The European Commission has provided authorisation for the use of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for food and animal feed.
It involves the authorisation of three genetically modified maize crops, and the renewal of authorisation for four genetically modified crops, three soya beans and one cotton for food and animal feed.
The commission’s authorisation decisions do not allow for their cultivation in the EU, only for their use as food and animal feed.
GMOs
These genetically modified crops have gone through an authorisation procedure, which ensures a high level of protection of human and animal health, and of the environment.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has assessed that these GMOs are as safe as their conventional equivalent.
A GMO is an organism that has had its genetic material modified artificially to give it a new property (e.g., disease resistance, a plant’s tolerance to a herbicide, improving a food’s quality or nutritional value or increased yield).
EU member states did not reach a qualified majority either in favour or against the authorisation at the standing committee and at the subsequent appeal committee.
The authorisations are valid for 10 years, and any product produced from these GMOs will be subject to the EU’s strict labelling and traceability rules.
New genomic techniques
A new proposal from the European Commission is expected to allow the adoption of new genomic techniques (NGTs) into agri-food systems.
The proposal calls for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the council on plants obtained by certain NGTs and their food and feed, which is anticipated to be announced on July 5.
The proposal stated: “New genomic techniques provide new opportunities to alter the genetic material of an organism allowing the rapid development of plant varieties with specific characteristics.
“They may produce modifications that could or could not be obtained in nature or by conventional breeding.”
There is significant demand in the EU and globally for NGT plants, because of their potential to contribute to addressing current challenges in the agri-food system.
The benefit of adopting these techniques was featured in the proposal, which stated: “NGT plants released or placed on the market feature traits that can contribute to a sustainable agri-food system.”
The proposal also stated: “The current GMO legislation applied to NGTs is not conducive to developing innovative beneficial products.”
The commission seeks to apply a regulation for this matter, and says the procedure to permit the use of NGTs is “based on fully harmonised criteria and requirements and procedures that should lead to the authorisation or acceptance of a notification for the whole EU”.
NGT proposal objectives
The proposal seeks to deliver procedures that allow the placing of NGT plants on the market which provide food and feed that are as safe as their conventional counterparts, while not entailing unnecessary regulatory burden.
Such procedures exist for GMOs at EU level under the existing legal framework, but the proposal requires them to be adapted for NGTs.
The need for an EU regulation was stated within the proposal as it said: “Carving out NGT plants from the current EU legal framework and leaving it to member states to regulate them would likely lead to different regulatory requirements.
“Differing national requirements for NGT plants would hinder the free movement of these products, fragment the internal market and lead to uneven competition between economic operators.”
Options to label the products outlined in the proposal were:
- A GM (genetically modified) label accompanied by a sustainability label;
- A factual statement on the trait introduced;
- No GMO label if the NGT trait has the potential to contribute to sustainability.
“To increase transparency, operators should be allowed, on a voluntary basis, to complement the labelling as GMO with information on the purpose of the genetic modification,” it was added.