In Germany, a clear majority of voters (65 percent) oppose loosening the rules on genetic manipulation in agriculture and horticulture. This emerges from a survey conducted by the German Association for Food Without Genetic Manipulation (VLOG).
Forty-three percent say this issue influences their choice in the upcoming federal elections; for 22 percent, it is even ‘very important.’ It is especially important for potential Green Party voters (57%); among FDP supporters, only about 27 percent indicated this. A majority of supporters from all parties reject easing the rules, the survey showed.
The background of the survey is a plan by the European Commission to ease the current strict laws against GMO modification. The European Commission is considering the approval of new techniques, such as Crispr-Cas9. The European Court of Justice ruled in 2018 that this technique also falls under the current strict laws.
However, the European Council of Ministers believes that this new technique does not fall under those laws. An increasing number of scientists also argue that the reasons for banning Crispr-Cas are unfounded.
While the “old” GMO techniques add foreign DNA, the newest techniques cut out parts of existing DNA. That is a fundamental difference, because no ‘new nature’ is being created.
Opponents of the genetic techniques are now raising the alarm not only in Germany. They emphasize the argument that the safety of these techniques is still not guaranteed.
The European Commission wants to initiate a broad societal discussion about allowing new techniques. The European Parliament and the European Commission must also reach a joint decision.