Precision breeding: Global policymakers deliberate next steps in regulating new, highly functional crop tool

Precision breeding is a rapidly growing technology within the global food system – selected for its capacity to elevate farmed crop yields and disease resistance. However, this novel crop solution has been met with cautionary warnings from opponents who worry about the wider implications a more lenient regulation might have on consumer health and the environment.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which applies to England only, is currently going through Parliament. Should this Bill become law, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) will be responsible for introducing a separate regulatory framework for precision bred food and feed.

″This framework will ensure that any food and feed developed using precision breeding will only enter the food supply chain if they are judged to present no risk to health, do not mislead consumers and do not have lower nutritional value than their traditionally bred counterparts,″ states the FSA.

Departure from the EU has allowed England to explore gene-editing technology, which is currently banned in Europe. The UK announced the new bill in May, raising the hopes of researchers in this field. Among the first crops that may appear on English dinner tables are vitamin-D enriched tomatoes.

However, ″not fit for purpose,″ was the response from the UK Regulatory Policy Committee to government attempts to introduce a bill to deregulate food editing of crops and animals.

Public consensus on precision breeding

The UK’s FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have published the first phase of a ″Survey of public attitudes towards precision breeding″ report, as part of wider efforts to increase their evidence base in the field of genetic technologies.

This consumer research project will feed into the design of a regulatory framework and any future engagement with consumers on precision breeding.

The first part of the two-phase social research project sought feedback from members of the public across the UK on their awareness and attitudes towards precision bred food, and what information about precision bred food is important to them.

The second phase will be carried out by the FSA in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (due early 2023) and will help the agency to understand what is informing peoples’ views and develop a deeper understanding of their needs. FSS will be carrying out further research in Scotland.

The interim findings from phase one highlight low awareness of precision breeding – 75% of participants have not heard of it – and a strong appetite to know more about the new technology and its use in food and animal feed production.

While the data reveals a general openness to trying precision bred foods across the UK, with more people anticipating positive than negative impacts from its use, there are large proportions of the public taking a neutral stance or indicating they do not know enough to answer the survey questions.

There are currently no precision bred foods authorized for sale in the UK, although some are available elsewhere in the world.

US market offers launchpad

A genetically modified purple tomato is set to be sold on the US market next year after the US Department of Agriculture streamlined its approval process, opening the way for early market testing next year. The unique crop was developed by British scientist Cathie Martin of Norfolk Plant Sciences.

The USDA’s new streamlined genetically modified approval process – which can now take as little as a year and cost a few hundred thousand dollars – is expected to signal a renaissance for next-generation GMO products.

Plant scientist Professor Cathie Martin developed the purple tomato 20 years ago by crossing a tomato with the genes of a snapdragon flower. She presented her findings at the FPJ Live 2021 and Global Tomato Congress 2021 to deliberate the risks and opportunities linked to gene-editing fruit and vegetables.

The tomato’s purple color is due to its high levels of anthocyanins, which are an antioxidant present in blueberries that have been found to help boost cognitive function and lower inflammation. In one study, mice that were fed a diet supplemented by purple tomatoes lived 30% longer than average.

Europe calls for relaxation of measures

At an EU Council meeting held last month, EU agriculture ministers called for less intensive restrictions on the commercialization of precision breeding.

The ministers displayed solidarity toward the sentiment that new precision techniques will make it faster and more efficient to modify a plant’s own DNA, which holds potential to reinforce the EU’s food industry – that suffered from rampant heat waves hitting this year’s harvests.

According to an EU source, 20 member states are in favor of relaxed policies. Meanwhile, six countries flagged the need to maintain a precautionary approach. Aware about the opposition against GMOs, six agriculture ministers underscored the importance of providing adequate information to the public.

Unlike the first generation GMO crop systems, genome editing offers far greater precision and does not require the addition of transgenes from other species as a marker that the desired genetic modification has taken place.

Despite this, in 2018 the EU Court of Justice ruled that genome editing methods – such as the Nobel prize winning Crispr-Cas9, for instance – fall under the 2001 EU legislation regulating GMOs, even while these processes are deemed more efficient than their preceding technologies.

This has resulted in a near roadblock for the burgeoning sector, with a significant reduction in EU-based research activity – predominantly from SMEs – and their refocusing of attention to the US or other non-European markets.

A report published by the Commission in April argued that 2001 GMO legislation is no longer appropriate given the ability of Crispr and related techniques to introduce desirable traits without the need for foreign genes.

At the heels of this, the Commission initiated a public consultation to assess how to best move forward, which concluded in July. The Commission is currently conducting an impact assessment and is due to publish a legislative proposal in the second quarter of 2023, according to EU officials.

″It may be time to rethink some traditional approaches to food production in favor of new modern techniques,″ Czech agriculture minister Zdeněk Nekula concluded at the council meeting.