The European Commission is running a public consultation into “legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques”.

The consultation is open from 29 April 2022 to 22 July 2022.

Gene editing, which is a precision breeding technique, was banned by the European Court of Justice in 2018.

The decision was met with criticism, as the technique was seen as a way to reduce the use of plant protection products, as gene editing could help to breed crops with more resistance.

At present, the European Commission is preparing a policy initiative on plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis. This policy also covers food and feed which comes from these plants.

Protection

The policy aims to ensure “a high level of protection of human and animal health and the environment, and enabling innovation and the contribution of plants obtained by safe NGTs to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy”.

The consultation will gather views from citizens and stakeholders on the functioning of the current GMO legislation and on potential options for new legislation.

Those who wish to take part in the consultation can fill in the online questionnaire. You must also register in the EU’s transparency register to take part.

The website shows the number of valid entries to the consultation so far and of 686 respondents, only three were from Ireland. The majority so far were from Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

Seventy-five percent of respondents classified themselves as citizens, while 15% were from academic or research institutions and 4% were from business organisations.

To view the consultation, click here.