The UK's National Farmers' Union (NFU) has claimed credit for the passage of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which removes regulatory safeguards for a whole subclass of GMOs as long as their developers claim they could arise naturally. [GMW: So now we know who to blame! Seriously, however, the UK government required no assistance in driving through this dangerous bill. But the NFU's outrageous claim is in line with its reputation for being "not really national, not really farmers, and not really a union", but for being, in effect, an agribusiness lobby group.] GMWatch comment on NFU press release

 

 

Pat Thomas of Beyond GM commented on the bill's passage: “The political context of this Act is as important as the scientific context. The UK government has shown complete disdain for science by inventing its own category of GMOs – the precision bred organism (PBO). This PBO is a special Brexit GMO that, we are told, will transport the United Kingdom to the sunny uplands of global tech dominance while at the same time fixing our food system and wider environmental problems. The catch is that gene editing technology, which has been around for more than a decade, consistently over-promises and under-delivers and that makes it an economic, food system and environmental failure. We should be focusing on solutions that work.” Beyond GM

 

 

Pets could be subjected to gene editing under the new UK government's bill, the RSPCA has warned. The animal charity said that the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act applies to all vertebrate animals, not only farmed animals, and that it could lead to cats and dogs being gene-edited to include extreme features. David Bowles, the head of campaigns and public affairs at the RSPCA, criticised what he described as an “ill-judged policy”. He said the charity had tried to get the government to include an exemption for pets, but was “sadly ignored”. He added: “Gene editing could be a huge step backwards for animals. We do not believe this act should include animals, whether they are farm, pet or wildlife. Invasive procedures are needed to create each line of gene-edited mammals, there is no history of use for this powerful technology, and it can cause unintended changes to the genome, with unpredictable effects. The RSPCA has serious animal welfare and ethical concerns about this.” The Guardian

 

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