EU: Gene-edited crops have the same stringent legal status as genetically modified organisms.

Three months after the European Union's highest court gave genetically edited crops the same stringent legal status as genetically modified (GM) organisms, researchers around the world are feeling the pinch.
, some are increasingly outspoken against the ruling.
most basic studies on plant gene editing have not been affected, as these assessments are only applied to organisms released into the environment, but pose obstacles to field trials or commercialization.
some applied research projects are feeling the pressure. "We conducted a year and a half of corn field trials in Belgium that were suddenly considered GM tests, "
.
" said Dirk Inz?, director of science at the Center for Plant Systems Biology at the University of The Flemish Institute for Life Sciences (VIB) at Ghent. As a result of the ruling, he said, local authorities insisted on additional precautionary measures, such as placing fences near the researchers' test fields and completing a large amount of recording.

meanwhile, a Belgian start-up planning to use CRISPR to help the African banana industry says it has lost financing.
a Brazilian company says it has suspended a multimillion-dollar gene-editing project focusing on soybeans because of its main market in Europe.
a 2001 EU directive requires gm organisms to be identified, tracked and monitored for their impact on the environment and consumers.
's latest ruling imposes these restrictions on gene-editing crops, although most of them involve small, precise changes in DNA and do not insert foreign genes. "We see this ruling has a chilling effect on plans to conduct research using CRISPR-edited plants in the wild,"
. "After the European Court of Justice's decision, the atmosphere for precision breeding in general, and CRISPR in particular, began to deteriorate," said Ren? Custers, director of regulatory and research at the VIB Institute for Life Sciences,
.
" scientists have also publicly asked for immunity from the ruling.
say this does not match scientific evidence. On October 24,
, 170 European scientists from more than a dozen countries and 75 research centres issued an opinion arguing that the law should be changed in a short period of time so that crops with genetically edited micro-changes in DNA follow regulations for varieties produced by traditional methods such as selective breeding rather than GM organisms.
"From a scientific point of view, the latest ruling makes no sense, " he said.
", the article said.
they said the ruling could crowd out start-ups and small biotech companies because only large multinationals can afford the lengthy and costly regulatory processes required to bring their crops to market.
In August, the organizers of the International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology in Montpellier, France, launched an online petition calling for a review of the latest ruling.
the event has attracted more than 5,200 signatures, including Inz?.
petition says the ruling is not "scientifically rational" and that the EU should regulate crop genetic technology on the basis of science.
, for example, the risk to human health or other animals from gene editing did not increase compared to older, less precise breeding strategies. On September 13,
, researchers from 33 UK scientific, agricultural and agricultural technology institutions sent an open letter to the government encouraging gene editing as a non-GM method.
open letter that the costs of field trials under GM's regulations place too many constraints on research institutions and small biotech companies.
at the same time, existing laws already provide review, risk management and control, sanctions and remedies for the introduction of new crops.
outside Europe, Alexandre Garcia, a Brazilian plant breeding company that leads soybean research and development, says the company has been expanding its cooperation and has invested in a number of research projects in soybean gene editing, but now needs to take into account the additional compliance required to comply with EU regulations.
"The EU has been Brazil's second-largest market for soybeans for at least the past six years.
Brazil is the EU's main supplier, so if farmers plan to grow soybeans on Brazilian soil, they need EU regulations.
," Garcia said.
Source: China Science Daily.