EU agriculture ministers have failed to find a position on EU plans to relax rules on new genomic techniques (NGTs) as thorny issues like coexistence with organic farming and patentability continue to split European countries.
In July, the European Commission proposed to loosen the rules on certain NGTs, or gene editing – a number of new scientific methods used to alter genomes with the aim of genetically engineering certain traits into plants.
The Spanish EU Council Presidency – who will be succeeded by Belgium on 1 January – aimed to seal a deal on the Council’s position on the file during a meeting on Monday (11 December) – but their offering failed to reach the necessary majority for a general approach on NGTs.
Ministers were still divided on several controversial points of the legislation, such as the coexistence of NGTs with organic farming and the possibility of patenting new plant varieties. While countries with a long tradition of organic farming, like Germany and Austria, welcomed the proposed ban on the use of NGT plants in organic farming, they lamented the fact that the Commission’s proposal makes it difficult for such farmers to prove that their production is gene-editing free.
Read more at euractiv.com
