Japan: If the technology meets the standards, gene-edited food is allowed without safety assessment.

Japan will allow gene-edited foods to be sold to consumers without a safety assessment, a Japanese expert advisory board has recommended, according to the website of Science.
if adopted by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, it will open the door for the country to develop products for human consumption using gene editing techniques such as CRISPR in plants and animals.
gene editing is that certain genes in organisms are disabled or altered by new technologies such as CRISPR. "There is almost no difference between traditional breeding methods and gene editing in terms of safety," Hirohito Sharon, an endocrinologist at Niigata University and head of the
panel of experts, told NHK.
"How to manage gene-edited food is an international hot topic, different countries management methods are different.
, for example, a year ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said most gene-edited foods were not regulated, but the European Court of Justice ruled in July 2018 that gene-editing crops must go through the same lengthy approval process as traditional gm plants.
now, Japan seems intent on following america's lead. The final report approved by the
was not immediately released, but the initial draft was posted on the ministry's website in December for public comment.
the report, safety screening is not required if the technology used does not leave foreign genes in the target organism.
for this, it makes sense to require information about editing techniques, target genes to modify, and developers or users.
expert group recommended that a security assessment might still be required if the details of the editing technique were insufficient.
draft report does not specify whether such foods should be labelled, and the rules are likely to be published by the end of this year. Whether consumers will accept the new technology is still unknown
.
a petition from groups such as the Japan Consumer Alliance calling for the cultivation, safety assessment and labelling of all gene-edited crops to be regulated.
Japanese researchers are reportedly studying genetically-edited potatoes, tomatoes, rice, chicken and fish. "To allay public concerns, we need to provide a detailed and thorough explanation,"
Hirohito said.
"gene-edited food is coming but will shoppers buy the next generation of biotech food that will go to the grocery store, starting with salad dressing or oat bars made with soy oil, which are genetically tuned to benefit your heart.
by early next year, the first food DNA from plants or animals is "edited" and is expected to go on sale.
this is a different technique than today's controversial "gMO" foods, more like fast-breeding, promising to boost nutrition, stimulate crop growth, make farm animals stronger and fruits and vegetables last longer.
gene-edited food is coming, will shoppers buy it as the National Academy of Sciences announces that gene editing is one of the breakthroughs needed to improve food production, so the world can feed billions of people in the face of climate change.
, however, the government is trying to figure out how to regulate this powerful new tool.
after years of confusion and disgust, will shoppers accept genetically edited food, or will they treat them as genetically modified organisms in disguise?" If consumers see the benefits, I think they'll accept these products without worrying about the technology," said Dan Voytas, a professor at the University of Minnesota and chief scientific officer of Calyxt.
the company is responsible for editing soybeans to make greases.
- Healthy.
researchers are looking for more ambitious changes: wheat that contains three times as much common fiber, or wheat with low gluten content.
mushrooms and better tomatoes that don't turn brown.
drought-tolerant corn and no longer absorbs soil-contaminated rice.
cows don't have to go through painful go-to-corners, and pigs can be immune to dangerous viruses that sweep the herd.
scientists even hope that gene editing will eventually save species from devastating diseases such as citrus greening, an unstoppable infection that is destroying Florida's famous oranges.
first, they must find genes that immunize a new generation of trees. "If we could get in and edit the gene, we could change the DNA sequence slightly in one or two letters, and we might have a way to beat the disease," said Fred Gemit, a geneticist at the Citrus Institute at the University of Florida at
. along with
, he examined sick trees in a small woods near Fort Meade. What's the difference between
genetic modification or editing? Farmers acquire offspring with certain characteristics through selective reproduction, which allows them to genetically manipulate crops and animals for a long time.
this is time-consuming and can lead to trade-offs.
