Save our Seeds

The EU Commission is presenting a new narrative about GM, the basic concepts of which were first developed over 20 years ago by scientists at Wageningen University

Here's an excellent article about the European Commission's GMO deregulation proposal, by the journalist, former MEP, and expert on GMOs Benedikt Haerlin. He has been around long enough to have witnessed the failed promises of the first generation of GM crops in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Brussels – The European Commission’s proposed deregulation of a new strand of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) disregards safety and consumer rights, Greenpeace has warned.

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Greenpeace EU GMO campaigner Eva Corral said: “Whether it’s a toy or a face cream, any product on the market needs to be safety tested – why would there be an exemption for GMOs that end up on our fields or in our plates? Biotech companies have long considered these safety procedures an unnecessary bother and it’s disappointing to see the Commission agree with them.”

This statement was sent to members of the European Parliament and competent authorities in several EU member states today.

The EU Commission’s proposal is scientifically unacceptable, removes the provisions of the precautionary principle and puts the public and environment at risk. Critical scientific expertise and its supporting scientific evidence was completely ignored. The proposal follows exclusively the guidance and assertions of the public and private biotechnology sector – and is therefore to be classified as one-sided. In the following, we briefly explain why this is so – with scientific reasoning and evidence. We focus on the Annex I only for now.

We are writing to express our concerns about a possible flood of patented seeds entering the EU market as a result of the Commission's far-reaching dismantling of the EU's GMO regulations. With its upcoming proposal on new genomic techniques (NGT), the Commission intends to exempt a vast majority of GM crops from the EU's GMO regulations. The vast majority of plants developed with new genomic techniques – if not all of them – are covered by patents. We are deeply concerned about the impact of these patents on farmers' rights to seeds, small- and medium-sized conventional and organic plant breeders, consumers, our food system, and cultivated plant diversity.

Gene scissors found to cause chaos in the genome of tomatoes

20 June 2023 / Recent scientific findings have revealed chromothripsis-like effects after the application of CRISPR/Cas in the genome of tomatoes. Chromothripsis refers to a phenomenon in which often several hundred genetic changes occur simultaneously in a 'catastrophic' event. Many sections of the genetic material can be swapped, twisted, recombined or even lost if this occurs.

It has been known for some time that ‘CRISPRthripsis’, which is another term for the above-described phenomenon, occurs in mammalian (and human) cells. This effect has now been also demonstrated in plants after gene scissor applications. The new study was already published during the peer-review process. The findings show that gene scissor applications cause unintended genetic alterations much more frequently than previously thought, affecting large parts of the genome.

Perennial ryegrass win!

An application to field trial GM perennial ryegrass as 'more nutritious' animal feed was withdrawn. GeneEthics had told the OGTR the trial could not be contained and more weeds would result. Grown as a pasture and lawn grass the plant is also an aggressive, invasive weed that would spread more widely. If approved, we expected more weedicides would be sprayed, adding to their $5 billion annual cost.

Pairwise to sell mustard greens as salad leaves

The biotech company, Pairwise, has announced that it will soon bring mustard greens produced using new genetic engineering (New GE) techniques to the US market. The plants are genetically engineered with the aim of making the leaves less pungent, and the company has also applied for a patent (WO2021030738). According to a 2022 publication, New GE was used to alter 17 genes in the plant genome in parallel.

As the European Commission gets ready to unveil its new proposal to widely deregulate the new generation of genetically modified organisms (new GMOs) or so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), the debate is heating up.

So far discussions mainly focus on how risky or safe new GMOs are, or could be. However, the question that is at least as important for farmers, food processors, food retail and consumers, is that of how new GMOs must be labelled.

Unceded Algonquin Territory – Ottawa, ON – February 16, 2023

Today Liberal and Conservative members of the House of Commons Environment Committee voted to remove Senate amendments requiring meaningful public participation in assessments of genetically engineered (GE) animals and an evaluation of whether there is a ‘demonstrable need’ for such an organism.

“We are dismayed that the government and official opposition have blocked strong, clear guidelines for meaningful public participation, which is a foundational part of any review and approval process in a democracy,” says Mark Butler, Senior Advisor with Nature Canada. “We are concerned at the overly pro-industry stance being taken by government MPs, which is not coherent with strong government commitments to protect Nature and the public interest.”

February 7, 2023, Charlottetown. In a major turn-around, the US company AquaBounty says it will stop producing its controversial genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) Atlantic salmon in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada.

“This is a huge victory for everyone in PEI and across Canada who protested against this dangerous technology,” said Sharon Labchuk of the coalition GMO Free PEI. “Genetically modified fish are unnecessary and risky.”

AquaBounty has decided it will no longer produce GM fish in Canada, after rasing just two “cohorts” of its GM salmon at their only Canadian production site, on land at Rollo Bay, PEI. This facility was the world’s first purpose-built GM fish factory. The decision was reported in the seafood industry media SeafoodSource, quoting the company’s CEO, Sylvia Wulf.