A Bill aimed at further simplifying the legislation on use of gene-editing technology, introduced at the start of the new parliamentary session in May, has been welcomed by the NFU and plant breeders’ representatives. The Soil Association, however, says it would remove key transparency and safety checks.
A Defra spokesperson said the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill is designed to remove ‘unnecessary barriers inherited from the EU’ to enable the development and marketing of precision-bred plants and animals. The government argues that current legislation, introduced 30 years ago, has not kept pace with genetic science and points to an EU ruling in 2018 that brought new techniques such as gene editing – which does not involve the transfer of genes between different species – within scope of the existing legislation on genetic modification (GM).
Defra points out that gene editing is a quicker and more precise route to varieties that could also be bred by conventional techniques. Earlier this year (The Commercial Greenhouse Grower, March) it introduced a modification to existing GM legislation in England which made it easier for researchers to run trials on experimental gene-edited varieties.
The new Bill goes further in creating a simpler regulatory regime for precision-breeding techniques using ‘genetic changes that could have arisen through traditional breeding or natural processes’. It introduces two notification systems, for research and for marketing, and a new science-based authorisation process for products developed this way. As a Defra Bill it would only apply in England.
The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) said the Bill represented ‘the most significant policy development in UK plant breeding for more than 20 years’.
“Taking precision breeding out of the scope of GMO rules will encourage innovation to develop healthier, more nutritious food and to make farming systems more sustainable and resilient,” said BSPB chief executive Samantha Brooke. “Current regulations on conventional plant breeding and seeds are proven over many years to support safer and more sustainable food production. This regulatory system can also embrace new crop varieties produced using precision-breeding techniques, which replicate what plant breeders are already doing, but in a much quicker and more targeted way.”
NFU vice-president David Exwood said the legislative change would “not only provide a route to market for improved varieties but crucially enable the UK to keep in step with regulatory systems in the rest of the world.”
However, Soil Association senior policy officer Louise Payton said the move would not only dispense with transparency and safety checks, and go against public opinion, it represented a “direct violation of choice for growers who choose non-GM and is in conflict with organic standards enshrined in UK law.”