European Food Safety Authority confirms equivalence of Category 1 NGT plants with conventional breeding

EFSA confirms that Category 1 NGT plants do not present any additional hazards and risks compared to plants resulting from conventional breeding techniques. Euroseeds welcomes EFSA’s findings, emphasizing that discriminatory regulatory approaches for conventional-like NGT-derived plants and the resulting products are unwarranted and against the science.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) presented its Scientific opinion on the ANSES analysis of Annex I of the EC proposal1 to the Envi Committee in the EU Parliament. The report concludes that the available scientific literature shows that plants containing the types and numbers of genetic modifications as to the criteria suggested in the Commission proposal do exist as the result of spontaneous mutations or random mutagenesis and with this are suitable to establish equivalence with conventional breeding.

EFSA therefore reiterates that it is scientifically justified to consider category 1 NGT plants equivalent to conventionally bred plants with respect to the similarity of genetic modifications and the similarity of potential risks. EFSA’s new report is in line with previous EFSA reports and adds to the BE Superior Health Council report on NGT proposal, the German ZKBS and Dutch COGEM reports which all confirm the scientific justification of the equivalence criteria and with that the non-discriminatory regulatory approach for conventional-like NGTs in the EC proposal.

Petra Jorasch, Euroseeds Manager Plant Breeding Innovation Advocacy, states that "the European seed sector welcomes EFSA’s scientific assessment. This new EFSA report as well as all the other reports and respective scientific literature should be taken up quickly by our policy makers to finally adopt evidence-based regulations for conventional-like NGT plants. Any GMO-like approach would unfairly discriminate against these safe innovations and hold Europe’s scientists, breeders and farmers in a competitive disadvantage."