Precision breeding bill presents ‘several challenges’ for food sector

Concerns have been sparked after the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants came into force in England on Thursday.

While it was welcomed by advocates as a way of helping farmers make their plants hardier and yields higher, it was also met with concern from some who say it could threaten trade opportunities and cause confusion for consumers.

“The government failed in its duty to properly assess the impact of the regulations on trade, farming, the environment and even human rights,” said Pat Thomas, the director of Beyond GM.

The veteran campaigner said the benefits of genetic modification and gene editing had been promised for years, but, so far, had yielded little in results – which Thomas said was down to “overhyped promises” and a “consistent failure to deliver”. 

“England is not leading, it’s isolating itself from trade partners with a detrimental knock-on effect for farmers and food businesses,” she added, warning about potential damage to the environment due to peeled-back regulations.

Thomas went on to note the debate was not necessarily one between organic and genetic modification, asserting there were voices in the “traditional food sector” who wished to avoid PBOs.

“[The act] is being sold as an innovation breakthrough, but it is built on hype and careless deregulation, not evidence,” Thomas added. “There is no transparency, no labelling and no meaningful environmental or consumer protections written in to it.”

Read more

• ‘Landmark’ Precision Breeding Act comes into force in England

• Why we must take a balanced approach to precision breeding

• FSA under fire for ‘misleading’ post-Brexit precision breeding proposals

Concerns were echoed by the Soil Association, which has long campaigned against genetic modification of crops and farm animals and said the act created “several challenges”. 

The organisation said it distracted from established and evidenced solutions for food security and nature recovery such as organic and added a “burden” for organic businesses and consumers, who would have to take steps to determine whether products -contained precision-bred organisms. 

“UK and EU organic regulations are clear, any form of genetic engineering is incompatible with organic agriculture and products from it, so the organic sector is obligated to exclude both from precision-bred organisms and genetically modified organisms from its supply chain,” said Lee Holdstock, head of regulatory affairs and trade at Soil Association Certification.

“To add cost to the sector with weak regulation of an unproven market for products with unknown risk is misguided,” he added, noting gene-edited food produced in England could end up on shelves in Wales and Scotland due to internal market rules.

“Despite the FSA’s own research revealing that overwhelmingly consumers want the ability to know whether their food is genetically engineered, disappointingly for the organic sector there will be no mandated requirement to label gene-edited foods, or any obligation to trace or segregate them through the supply chain,” he added.

Holdstock also voiced concerns over the current SPS negotiations currently under way with the EU, which says genetic engineering is incompatible with organic agriculture and products.

“Should the UK fail to mandate identification of precision bred organisms in our supply chains, future barriers to trade with the EU – and indeed other nations – are a real possibility,” he added.