Products of gene editing and other new techniques must be labelled as GMOs

The products of gene editing and other new GM techniques are indeed GMOs under European law and must be regulated and labelled as such, two new reports conclude.

The first report, a legal analysis commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), says genome editing techniques are indeed genetic engineering and give rise to GMOs.

The report says that these techniques, far from being precise and predictable as GMO proponents claim, “bear significant risk potentials”. The report adds that their effects are “foreseeable only to some degree due to the novelty of the procedures and the lack of relevant studies”.

The second report is by Friends of the Earth France, the French National Federation of Organic Agriculture, Confédération Paysanne, the Peasant Seeds Network, and members of the High Council of Biotechnology in France.

The new techniques covered are:
* Oligodirected mutagenesis
* Cisgenesis/Intragenesis
* Site directed Nucleases (SDN): zinc finger nucleases (also Talen/CrisprCas9/meganucleases)
* RNA dependent DNA methylation
* Grafting
* Reverse breeding
* Agro-infiltration
* Synthetic biology.

The report concludes that all the listed techniques give rise to GMOs which fall under the scope of the EU’s GMO regulations. That also means they should be labelled as GM.

Report in English: http://www.semencespaysannes.org/legal_status_of_products_derived_from_new_tec_12-actu_281.php

Report in French: http://www.semencespaysannes.org/statut_juridique_produits_issus_nouvelles_tec_12-actu_280.php