Leading European scientists have developed a position paper aimed at urging European politicians to protect gene editing and other innovations related to plant science and agriculture.
BIOVEGEN has endorsed and expressed its support for this document, titled “Regulating genome edited organisms as GMOs has negative consequences for agriculture, society and economy”, which is already signed by representatives of 93 European entities related to plant biotechnology.
The document, which shows strong consensus within the European scientific community, arises in response to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on July 25, which ruled that organisms obtained through mutagenesis (using genetic editing techniques like CRISPR, among others) are considered Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and would be subject to the obligations established in Directive 2001/18/EC on GMOs.