Scientists not impressed by Europe’s GM classification

Potato scientists voiced their disappointment at the recent European Commission decision to classify newer, more targeted means of genetic modification such as gene editing and gene splicing in the same category as older transgenic GM crops.

And, speaking at yesterday’s Potatoes In Practice event, researchers said that this could mean the development of new varieties with improved disease resistance and great- er resilience to climate change swings were likely to take 20 years to develop, rather than five. Hopes had been raised that the new techniques which do not introduce large amounts of foreign DNA into the plant would be granted a more favourable status than early transgenic varieties were raised when such an approach was recommended to the Commission. However the recent ruling meant that the same strict safeguards would apply.

But while Brexit could offer an opportunity for the UK to take a less stringent approach to the technology – adopting an attitude closer to that taken in the US, such an outcome was unlikely: “It’s true that the US has taken a totally different approach to that adopted in the EU,” said Colin Campbell, chief executive of the James Hutton Research Institute.

“While the UK government might take a more relaxed attitude, the Scottish Government is likely to have a different view – and we have to accept that this issue is about more than just the science.”