EU could postpone draft regulation for new genetic engineering
Testbiotech, an independent center of expertise concerned mainly with the ecological, social and ethical consequences of modern biotechnology, reported that the European Commission will probably not be able to present a legislative proposal for the (de)regulation of plants obtained from 'new genetic engineering' (NGT) on June 7 as planned due to procedural shortcomings.
These flaws have been already criticized several times by Testbiotech, which explains how “the Commission has so far refused to comprehensively assess the risks to humans and the environment. It has also not presented adequate procedural concepts for a technology assessment and consumer freedom of choice”.
The signal to stop the proceedings seems to have come from within the EU Commission, specifically the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, an independent body is responsible for quality assurance at the early stages of the legislative processes. In its expert opinion, this body identified major issues with the way the responsible body within the Commission, DG SANTE, had obtained its expert opinions, conducted consultations and written its own reports. Similar conclusions had previously been highlighted in a report commissioned by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (a German government's scientific authority).
“Halting the proposed legislation could significantly boost confidence in the institutions”, says Testbiotech, which believes that “DG SANTE had tried to ignore crucial issues within the legislative process”.
Testbiotech is calling for the legislative process to start again from the beginning. It says that, from a scientific point of view, there is no doubt that the risks and potentials of NGTs go far beyond what is expected from the results of conventional breeding, therefore, mandatory risk assessment is necessary.
Sources:
https://www.testbiotech.org/en/news/eu-postpones-draft-regulation-new-genetic-engineering
https://www.bfn.de/sites/default/files/2023-03/bng_finalreport_COMstudy_Feb2023.pdf
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