The UK must retain its 'leading edge' over the rest of Europe by further promoting the research, investment and innovation of precision breeding, plant breeders have said.
The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) has urged the government following new EU proposals for regulating the products of new genomic techniques (NGTs).
The body warned they could 'potentially threaten' the UK’s opportunity to take advantage of the recently passed precision breeding bill.
The EU has proposed two distinct pathways for NGT plants to be placed on the market.
NGT plants that could occur naturally or through conventional breeding would be regulated in the same way as conventional plants and seeds, with no separate statutory requirement for risk assessment, food and feed marketing authorisation, traceability, food labelling or coexistence arrangements.
Other NGT plants would be subject to the EU’s existing GMO regulations.
BSPB CEO, Sam Brooke said: “Simplified field trial arrangements introduced in March 2023 led to an increase in research activity, with eight new field trials of precision bred crops notified in England under the new arrangements, twice as many as the entire EU-27 over the same period.
"We need to move to support this, not choke it."
The field trials demonstrated that precision breeding techniques provide the potential for plant scientists, breeders and farmers to keep pace with demands for increased agricultural productivity and resource-use efficiency, healthier food, reduced chemical use, and resilience to climate change.
However, the BSPS said a clear route to market was needed to realise these benefits.
Through the Precision Breeding Act, the UK government diverged from EU rules classifying gene edited products in the same way as GMOs.
But the detail of how the Act’s provisions will be implemented is not yet finalised, particularly in relation to food and feed marketing.
Mrs Brooke said: “Based on the Commission’s proposals, there is a real risk that the EU could be on course to eclipse our lead, by regulating NGT products – where they could have occurred naturally or through conventional breeding – in the same way as conventionally bred varieties.
"The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is looking to establish an entirely separate regulatory process for precision bred food and feed products, potentially involving expert committee scrutiny, risk assessment, public consultation, parliamentary approval and Secretary of State sign-off.
"That could significantly drive up the red tape, time and costs involved in bringing new precision bred crops to market," she said.
“BSPB urges UK Ministers, and the Food Standards Agency in particular, to ensure implementing arrangements for the Precision Breeding Act are as streamlined as possible."
