New Breeding techniques: UK Parliament & USA go forward

In May, the European Union unveiled its Farm to Fork strategy, the agri-food component of its Green Deal. Genetic engineering is timidly included, with reference to the European Commission’s ongoing study on the potential of new genomic techniques to improve sustainability throughout the food supply chain.

In the United Kingdom, the Parliament is lobbying the Secretary of State for the Environment to introduce an amendment stimulating genetic innovation in the post-Brexit Agriculture Bill.

In the United States of America, government has enacted a major regulatory change which will exempt – as of 5 April 2021 – certain genetically modified plants from government oversight, and will allow automatic approval of variations of established types of genetically modified (GM) crops, thus facilitating their placing on the market.