In The European Scientist (17 July 2023), we commented the proposal of the European Commission published on 5 July 2023 for revising NGTs regulation [1]. This revision is being carried out through a “European initiative”, a very complex process with several stages. It is stretching over several years through a long regulatory procedure. Launched in 2019, the process is nearing completion in January 2024, with a text due to be debated in the European Parliament on next 24 January.
The European Union is at the crossroads of biotechnological pathways for the future as we pointed out earlier in our recent books “Enjeux biotechnologiques” [2] and “Biotech Challenges” [3]. Will it be able to resist the collapsological sirens of the political ecology activists and the Greens/EFA MEPs? [4]
Which way will the coin fall?
To finalise the process of this European initiative, a new public consultation was held at the end of the summer of 2023, as well as numerous meetings of the Ministers of Agriculture and various committees. Spain’s Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2023 has been very active on this subject. Finally, the European Parliament will be called upon to give its opinion at the end of January 2024 under the Belgium’s Presidency of the European Union.
The European Commission distinguishes between two categories of plants obtained using NGT techniques named NGT-1 and NGT-2.
NGT-1 includes plants derived from NGTs that could also be obtained naturally or by traditional breeding techniques. They must only include minor modifications listed in an annex. They will be subject to a verification procedure and treated as plants derived from traditional breeding techniques. In fact, they cannot be distinguished biologically from one another and only an administrative declaration can differentiate them. It is therefore logical to propose that they should be labelled in the same way as plants derived from traditional breeding techniques. Other plants that do not fall into this category, are called NGT-2s and will remain subject to the current regulations on GMOs [5].
I have already expressed my reservations about this proposal based on categorisation of plants derived from NGTs and on the European Union’s abandonment of genetic improvements applied to animals (in contrast to countries such as the United States and China) [1]. However, following the moral of the poet La Fontaine’s fable “The Little Fish and the Fisherman” that said “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush“, European seed companies are happy with the European Commission’s proposals for two categories of NGT-1 and NGT-2 plants.
The eternal opponents of biotechnological progress, led by Greenpeace [6], are yelling “hidden GMOs” and calling for Directive 2001/18, which classifies products derived from NGTs as GMOs, to be applied to them, as the European Court of Justice ruled on 25 July 2018 [7].
A call from 20 French scientists in favour of “new organic GMOs”
Published in October 2023, an article signed by 20 researchers working in France in the newspaper Le Monde [8] highlighted the “lies” in this campaign handled by the opponents of biotechnology and emphasised that “paradoxically, these new varieties will be better suited to integrated or organic farming practices than those used until now, which are dependent on plant protection products“. It pointed out that “to impose unnecessarily restrictive regulations would be to ensure that these advances only benefit a very small number of companies capable of bearing the cost of approval (around ten million euros), as is currently the case for transgenic plants“.
An appeal from 35 Nobel Prize winners and more than 1,000 scientists to turn “towards the light of prosperity and progress”.
More recently, on 19 January 2024, 35 Nobel Prize laureates and more than 1,000 scientists signed an appeal addressed to Members of the European Parliament [9] urging them to ” reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering and look instead towards the light of prosperity and progress. ” and “to consider the unequivocable body of scientific evidence supporting NGTs, and make decisions that align with the European Union’s and its citizens’ best interests“.
Will they be heard? Which way will the coin fall on 24 January?
References
[1] Regnault-Roger C (2023) NGT: The European Commission plays a “simultaneously” approach . The European Scientist, 17.07.23
[2] Regnault-Roger C (2022) Enjeux biotechnologiques, des OGM à l’édition du génome, Presses des Mines, Paris, 204 pages https://www.pressesdesmines.com/produit/enjeux-biotechnologiques/
[3] Regnault-Roger C (2024) Biotech Challenges, Springer Nature, Cham (CHE), 157 pages https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-38237-6
[4] Greens/EFA (2022) Keep GMOs out of our fields and off our plates https://act.greens-efa.eu/fr/gardons-les-ogm-hors-de-nos-assiettes
[4] Regulation of the Ruropean Parliament and of the Council on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/62, Commission européenne, 5 July2023. https://food.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-09/gmo_biotech_ngt_proposal_2023-411_fr.pdf
[5] Ces nouveaux OGM, issus de NGT, qui pourraient s’introduire dans nos assiettes », Greenpeace, sur le site de l’association (consulté le 20 janvier 2024).https://www.greenpeace.fr/les-nbt-fausses-solutions-vrais-ogm
[6] Cour de justice de l’Union européenne 2018, communiqué de presse n° 111/18Luxembourg, le 25 juillet 2018, www.curia.europa.eu (in line 20 January 2024)
[7] « Nouveaux OGM : « Effrayer le public en prétendant que ces plantes vont faire augmenter les intrants chimiques est un mensonge », Appel de scientifiques publié dans lejournal Le Monde, 30 octobre 2023. https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/10/30/nouveaux-ogm-effrayer-le-public-en-pretendant-que-ces-plantes-vont-faire-augmenter-les-intrants-chimiques-est-un-mensonge_6197354_3232.html
[8] “Open Letter”, We Planet, weplanet.org, in line 21 January 2024. https://www.weplanet.org/ngtopenletter
Further reading
The UK’s new Genetic Technology Bill will unlock innovation that could climate-proof food security
Farm to Fork: a lack of strategic vision that will harm Europe’s food sovereignty
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