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WHAT'S NEXT NOW THAT EUROPEAN COURT RULES GENE-EDITED CROPS ARE GMOS?
Source: blog by Cameron English, Genetic Literacy Project

With the European court ruling that CRISPR crops and other gene-edited foods must be treated as classic transgenic GMOs, scientists worry that Europe and the developing world stand to miss out on a new generation of sustainable agriculture.

The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is "the death blow for plant biotech in Europe," said Sarah Schmidt of the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf in Germany in a statement to the Science Media Centre. One of the great advantages to gene editing is that because research and development is so relatively inexpensive as compared to traditional transgenics it's adoption could democratize research and the development of new agricultural products.

But this ruling will force gene-edited plants to go through a regulatory process that typically costs about $35 million, she said, meaning only large companies will be able to afford to walk the regulatory gauntlet, effectively pricing out universities, nonprofits and small companies which are poised in other countries to lead the gene editing revolution. That then tees up the new technology for attacks from European advocacy groups which will undoubtedly then claim that gene editing is yet another new product of "Big Ag."

The ruling once again puts the EU at sharp odds with the United States over the future of crop biotechnology. US regulators have taken the position that gene-edited crops don't pose a problem because they involve no "foreign" genes, and are essentially genetically identical to crops developed through traditional cross-breeding. Gene-edited mushrooms may be available soon, while soybeans, flax, wheat and other crops will enter the US market in coming years.

To read the entire article click here.


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