The report, entitled The \u20ac3 Trillion Cost of Saying No: How the EU Risks Falling Behind in the Bio-economy Revolution,<\/em> examines how outdated EU laws, especially a 2001 regulatory framework that currently classifies gene-edited crops as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are choking off new sources of economic growth, employment, and environmental sustainability in Europe and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the speakers were united that the European Commission\u2019s new proposals \u2014 outlined by Klaus Berend \u2014 were an important step. Berend explained that the EC proposed dividing gene-edited plants into two categories according to whether their genetic changes could have happened in nature. While the first category would be regulated like conventionally bred new varieties, the second category would still fall under the GMO rule, making them unlikely to be adopted in Europe. Both categories would be labeled and not permitted under organic systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on the European Commission\u2019s proposal for regulating NGTs, Garlich von Essen said: \u201cIt\u2019s not a giant leap. It\u2019s a very cautious first step.\u201d However, he emphasized that the proposal contained provisions to \u201cupdate with scientific progress,\u201d which could be crucial. He contrasted this with the 2001 GMO rules, which is \u201ca very old piece of legislation, but we\u2019re stuck with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: \u201cThere is a broad scientific consensus worldwide that these technologies are not dangerous\u201d and have no additional risk specific to the crop breeding technique: \u201cA wheat will still be a wheat, and a tomato will still be a tomato.\u201d He acknowledged that the \u201cdiscussion we are having today in Europe around these technologies is much more measured than what we saw 25 years ago on GMOs. Those that continued to oppose NGTs were \u2018a rather small fringe group,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reduce pesticide use without sacrificing productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking on behalf of European farmers, Thor Gunnar Kofoed said the challenge now was to reduce pesticide use without sacrificing productivity. \u201cThat\u2019s why when you travel around Europe and meet farmers, they ask for these new varieties that they don\u2019t need to spray so much. They say: \u2018Can we get these new varieties?\u2019, \u2018When are they coming?’\u201d He also said that as an organic farmer himself, and in conversation with other organic producers, \u201cthey all want to use NGTs\u201d because they know that being excluded from new varieties used by conventional farmers will make them increasingly uncompetitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Sheila Ochugboju, the Alliance for Science director, said: \u201cThere\u2019s a global trend \u2014 this is a fourth industrial revolution, all these things are coming together, and we\u2019re on the cusp of that. Europe is the world\u2019s regulator, which greatly affects what\u2019s grown in Africa and what choices African farmers and governments make in agricultural policy. We have to stop using so much pesticide.\u201d She pointed out that pesticide use was often worse in Africa because farmers did not have protective gear, and more toxic products banned in Europe were still used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFarmers don\u2019t use pesticides for fun\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Ochugboju added that many African policymakers and anti-GMO activists point to Europe\u2019s aversion to genetically improved crops as a reason to block adoption in Africa. \u201cBut Europe has a first-world privilege of being able to find alternatives,\u201d like mechanization or even robotics, and is food secure. \u201cBut in the Global South, you have countries that are not food secure like Kenya where droughts and other climatic stresses are devastating maize crops alongside diseases and pest infestations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking for European seed producers, Garlich von Essen agreed that \u2018new genomic techniques\u2019 are \u201cthe next big thing in plant breeding worldwide\u2026 that allow us to achieve breeding objectives faster\u201d because of more precision and better understanding of working with plant genetics. He warned that if EU legislation on seed breeding continued to be more restrictive than in other parts of the world, investment would go elsewhere. \u201cBrains and genes are mobile, so we go where we find the best conditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Farmers seeing decreasing productivity and incomes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thor Gunnar Kofoed reminded the audience: \u201cFarmers don\u2019t use pesticides for fun. They use it to produce more and better quality products.\u201d To keep farming profitable while reducing chemicals, however, \u201cwe need some other tools to use instead of these pesticides\u201d \u2013 notably, better crop genetics. \u201cIf I look at the future for farmers, the only way is to have better seed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Ochugboju noted the urgency of the current situation. \u201cNGTs give us hope for the future,\u201d she stressed. \u201cWe in the Alliance for Science who are fighting a science communications war against misinformation\u201d struggle to counter perceptions of an anti-science stance in Europe, which has a \u201cbig loud voice in the global conversation. So Europe as the global regulator has to look at the impact of that regulation\u201d on the Global South, she emphasized, in particular \u201cwould it impede future technological advances there too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She concluded: \u201cClimate change is here. We need more options; we have a world to feed that is getting bigger and hungrier. Our farmers are seeing decreasing productivity and incomes. We need something new.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At a Euractiv media event to mark the launch of the Breakthrough Institute\/Alliance for Science\u2019s new report on \u2018new genomic techniques,\u2019 stakeholders representing farmers, seed producers, and policymakers welcomed the more science-based approach proposed by the European Commission. Speaking at the event were Klaus Berend, Director, Food Safety, Sustainability and Innovation directorate of the European Commission\u2019s DG SANTE; Garlich […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[313,218],"class_list":["post-9896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farmers-place","tag-rice-farmers","tag-rice-farming"],"acf":{"enable_premium_overlay":false},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ricenewstoday.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-199-1024x530.png\")
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