, and civil society groups —including Save Our Seeds — are urging the EU institutions to reject the proposed deregulation of gene-edited plants.
The increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is driving a profound transformation in plant genetic engineering. The report ‘When chatbots breed new varieties’ by Benno Vogel summarises the state of the art in relation to plant breeding. How should scientists and regulators deal with the emerging new challenges?
For those concerned about the unregulated and potentially uncontrollable spread of genetically modified organisms, there was a lot at stake at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Biodiversity Convention.
The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali produced few encouraging results with regard to the Precautionary Priniciple and the effective regulation of genetically engineered organisms, particularly gene drives.
