Let's boost trust in science and the EU risk assessment process

After one year of debate, who loves the Comitology Proposal?    

The Commission’s proposal to reform the way Member States vote to approve products (comitology) has been widely criticised by stakeholders including EuropaBio, as well as national parliaments. The Czech, Dutch and Polish parliaments oppose the proposal, as well as the French Senate in a recent opinion that considers modification of the calculating rules on qualified majority as “inconsistent with the Treaties” and “calls upon the EU legislator to a moderate use and compliant with the Treaties of the delegated and implementing acts.” After the presentation of a legal opinion by the Council Legal Service a growing number of Member States understand that the proposal is not the right tool to address the problems raised by the Commission and do not hide their doubts on the proposal’s proportionality and the lack of an impact assessment. Meanwhile, various committees in the European Parliament have adopted their opinions generally supporting transparency and improved scrutiny from the Parliament. The lead Committee, Legal Affairs (JURI), will soon start to work on this file despite the rising skepticism in the main EP political groups and Member States. 

Misuse of precautionary principle ‘unfairly hurts US ag’

17 countries recently declared: “our farmers' choice of safe tools is increasingly undermined by regulatory barriers that lack a sufficient scientific justification”. A recent article by Bernard D. Goldstein in The Hill provides some context from an American perspective. Goldstein recalls that EFSA “has not provided support for the EU’s contention that health risks occur through eating American chicken, beef or (GMO) grain”. He contends that “the Doha Round to liberalize trade failed in part due to mistrust of the EU’s use of the precautionary principle to subvert any agreement,” and highlights the absurd consequences also for EU citizens: “Even during the frightening mad cow disease episode, which caused over 200 lingering deaths, the EU public was not given the choice of untainted American beef”. Goldstein concludes: “The U.S. is not without unfair trade practices. But, in contrast to the EU, we do not rely on distorting public health science as a means to wrap greed in a green flag.”

GM feed important for Polish poultry sector

Following efforts by some politicians to ban GM feed imports into Poland, the chairman of Cedrób (one of the biggest poultry producers in Poland) warned that the entry into force of such a ban would have negative consequences for the poultry sector, as reported in Gazeta Polska. The sentiment was also shared by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ewa Lech, who confirmed that an introduction of such a ban, in the absense of alternative feed sources, would have very negative consequences. Constant uncertainty regarding the status of GM imports in Poland is making it difficult for farmers and producers to plan production. Meanwhile, no other European country has ever implemented such a ban, which is widely considered to run counter to science and reason, to be unnecessarily costly, and to be illegal according to EU law.

Short Trade & Approvals News

• Golden Rice receives Food Safety Approval – World Grain 
• Rwanda: Debate ensues over move to adopt GMOs – New Times

One step closer to legal clarity in plant breeding

In January, the Advocate General of the EU’s Court of Justice issued his non-binding opinion on organisms obtained by mutagenesis. Our take is that the opinion is a step on the way to achieving needed clarity regarding the regulatory status of plants that have been developed using the latest methods of plant breeding. Media coverage quoting EuropaBio included the Guardian and Nature, which also quoted Ralf Wilhelm at the Julius Kühn Institute, who said: "One reason that scientists need to exploit gene-editing techniques is that globalisation and climate change are bringing new diseases to Europe. Being able to adapt crops efficiently would help to avert any disastrous consequences." On the occasion of a plant science conference in Germany, Prof. Andreas Weber was quoted by FAZ, commenting on the court case: “This would be the fact-based turnaround which we have been waiting for for so long.” See also our genome editing paper, which calls for a predictable, science-based application of existing policy approaches to allow innovation to benefit Europe.

UK public cautiously optimistic about genetic technologies

The Royal Society has published survey results which indicate that “there is support for using genome editing in plants to produce cheaper medicines (69%), make crops more nutritious as a way of supplementing poor diets (70%), and to prevent crop damage, for example by fungal diseases (77%).” In addition, “there is support for international cooperation on regulation of genetic technologies with 81% of survey respondents in favour of a global regulatory framework.”

Genetic tools highlighted at FIMA 2018 conference

Speaking at the 3rd Precision Agriculture Workshop, organised by the Spanish Association of Maize Producers (AGPME) with the collaboration of the ANTAMA Foundation, EuropaBio’s Pedro Narro defended a rational approach towards supporting innovation in plant breeding, emphasising the need for a framework driven by science and knowledge. At the workshop, titled 'New tools: Genetic Edition, rhizomes and GPS', which was held on February 22, 2018 in the framework of the annual International Fair of Agricultural Machinery, experts analysed the tools that  CRISPR technology offers, how they work, and what advantages they have, as well as their legal status. Read more in Spanish here, and see the interview with Pedro Narro.  

