The Dutch VVD MEP Jan Huitema has been appointed by the liberal Renew group to chair a working group to formulate a position on the admission of new breeding techniques.
Yesterday the Liberal Group of the European Parliament agreed on a common position on this subject. Renew Europe asks the European Commission for a separate legislative proposal for the authorization of new GMO techniques. According to Huitema, this is historic, because with this there seems to be a political majority for the first time to allow those techniques to pass in the EU.
Developments in biotechnology are currently moving at lightning speed. This allows breeders of food crops to grow varieties more quickly and in a more targeted manner, which can be grown with considerably less crop protection agents.
Often referred to as “New Genomic Techniques” (NGTs), these new techniques are defined by EU researchers as “techniques capable of altering the genetic material of an organism and which have arisen or developed primarily since 2001”.
Examples of these techniques include Site-directed Nuclease Technology (SDN), Oligonucleotide-directed Mutagenesis (ODM), RNA-dependent DNA methylation (RdDm), cisgenesis, intragenesis, grafting onto genetically modified rootstocks and reverse breeding.
At the moment, such new techniques are still subject to European legislation for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) of 2001. According to agricultural entrepreneurs, these 'obsolete' admission criteria mean that the potential of new techniques cannot be fully exploited.
Huitema was extremely pleased that Renew Europe is taking a positive stance on new breeding techniques. “Thanks to the support of my liberal group, there now seems to be a majority in favor of a European law for new breeding techniques, separate from the existing GMO legislation. This puts the use of this biotechnology within reach for breeders. An important step for the EU,” says Huitema.