Agricultural sector rejoices

Green light for looser genetic engineering rules in the EU

(Bild: industrieblick/stock.adobe.com)

Members of the EU Parliament adopted their position on New Genetic Engineering (NGT) in plant breeding on Wednesday. The EU Commission's legislative proposal stipulates that some new genomic processes should no longer fall under the strict rules for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Genetic engineering sceptics reject the proposal, but it has met with approval in the agricultural sector.

New mutation methods such as the Crispr/Cas gene scissors (category NGT-1) should therefore be easier to use in future and plants processed with them should no longer be labeled as genetically modified. One of the aims of deregulation is to breed plants that are more resistant to water shortages or pests. On the other hand, NGT processes with non-crossable species, known as transgenesis (category NGT-2), should fall under the existing GMO regulations.

Complete patent ban for all genetically modified plants
Due to numerous amendments, it is still difficult to say exactly what the Parliament's position will be. In any case, the EU Parliament amended the Commission proposal to the effect that there should be a complete patent ban on all genetically modified plants, parts thereof, genetic information and process characteristics contained therein. This should avoid legal uncertainties, increased costs and new dependencies for farmers and breeders, according to a parliamentary press release.

Majority rejection from Austria
307 MEPs voted in favor, 263 against and 41 abstained. The majority of Austrian MEPs rejected the proposal. Only NEOS MEP Claudia Gamon voted in favor of the text. The ÖVP and FPÖ MEPs were also clearly in the minority in their respective EU parliamentary groups with their "no" votes.

"We want the labeling requirement for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to remain in place and that organic products can continue to remain free from genetically modified organisms," said MEP Alexander Bernhuber (ÖVP) before the vote.

"With today's decision, we are paving the way for genetic engineering through the back door," criticized SPÖ mandatary Günther Sidl. "A comprehensive risk assessment of genetically modified foods and an impact assessment for potentially affected ecosystems should no longer be mandatory in future," he said, referring to the parliamentary position.

Individual countries cannot ban genetic engineering
In the run-up to the vote, FPÖ MEP Roman Haider criticized the fact that EU states such as Austria would not have the option of continuing to ban genetic engineering "Citizens would then no longer even have the option of consciously choosing a GMO-free product", Haider said in a press release.

Following the vote, Green MEP Sarah Wiener spoke of a "disaster for agriculture, the environment and food consumers". "Today's vote is particularly bad news for consumers and Austrian GMO-free agriculture," said her party colleague Thomas Waitz.

With today's vote on Wednesday, the Parliament is ready for negotiations with the Council of the EU member states - but not the other side: the responsible EU agriculture ministers have not yet been able to find a common position. At a press conference on Tuesday, several Austrian MEPs expressed their hope that the Council would still be able to prevent the genetic engineering rules from being relaxed too much.