Advancements in genetics: all you need to know about New Genomic Techniques

Following the long-awaited publication of the European Commission’s proposal on NGTs, a large debate sparked among the groups representing the farming community and the agri-food businesses. What is the NGTs legislation proposal about? In short, the proposal establishes a set of rules for certain new genomic techniques, mainly plants produced by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis and their food and feed products, separately from transgenic GMOs. Moreover, the proposal sets a difference between Category 1 NGTs plants, indistinguishable from conventionally-bred or spontaneously mutated plants found in nature; all the other NGT-derived plants, and consequently, products, would fall in the scope of Category 2 NGTs plants.

Euroseeds welcomed the the differentiation of conventional-like NGTs from the outdated and practically unworkable approval requirements of transgenic GMOs and highlighted some inconsistencies regarding the separation of the conventional-like NGT plants from plants resulting from conventional breeding. These inconsistencies include forbiddance of NGTs-derived plants for organic farming and a specific seed bag labelling requirement; an approach Euroseeds has defined as discriminatory.

To better understand all the key elements concerning the proposal, including the complementarity of NGTs with the organic farming, transparency and freedom of choice for the farmers, market controls and more, please consult the below files.