Research organisations see draft as facilitating plant research / Significant potential for more sustainable agriculture in Europe

Research organisations see draft as facilitating plant research / Significant potential for more sustainable agriculture in Europe

In a joint statement issued today, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina welcome the proposal of the European Commission for a new regulatory framework for new genomic techniques in plant breeding and agriculture, which was published on 5 July 2023. They believe the proposed amendment will facilitate plant research and help realise the significant potential of new breeding techniques to make agriculture in Europe more sustainable.

“The Commission has presented a carefully balanced proposal that takes into account the recommendations and interests of science and research. Importantly, the new regulation will facilitate access to field trials on plants developed with these new technologies, thereby paving the way to more diverse crops with a smaller ecological footprint,” said DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker.

Leopoldina President Professor Dr. Gerald Haug (ETHZ) said: “We welcome the EU Commission’s science-based proposal. The way we farm will help determine the success of our efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crises. New breeding techniques can play an important role in the transformation of agriculture.”

Many of the world’s largest agricultural producers and EU trading partners, including the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Japan, China and the UK, have already introduced science-based, innovation-oriented regulatory frameworks for so-called NGT crops (NGT stands for New Genomic Techniques). For this reason, the EU needs an appropriate amendment to its legislation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that takes into account the state of research as well as environmental and new geopolitical realities.

The two research organisations are confident that advances in breeding and biotechnology are the key to combating hunger and malnutrition, producing healthier and more nutritious food in a sustainable way, and adapting agriculture to climate change. This is because the new breeding techniques offer two key advantages over conventional breeding methods: speed and precision. As such, the new technologies can make a significant contribution to increasing agricultural productivity and breeding new plant varieties that contribute to a healthier diet and are more resistant to climate change.

Already in 2019, the Leopoldina, the DFG and the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities published a statement entitled “Towards a scientifically justified, differentiated regulation of genome edited plants in the EU”. This was followed in January 2023 by a position paper entitled “In support of a timely and state-of-the-art regulation of the products of new breeding techniques as a contribution to tackling multiple crises in the 21st century”, issued by the Permanent Senate Commission on Genetic Research of the DFG.

Further information

For the full text of the statement, see:

• www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/geschaeftsstelle/publikationen/ stellungnahmen_papiere/2023/statement_genomic_techniques.pdf

To the position paper “In support of a timely and state-of-the-art regulation of the products of new breeding techniques as a contribution to tackling multiple crises in the 21st century” (2023):

• www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/gremien/senat/genforschung/ position_genomeditierte_pflanzen_en.pdf

Statement – “Towards a scientifically justified, differentiated regulation of genome edited plants in the EU” (2019):

• www.leopoldina.org/en/publications/detailview/publication/towards-a-scientifically-justified-differentiated-regulation-of-genome-edited-plants-in-the-eu-2019/

Media contact:

• Marco Finetti
  Head of Press and Public Relations at the DFG
  Tel. +49 228 885 2109
  presse@dfg.de
• Caroline Wichmann
  Head of Press and Public Relations
  Leopoldina
  Tel.+49 345 472 39 800
  presse@leopoldina.org

Programme contacts:

• Dr. Catherine Kistner
  Molecular and Organismal Biology
  DFG
  sk-genforschung@dfg.de
• Dr. Johannes Fritsch
  Presidential Office
  Leopoldina
  johannes.fritsch@leopoldina.org
• Dr. Henning Steinicke
  Science – Policy –Society
  Leopoldina
  henning.steinicke@leopoldina.org