Europe risks missing out on a second crop biotechnology revolution

Prof. Nigel Halford from the UK’s prestigious Rothamsted Research Institute describes “the most onerous constraints to scientific and technological developments ever devised by politicians and policymakers,” following which “biotech companies have abandoned efforts to develop new GM crop varieties for cultivation in Europe.” The author opines that the forthcoming European Court ruling on mutagnesis “could prompt a green light for crop scientists and plant breeders to start using genome editing for crop improvements in Europe.” He emphasises that “from a scientific point of view, the result of genome editing is a mutant, not a GM plant.”

"Wild" genes open up opportunities for healthier, climate smart rice

The International Rice Research Institute reports that "the genome sequencing of seven wild rice varieties has finally been completed. This breakthrough is expected to provide opportunities for breeders worldwide in developing better rice varieties that will respond to the changing needs of the farmers and the consumers."

Short Innovation & IP News

• Commission expects clarity on GM scope from court ruling on plant breeding techniques - EurActiv
• Biotech improved golden potatoes contain higher levels of vitamins A and E - ISAAA
• Latin America’s Top 15 GM Crops and Gene Editing Advances – Cornell Alliance for Science 
• Gene editing poised to revolutionize agriculture if we can fix biotech regulations – Genetic Literacy Project 
• Anti-GMO forces target New Breeding Techniques – Genetic Literacy Project 
• DowDuPont boss: Merger will speed up innovation to face farming challenges ‘quickly’ - Euractiv
• Temperature resilient crops now an “achievable dream” - John Innes Centre
• Sweet Way to Greater Yields - Rothamsted Research
• ‘Wild’ genes open up opportunities for healthier, climate-smart rice - IRRI 

Don’t attack science agencies for political gain

In a remarkable opinion piece in Nature, EFSA’s executive director Bernhard Url warned that eroding trust in regulatory agencies will not improve democratic accountability. “We have seen scare stories about trace levels of glyphosate residues in German beer or Italian pasta - but these fail to mention that (they) would pose risks only if a person consumed roughly 1,000 litres of beer or their body’s weight in dried pasta in one day”. “We at EFSA believe that some campaigners are unwilling to accept evidence that certain products are safe, and will tout weak scientific studies showing the opposite,” writes Url. In an interview with Der Spiegel, Url said: “Politicians and NGOs discredit EFSA and BfR (the German risk assessor) on purpose, to lend more weight to their own arguments.” Other chiefs of regulatory agencies are similarly vocal. The President of BfR, Andreas Hensel, clarified in an interview with Die Welt: ”Eating sausages is more dangerous than glyphosate, according to IARC’s criteria”, and added: “certain interested circles, together with some NGOs, have purposefully stoked fears (on glyphosate).” Meanwhile about 40 scientists wrote in Les Echos that “everything is happening as if the decision makers cannot but align themselves with the fearmongers.” For more opinions on trust in science, see also the Euractiv series Fact-Checking Science.

Opportunities for ag biotech in the UK

“Three key elements for agri-biotech are R&D, trade in agricultural products and deployment of technology”, the chair of the UK’s Agricultural Council for Biotechnology Mark Buckingham told MPs in Westminster at a hearing in January. “The latter has been blocked by the EU but the former two are doing well,” he said, adding that ‘the EU's precautionary approach has become a 'political football’. See the full video starting at 11:14:38. In the meantime, this new animation also highlights the potential of the agricultural biotechnology sector in the UK to boost jobs, exports and the wider economy post-Brexit, also accessible at GMOinfo.eu/uk.

French scientists in revolt 

“Don’t give up on science” was the title of a guest opinion article in les Echos magazine, in which 40 science leaders from the public and private sectors criticized the “omnipresent precautionary populism”. Whether it is a question of glyphosate, GMOs, nuclear technology or endocrine disruptors, the authors make no bones about pointing out that “France is cutting itself off,” “the government does not trust its own new product approval committees,” and “public decision-makers are aligning themselves with the scare-mongers.” European Scientist has the story in English.

Glyphosate less hazardous than some organic pesticides

CJEU ruling facilitates NGO involvement

NGO TestBioTech won an EU court case against the European Commission (EC) regarding the rights of NGOs to contest administrative acts on the basis of the so called Aarhus Convention, which provides for access of NGOs to decision making on environmental matters. TestBiotech contested the April 2015 authorisation decisions for three GM soybean products with enhanced nutritional profile for food and feed use and import (but not cultivation) in the EU. The ruling has no impact on the continued validity of these authorisations, but creates room for increased NGO involvement in the EU system for GM import authorisations, and beyond. Read more here.

