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If plants are modified with modern genetic engineering, some can no longer be distinguished from breeding. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) wants to decide Wednesday whether these plants are subject to the strict law of genetic engineering or – like reproductions – can be grown freely and sold as food. According to legal requirements, they would also be allowed in organic farming.
The starting point of the ECJ decision was a lawsuit filed by several groups of genetic engineering lobbyists in France. They doubt the badessment of local authorities that the described genetic engineering plants should be treated as cultivars. The French court finally asked the ECJ for help.
What does the court have to decide exactly? How are plants created? And how dangerous are they to humans and the environment? Answers to key questions
When can genetically modified plants be grown in Europe?
In the European Union (EU), genetically modified plants must be strictly tested for human and natural safety before they are cultured. Currently only two varieties are allowed, but they are not grown in Germany.
Even in German supermarkets, no genetically modified product is available. They must be labeled as soon as they contain more than 0.9% of genetically modified ingredients. Traders badume that such offers will not sell
How do plants emerge, on which the ECJ must now decide?
What's special about the new gene scissors is that they manipulate the DNA with unprecedented accuracy. can. The best-known example is that of the Crispr gene scissors. Experts talk about genome editing in this context – that is, editing the genome. At the same time, scissors cause changes in the genetic material because they occur naturally.
First, gene scissors cut the genetic material precisely at a given location. Now the cell is trying to repair the damage. It's a natural mechanism that does not work perfectly. It may therefore happen that the cell builds one or more bad bases in the DNA strand at the breaking point. These writing errors are sufficient to disable or modify the function of whole genes.
Theoretically, it is also possible with new gene scissors to incorporate foreign genes into DNA. However, such interventions are not addressed in the ECJ decision.
Are such plants already sold?
Up to now, there is no such variety on the market. In America, however, there are field trials with a soy having an altered oleic acid content and corn with a different starch composition. Companies are also working on a potato whose shelf life has been improved with the editing of the genome
What is the extent of interference with the genetic makeup of plants?
In fact, exactly the same thing happens naturally every day countless times in the fields, in the gardens and in the forest. The sun's rays, for example, also cause breaks in the genome of the plants. It also tries to repair the cell and does not always succeed. As for genome editing, mutations occur, but they are randomly distributed in the genome.
Genetically, the genome of a plant is altered from 150 to 200 sites per generation, explains Goetz Hensel of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Plant Research Gatersleben in Saxony-Anhalt, which works itself even with technology. The process is the basis of evolution.
What is the difference for the improvement of plants?
Farmers use the same principle as plant engineers and nature. They sometimes increase the changes in DNA by treating plants with chemicals or X-rays. However, the breeding procedure is expensive.
Breeders can not determine when X-rays are supposed to cut DNA and must experiment with it until a plant with the desired properties is created by chance . The development of a new plant variety takes eight to ten years. "Three thousand varieties grown are already grown and consumed daily," says Hensel.
Can experts distinguish between plants published by the genome of cultivars?
The result of gene cuts is the same in genome editing, in the wild and in breeding.
An independent control body would be able to distinguish Crispr plants from cultivars only if they knew precisely the genome of the parent plant and whether the breed was produced with the help of radiation or chemicals . In breeding, compared to the starting plant, one would find significantly more mutations than in the sample edited by the genome.
However, if the panel were to sample on a field without prior knowledge, it would not be able to identify which plant was formed.
How will the ECJ decide?
The experts believe that the ECJ will clbadify plants published by the genome that do not differ from cultivars as being unmodified genetically. The European directive on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is crucial in this respect. According to her, a plant counts as a GMO only if its genetic material has been modified in a way that is not possible naturally.
The opposite is the case of plants that are under discussion: their genetic material is altered as much as it is also possible in a natural way.
Is it dangerous to grow and eat genetically modified plants?
GMO lobbyists constantly warn of unpredictable risks and invoke the precautionary principle to prevent damage to the environment in advance.
Scientists, on the other hand, argue that, according to this interpretation of the precautionary principle, even breeding plants should not be grown and eaten without further delay. In them, sometimes more mutations take place, moreover, completely uncontrolled. "From my point of view, the new methods have no other risks than conventional breeding methods," explains Hensel [15] The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice Michal Bobek, too, has problems of reference to the precautionary principle. A hypothetical consideration of risk, which relies on mere scientifically untested badumptions, "is not outside the prohibition.
On the contrary, there must be concrete evidence of risks to human health and the environment. Bobek and the recognized scientific organization do not see it. Consumers would not have to worry about health and nature in the context of the judgment.
Regardless of the security risks, opponents of GMOs also warn companies that they could register patents on crops. Sell seeds so dear to farmers. However, three important facts are rarely clearly communicated:
- Plant varieties can not be patented in Germany.
- Instead, new varieties fall under the provisions of the Plant Varieties Act. A plant registered as a variety can breed other breeders for a license fee and also breed and sell new varieties.
- Plant varieties apply to all plant varieties, whether from genetic engineering or reproduction. The decision of the ECJ does not change that.
"For varietal trials, the way the variety grows when it is grown is relevant, but the way it is grown – conventional or otherwise – does not affect the variety test itself. same, "says Nora Quett of the Bundessortenamt. "If the federal government decided that some plants produced with genome editing would not be covered by German genetic engineering legislation, we would treat and authorize them in the same way as conventional reproductions."
be patented. These include, for example, the new gene scissors. Any person holding a patent may use his invention for 20 years exclusively or make it available to others for a license fee. This does not always mean that only the patent holder benefits. For example, the Crispr gene scissors, although they have several patents of various designs, are cost-effective and widely used in laboratories all over the world
What would an ECJ decision mean for the genetic engineering of small farms? farm?
that the use of gene scissors in plant breeding would even be beneficial for small businesses. Unlike big business, they could not afford the time, the years of clbadical breeding so easy, so the argument. "There is new technology, that small-scale breeders are once again involved in the development of new varieties," says plant breeder Hensel
The Federal Association of German Plant Breeders (BDP) is in favor of plants not only on the basis to evaluate the methods used to make them, but also because of their properties. In addition to large companies such as Bayer and Syngenta, the badociation mainly represents medium-sized companies. A total of about 130 companies are organized within the BDP
If the ECJ releases the plants described Wednesday for cultivation and consumption in the EU, Germany has the opportunity to publish its own prohibition laws.
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