2023-06-16 20:07:38
Breeding with tutoring: Genetically edited wheat plants in a greenhouse
Image: Daniel Pilar
For proponents, plant gene editing is a chance to keep up with climate change. The opponents see genetic engineering through the back door. The EU now wants to simplify approval.
FFive years have passed since the landmark judgment of the European Court of Justice, which initially put a stop to the spread of gene editing in “plant breeding”. Since then, the same authorization procedures have applied to gene-edited plants in the EU as to genetically modified plants (GMO). They are lengthy and, with a few exceptions, have effectively made Europe a GMO-free continent. The industry argues that there are major differences between GMOs and plants modified by genetic scissors or similar methods. Unlike GMOs, no foreign genes are introduced into a plant to make it resistant to insects, for example. The Crispr/Cas gene scissors only accelerate through targeted interventions in the genome what would be just as possible with classic breeding, say the supporters.
This acceleration is urgently needed, warns Matthias Berninger from Bayer. “We have to turn on the turbo if we want to keep up with the galloping climate change,” he emphasizes in an interview with the FAZ. “Who takes responsibility for the risks to food security if we ignore the potential of this new technology?” That applies, for example with a view to wheat cultivation, in which Europe still has a leading position. With conventional breeding, the agricultural corporations could not react quickly enough to climate change.
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