IFOAM EU, Europe’s lead organic organisation, is calling on EU regulators to treat all new genetic engineering techniques as precursors to genetic modification and make them subject to existing legislation on GMOs.
Speaking on the eve of a major European Commission stakeholders discussion on genetic engineering techniques and their legal status, IFOAM EU vice president for Policy, Jan Plagge, said: “The position of the organic movement is clear: all new genetic engineering techniques should be, without question, considered as techniques of genetic modification leading to GMOs and fall within the scope of the existing legislation on GMOs. There are no legal or technical reasons to exclude these techniques from risk assessment, prior authorisation and mandatory traceability and labelling, which apply to current GMOs”
“Deregulation of new genetic engineering techniques would jeopardise the ability of the organic sector to remain GMO-free”
“Deregulation of new genetic engineering techniques would jeopardise the ability of the organic sector to remain GMO-free and would threaten the freedom of farmers and consumers not to use these new GMOs. The European Commission should guarantee that no product obtained through new genetic engineering techniques will be marketed before detection methods are available, and should fund EU research projects to develop these detection methods”.
Eric Gall, Policy Manager at IFOAM EU, added: “The organic movement stands by the precautionary principle, which is a cornerstone of EU environmental policy and a driver for innovation. It promotes a system approach to innovation that is knowledge-intensive rather than input-intensive, and furthermore is inclusive, strengthening resilience in agricultural systems and minimising our impact on biodiversity and natural resources.”
Picture: Jan Plagge addresses last week’s European Commission led stakeholders discussion. Image – IFOAM EU