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.
For more than 20 years, there have been well established and functioning rules for GMOs. Between April and November 2022, more than 420,000 European citizens called on their governments and the European Commission to keep the new generation of GMOs regulated and labelled under the current GMO legislation. Labelling is essential to ensure the rights of farmers, food producers, retailers and consumers to decide what they grow in their fields, use in their products, sell in their supermarkets and choose to eat: we all have a right to choose GMO-free options.
