Europe’s environment ministers will discuss for the first time what the planned deregulation of a new generation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) means for nature, climate and sustainability when they meet on Monday 20 December 2021.
The initial plans of EU Health Commissioner Kyriakides to erode environmental safety checks and instead promote new GMOs as the way towards sustainable food systems, could be challenged.
Mute Schimpf, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said:
“Environment ministers have the opportunity to stand up and defend the strict regulation of all GMOs, for the sake of nature and ecosystems. It’s high time the EU recognised that new genomic techniques and patent cartels only feed big business, not the world. EU decision-makers must stop giving in to biotech lobbying tactics and stop wasting time and resources trying to push new, untested GMOs into our fields and onto our plates.”
What is at stake?
The approach of the EU Commission to exclude new GMO techniques, also known as new genomic techniques (NGTs) and new plant breeding techniques, from existing EU GMO laws has far reaching overlaps with the demands from agribusiness lobby groups and is heavily criticised by NGOs, farmers and business organisations. The EU Commission has suggested to take the new generation of GMOs out of the current legal framework for GMOs – a move that would have dangerous implications.
If it is taken out of the existing framework, labelling, transparency, safety checks and environmental monitoring would not be applied to the new GMOs anymore. As a consequence:
- Farmers, actors from the food sector and consumers would be kept in the dark about whether they are growing, selling and eating new GMOs plants and food or not. They would be deprived of their freedom of choice and ability to take well informed decisions.
- Any harm caused to nature, ecosystems and species would remain undetected, especially as long term impacts are not being looked for and the Commission already phased out funding for risks of new GMOs.
- Biotech companies and users of new GMOs would not be liable for their products anymore, if they are exempted from national GMO laws.
- The precautionary principle, a cornerstone of the current GMO law, would be curtailed.
How did we get here?
The proposal from Health Commissioner Kyriakides is a reaction to the European Court of Justice’s ruling of 2018. This made clear that the newer generation of GMOs was to be defined as GMO, therefore also falling under the relevant rules for GMO in the EU and subject to the already existing safety and traceability rules [1]. A study was then requested by the European Council to clarify the legal status of new GMOs, including gene editing methods such as CRISPR-Cas. It came amid a sustained campaign from the biotech industry to exempt new GMOs from safety regulations, while the same corporations ensured global patent control over these plants [2].
EU Commission’s Vice president Timmermans and Commissioner Kyriakides both made unsubstantiated claims that NGTs would contribute to the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy’s objectives [3]. Such claims rely on assumptions regarding potential crops that might be developed in the future and not on those (few) crops that are market ready or in the application process [4]. These claims are not substantiated and the Commission relies far too heavily on false promises by GMO developers and associated lobby groups.
Time to take a stand
Friends of the Earth Europe is calling on the environment ministers to uphold the ECJ ruling, protect the current GMO framework and also apply it to the new generation of GMOs. This would be the most efficient way to ensure that only safe crops can be grown within the EU, that consumers maintain their right to take well-informed decisions, and to promote genuinely innovative, environmental-friendly food systems.
Friends of the Earth Europe assesses the evidence on which the Commission has based its argument for the necessity for a new legislation for NGTs as biased and recommends to keep all generations of GMO regulated as GMO to ensure the strict implementation of the precautionary principle as defined in Europe’s GMO law.
Notes
- [1] In 2018 the European Court of Justice ruled that existing EU GMO safety laws apply to the new generation of GMOs. The court said that the new GMOs should not be excluded from EU safety and labelling rules and underlined that the potential risks posed by new GMOs: “might prove to be similar to those that result from the production and release of a GMO through transgenesis.” Under the current laws, the protection of human health and the environment states that attention must be given to controlling risks from the deliberate release of GMOs. The ruling means that the new generation of GM crops and seeds should go through safety checks, an authorisation process, and be labelled before they can be placed on the market.
- [2] Biotech companies want less regulation for GMOs and have sought to portray new GMO techniques such as gene editing and CRISPR-Cas as no different from traditional plant breeding methods – even though the techniques involve editing plant DNA, and in spite of the European Court of Justice’s ruling affirming this. The aim of their campaign is to prevent new GMOs from being labelled, and ensuring they can be grown and imported without any safety checks.
- [3] Biotech companies want less regulation for GMOs and have sought to portray new GMO techniques such as gene editing and CRISPR-Cas as no different from traditional plant breeding methods – even though the techniques involve editing plant DNA, and in spite of the European Court of Justice’s ruling affirming this. The aim of their campaign is to prevent new GMOs from being labelled, and ensuring they can be grown and imported without any safety checks.
- [4] Pioneer HT Maize DP915635 (application for approval in EU submitted), Sanatech Sicilian Rouge High GABA, Calyxt FAD2KO “high-oleic acid” soybean variety, Cibus HT Canola.
