Science council asks EU to reform regulations on genome-edited plants

The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) has published a statement calling on the EU to revise its regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) so that they do not stifle innovation in the sector of genome-Edited SH plans. Currently, plant organisms obtained with the use of genome editing techniques are classified as GMOs and are subject to a very strict regulatory framework. EASACl argues that regulatory reform is ‘urgently needed if the objectives for EU innovation are to be met, including those for the Common Agricultural Policy, the Green Deal, and the Bioeconomy’. In the council’s view, ‘if a product of genome editing does not contain foreign DNA, it should not fall within the scope of EU legislation on GMOs’.