On Thursday, 3 October, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed to MEPs that category 1 plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGTs) do not present any additional risks compared to those derived from conventional breeding.
On 11 July, EFSA adopted an opinion that mitigates the criticisms that the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) expressed at the end of January 2024 on the potential risks of new GMOs for human health and the environment (see EUROPE 13452/2).
MEPs divided. Rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd (EPP, Swedish) lamented the delays in adopting legislation and sang the praises of NGTs (see EUROPE 13398/21).
By way of reminder, Günther Sidl (S&D, German) brought up ANSES’s criticisms of the scientific modification criteria—the effect of which is that “94% of NGT plants would likely be in category 1, which amounts to giving these techniques carte blanche”.
Jeannette Baljeu (Renew Europe, Dutch) welcomed EFSA’s opinion. Pietro Fiocchi (ECR, Italian) acknowledged the advantages of NGTs and called for progress to be made on this issue.
Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, German) spoke of “negligence”, bearing in mind that the majority of NGT plants will be placed on the market “without any risk assessment or labelling: this is unacceptable”.
In response to MEPs’ questions on unintentional modifications, the EFSA representative explained that the modifications are targeted. “We have the capacity, technologically, [...] to locate [...] the [gene] insertions [...], targeting specific sections of the genome. So, the probability of having off-target [modifications] is actually lower”, explained EFSA. Furthermore, on the question of NGTs introducing new risks or hazards, EFSA is convinced that “they do not” because even with traditional breeding methods (where no genomes are introduced), the same modifications can occur.
The European Commission representative defended her initial proposal—which provides for two categories of NGTs—without giving an opinion on the European Parliament’s amendments, as the Council of the EU has still not adopted its position on the sensitive issue of regulating the use of NGTs (see EUROPE 13472/6). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)