OPTA Europe urges EU to oppose gene editing

OPTA Europe has called on EU legislators to oppose gene editing and support agroecology. In a position paper, the organisation wrote: “As the EU stands at a crossroads concerning the future of our food system, we invite lawmakers to stand firmly on the side of agroecology, which excludes gene editing.” Should the authorisation of NGTS be maintained, OPTA Europe invites the EU Parliament and Council to amend the Commission’s proposal with the following binding provisions:

• Mandatory traceability and labelling of all products obtained through NGTs to protect the integrity of the organic supply chain
• In line with the polluter-pays-principle, NGTs manufacturers to bear the additional costs related to prevention and monitoring in the organic supply chain, as well as a compensation to the organic operator when presence of NGT materials is confirmed.

“We welcome that the draft ‘Regulation on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed’ enacts the incompatibility of NGTs with the principles underlying organic food and farming as well with consumer’s perception of organic products. In our views, both systems are also mutually exclusive because of cross-breeding: the authorization of NGTs compromises the legitimate GMO-free business of EU organic companies”, the organisation stated.