European Commission proposal on new GMOs is incompatible with the precautionary principle

1. Corporate interests trump freedom of choice and biosafety – Biodynamic Federation Demeter International
2. The European Commission proposal on new GMOs is incompatible with the precautionary principle – GMO-Free Italy Coalition
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1. Corporate interests trump freedom of choice and biosafety

The Biodynamic Federation Demeter International, 5 July 2023

With today’s legislative proposal on new genomic techniques (NGTs), the European Commission decided to dismantle the EU’s current GMO framework, threatening our health and the environment, putting in jeopardy GMO-free farming, and ignoring consumers’ demand for a clear labelling of all GMOs. This goes against the call to keep NGTs strictly regulated and labelled made by an EU-wide petition which collected more than 420,000 signatures earlier this year. 
 
The Biodynamic Federation Demeter International remains committed to GMO-free farming and breeding, alongside the organic sector. In fact, the Demeter Standard strictly prohibits the use of seed, propagation and plant material produced by NGTs. “But without traceability and labelling there is no clear basis to protect GMO-free farming. Both are essential to guarantee farmers and breeders’ freedom of choice and to avoid adding additional burden on organic and biodynamic operators” states Clara Behr, Head of Policy and Public Relations at the Federation.
 
While a transition to more sustainable farming practices to tackle climate change is a necessity, a weakening of the current GMO regulations is clearly not the way forward. Instead of relying on technological fixes whose benefits are unproven and with potential unintended effects and risks on our environment and biodiversity, the EU should focus on proven solutions such as organic and biodynamic farming which have demonstrated real benefits for climate and biodiversity.
 
Dismantling the EU’s GMO regulations would also worsen the problems of patents on seeds threatening farmers’ rights to seeds, small and medium-sized breeders, and seed diversity. Contrary to conventional plant breeding, both the processes and the products of NGTs are patentable under the EU law. Exempting new GM seeds from EU’s GMO regulations would therefore result in a flood of patented seeds on the market. For most farmers and breeders navigating through this ‘patent thicket’ will be a major challenge while increasing the monopoly of the seed industry.
 
Farming always starts with the seeds, as such seeds are a common good and every farmer has a right to seeds. Yet, 75% of the world’s agricultural diversity is lost today despite their importance. Instead, GMOs and their associated patents will further concentrate the supply of seeds in the hands of a few mutinational companies. On the same day that the EU Commission publishes its proposal to reform the seed marketing, the Federation would like to remind EU decision makers that addressing the current challenges of climate change starts with fostering seed diversity, by strengthening organic and biodynamic varieties.
 
It is now up to MEPs and Member States to safeguard the EU’s current GMO framework. Their mandate is to protect our health and the environment, to ensure the freedom of choice for farmers and consumers while safeguarding GMO-free farming. "The line forward is clear: Risk assessment, traceability, and labelling must be ensured for all GMOs, including NGTs," urges Clara Behr.
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2. The European Commission proposal on new GMOs is incompatible with the precautionary principle

The GMO-Free Italy Coalition, 5 July 2023
https://www.croceviaterra.it/ogm/la-proposta-europea-sui-nuovi-ogm-e-incompatibile-con-il-principio-di-precauzione/

The GMO-Free Italy Coalition considers dangerous the proposal presented today by the European Commission to exempt a large part of new GMOs from the rules in force today, which oblige genetic engineering products to be subjected to traceability, labelling and risk assessment requirements.

The new regulation envisages a shortcut for the so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGT), renamed in Italy as Tecniche di Evoluzione Assistita (TEA). The European Commission proposes to consider NGT plants of 'category 1' those that "could also be naturally occurring or produced by conventional breeding", demonstrating an approximate and inconsistent approach. All NGT plants obtained with up to 20 different genetic modifications will be considered 'equivalent' to conventional plants, with what the GMO-Free Italy Coalition considers to be an arbitrary choice devoid of any scientific basis.

For these plants it will only be necessary to notify the competent authorities of the placing on the market, with the risk that much information will be unavailable to citizens and stakeholders, so much for transparency. No solid risk assessment, traceability or labelling will be required.

'Category 2' plants, i.e. those that will not have these characteristics, will be regulated in a similar way to current GMOs, but will still enjoy a simplified authorisation procedure. All this, in defiance of the precautionary principle - cited among the objectives but contradicted by the facts - and for the exclusive benefit of a few large agrochemical companies that already dominate the global seed market. 

The possibility of patenting NGT plants will thus increase the influence of agribusiness giants on the food supply chains, to the detriment of farmers' rights to save, replicate, sell and trade their own seeds. Passed off as a tool of sustainable agriculture, NGTs instead stand to be the Trojan horse of industrialised agriculture, which has contributed to the ecological collapse of natural systems. Contamination of non-GMO fields will be difficult to avoid because there are no realistic safeguards for a country like Italy. Our country will no longer even be able to exercise the opt-out that has kept us safe all these years: national restrictions on cultivation are in fact expressly forbidden by the new proposal. The environmental and economic damage for organic farming and for those who cultivate without the use of genetically engineered products is thus assured, because it will be impossible to guarantee supply chains free from contamination. The call for member states to adopt coexistence measures is unrealistic, especially in an area like ours.

For this reason, the Coalition calls on Italian MEPs and the government to speak out against this proposal in all fora, also in deference to the two rulings already issued by the European Court of Justice and the opposing positions already declared by Austria and Germany. NGTs are equivalent to GMOs, so they must be regulated as GMOs. Producers must be required to assess the risk, ensure traceability throughout the supply chain, and indicate the genetic modification on the label to protect people and the environment. 

The GMO-Free Italy Coalition

Acu, Agorà, AltragricolturaBio, ASCI, Assobio, Associazione rurale italiana Ari, AIAB, Associazione per l'agricoltura biodinamica, Centro internazionale Crocevia, Coltivare Condividendo, Coordinamento ZeroOgm, Custodi di semi, Deafal, Demeter Italia, Equivita, European Consumers Aps, Fairwatch, Federazione Nazionale Pro Natura, Federbio, FIRAB, Fondazione Seminare il Futuro, Greenpeace, ISDE, Legambiente, Lipu, Navdanya International, RIES - Rete Italiana Economia Solidale, Ress, Seedvicious, Slow food Italia, Associazione Terra! , Terra Nuova, Transform!, Usb, Verdi Ambiente e Società, WWF

Translated with Deepl Translate (free version)

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