Canada moves a step ahead with seeds gene editing
On May 3, 2023 the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the implementation of a revised guideline for seed regulations. This update enables plant developers to introduce gene-edited seeds to the market without undergoing mandatory government health or environmental safety evaluations or disclosing their gene-editing technology usage.
As long as the new plant varieties do not exhibit a commercially viable herbicide tolerance trait and do not contain foreign DNA, they will not activate the Plants with Novel Traits (PNT) legislation.
The announcement was part of a broader initiative concerning the Seeds Canada public database, which will now be expanded to include information on seed varieties created using gene editing.
As stated in the news release, the updated guidance in Part V of the Seeds Regulations will allow seed developers to invest in new products while maintaining Canada's high safety standards, both nationally and globally. This update follows a similar change in Health Canada's Novel Food Regulations last year.
To preserve the integrity of organic certifications, which forbid gene-edited seeds but permit conventional ones, the government has introduced several measures to enhance transparency in seed production:
1. The establishment of a Government-Industry Steering Committee on Plant Breeding Innovations Transparency to facilitate ongoing discussions as gene-edited products enter the market.
2. The expansion of the Seeds Canada Canadian Variety Transparency Database to provide detailed information on individual seed varieties.
3. The implementation of federal oversight for the Canadian Variety Transparency Database.
These measures are informed by the recommendations and the work of the Industry-Government Technical Committee on Plant Breeding Innovation Transparency, which is comprised of members from the organic, conventional, and seed sectors, as well as officials from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada. According to the press release, their involvement will ensure the success of the Canadian Variety Transparency Database, maintaining transparency in seed innovations across Canada.
In addition to these measures, the government will allocate funds to review Canada's organic standards, which are updated every five years and scheduled for renewal in 2025. Countries like the United States, Japan, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil have already established pathways for gene-edited products. New Zealand, the UK, and the European Union are currently working on similar processes, as noted in the federal government's news release.
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