Short Science & Safety News 

• Science and Democracy: safeguarding the right to science, also in agriculture- Parliament Magazine
• Bill Gates calls GMOs 'perfectly healthy' — and scientists say he's right – Business Insider
• Bill Gates backs Edinburgh-based farm research projects - BBC
• Bacteria invented genetic engineering — we made it controversial – Alliance for Science 
• Anti-GMO Articles Tied to Russian Sites, ISU Research Shows – Des Moines Register
• Julie Girling MEP: ‘Most of us look for evidence that supports our own opinions’ - Euractiv
• German Study analyzes risk perceptions of consumers regarding GM crops - ISAAA 

GM Maize combats cancer, why won’t Europe?  

A new analysis of over 6,000 peer-reviewed studies, conducted by Italian academic researchers, shows that GM maize has dramatically decreased dangerous food contaminants and substantially increased yields. The study, which covered over 20 years of data, was published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, and was also covered in Forbes and European mass media such as Der Standard, Spektrum, La Repubblica, Il Foglio, and La Stampa, but apparently not in France. The EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre had also confirmed that, “the adoption of Bt maize can result in lower mycotoxin levels”, and this was specifically confirmed for Spain, where farmers are allowed to grow one type of Bt maize. But most EU farmer and consumers are largely prevented from enjoying this benefit. We think that 29% fewer mycotoxins should be relevant for European politicians who are so worried about cancer, even alleged and potential carcinogens. Mycotoxins are naturally produced by mould fungi. Aflatoxins, a sub-group, are among the most potent known carcinogens, causing up to 155,000 cases of liver cancer each year and leading to the destruction of 16 million tons of maize. Like most countries, the EU has threshold limits for mycotoxins, allowing for small residues in food and animal feed. Member States like France and Italy sometimes fail to comply with these limits – yet in 2017 they voted against approving Bt maize for cultivation. Despite health concerns confirmed by EFSA, France even tried to obtain an exemption from the thresholds in 2014. Do the decision makers purposefully expose their citizens to higher levels of carcinogens?

The new (and modified) forbidden fruit

Through his research on GMOs in the 1980s, Dennis Gonsalves, a first-generation Portuguese emigrant to the USA, contributed significantly to saving Hawaiian papayas from complete devastation. Over twenty years later, the scientific evidence not only shows that the GM papaya, together with other approved GM crops, are safe, but also that they can and do provide consumer benefits. Rita Batista, a researcher at the Portuguese National Institute of Health, commented that there is an “endless potential” in GM technology that can directly benefit consumers, giving examples of research in Spain that aims to raise vitamins A, C and B9 in maize and also to produce gluten-free wheat. But some NGOs, like Friends of the Earth, have campaigned hard to prevent new innovations, like the first (waste-saving) GM Apple, to come to the market. Read more here (in Portuguese).

“Little doubt” about the promised bounty of GM crops

A recent report by the American Enterprise Institute emphasises research that indicates GM technologies can increase yields through increased plant populations and reduced rotational impacts at the lower end of yield distributions, as well as through improved pest control.

Listing the Benefits

From apples that don't brown to rainbow papayas that are disease resistant, GMO Answers put together an overview of current GM crops available today in the US (alfalfa, apples, canola, corn - field and sweet, cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash and sugar beets.), and their special traits. As more companies in the US and Canada focus on consumer benefits offered by products like the Arctic Apple, low-acrylamide potatoes, and soya beans with healthier oils, some European media, like Wirtschaftswoche (in German) are also taking notice.

Short Cultivation & Benefits News 

• Calyxt expands total acreage with farmers for high-oleic soybean product - Calyxt
• Bt cotton doubled production, minimised harm by pest: Govt – Times of India 
• GMO crops create “halo effect” that benefits organic farmers – Alliance for Science 
• Bill Gates, UK inject cash into farm science. “If you care about the poor, you should care about agriculture” - Reuters
• Brazil Sugar Mills Start Genetically-Modified Cane Plantation - Reuters
• Kenya: Scientists recommend Bt maize as a solution to fall armyworm infestation – ISAAA 
• Kenya’s President ‘banks on biotech cotton for 50,000 jobs’ - Business Daily Africa

How much do you know about GMOs?

How many tonnes of GMOs do we import? Which Nobel laureate said that EU politicans ignore ‘politically unwelcome’ GMO science? Which EU country is a leader in GM maize cultivation? Test your knowledge in our Politico Quiz, and learn the facts on GMOs in Europe.

Weiter geht’s. Our G-Nome heads off into the German alps!!

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Introducing the global Biotech Team 

Give the floor to science

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