, for example, modern tomatoes are larger than their pea-sized wild ancestors, but generations of crossbreeding make them more vulnerable and change their nutrition.
genetically modified or genetically modified organisms are mixed with the DNA of another species to introduce specific traits to plants or animals - meaning they are "genetically modified."
best known for corn and soybeans mixed with bacterial genes, which are used to build-in pest control or weed killers.
Despite the international scientific community's consensus that GMOs are safe to eat, some remain vigilant and fear they could stimulate herbicide resistance to weeds.
now gene-editing tools, such as names such as CRISPR and TALENs, can change food more precisely and at a lower cost without adding foreign DNA.
instead, they alter the letters of the organism's own genetic alphabet like molecular scissors.
According to University of Missouri professor Nicholas Kalaitzandakes, the technology can insert new DNA, but most products are currently under development.
those new Calyxt soybeans? Voytas's team inactivated two genes, so the fat produced by these beans did not damage the heart's trans fats, and had a famous olive oil health and no unique taste.
hornless calf? For the safety of farmers and other cows, most dairy holsteins grow horns.
Recombinant Power exchanged parts of the gene with DNA instructions from natural hornless Angus beef cattle to make the cows grow horns.
"precision breeding" is why Alison Van Eennaam, an animal geneticist at the University of California, Davis, explains it. "This will not replace traditional breeding,"
, but it's easier to add a feature.
rules are not clear, and the Department of Agriculture says that "plants that could have been developed through traditional breeding" do not require additional rules, opening the way for about 24 gene-edited crops developed so far.
by contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration introduced stricter drug restrictions on gene-edited animals in 2017.
it promises to give accurate guidance on how it will proceed sometime next year. Paul Spencer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
, told a meeting of agricultural economists that international regulations are "the most important factor in the commercialization of genome editing technology" because of trade.
European Supreme Court ruled last summer that existing restrictions on the sale of genetically modified organisms in Europe also apply to genetically-edited foods.
But at this month's World Trade Organization, the United States joined 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, Argentina and Brazil, urging others to adopt internationally consistent, science-based genetic-edited agricultural rules. are
food safe? The most worrying thing, says Jennifer Kuzma of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Society at North Carolina State University, is that unexpected changes in DNA, called off-target editing, may affect the nutritional value of crops or the health of animals.
scientists are looking for signs of any problems.
chewed the hornless calf in the UC-Davis field.
is a woman, and once the milk is started, Van Eennaam will test the fat and protein content of milk similar to that of unaltered cows.
"We're a little overcautious, " she said, noting that if beef from natural hornless Angus cattle is good, the edited Holstein milk should also be.
But for Kuzma, companies must be wary of the way these new foods are produced and the evidence of their health.
she wants regulators to decide on a case-by-case basis which changes are no big deal and which may require more scrutiny.
"Most genetically edited plants and animals may eat well."
but if you hide behind terminology, you'll only hurt yourself in the long run," Kuzma said.
avoiding a backlash from regulatory uncertainty and consumer reaction is creating some strange bed-side relationships.
an industry-backed food manufacturer and farmers' group has asked university researchers and consumer advocates to help develop guidelines for the "responsible use" of gene editing in the food supply. "Obviously this alliance exists because of some of the war scars in the GMO debate, and there's no doubt about that," said Greg Jaffe of the Center for Public Interest Science at the Center for Food Safety, which agreed to join the center's Food Integrity steering group.

" the technology is clearly causing some problems.
"Sustainability or HYPE?" Voytas of Calyxt warns that gene editing can't do anything. there are limits
how much food can be changed.
of course, the wheat produced by scientists contains less gluten, but for those who can't digest the protein, or make allergy-free peanuts, it's unlikely to be gluten-free at all.
it's also unclear how easily companies can edit different kinds of food, which is critical to their profits.
Despite her concerns about proper regulation, Kuzma expects about 20 gene-edited crops to enter the U.S. market within five years - noting that scientists are exploring changes to crops important to the poorest countries, such as cassava. "
We think it's going to really change the industry," she said.
Source: Science and Technology Daily, China Gene Network.