Earlier this month, the Board of Directors of the Réseau Semences Paysannes (French Famers’ Seeds Network) wrote a letter to Members of the European Parliament in response to recent move by the EU Council to distinguish and deregulate certain plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGT).
This proposal incompatible with the agro-ecological transition needed to make agriculture resilient to climate change, and is in contradiction with the other initiatives supported by the EU.
The problem with New Genomic Techniques
The use of NGT plants in commercial agriculture is a risk to the environmental health and safety, as there is a high risk of contamination. The possibility of contamination also poses a threat to organic agriculture, because organic certification frameworks, such as IFOAM, prohibit the use of any plant material resulting from NGT methods such as directed mutagenesis.
Furthermore, the proposal is also a risk for farmers and consumers. If an NGT patented genomic sequence accidentally appears in an agricultural crop, farmers will no longer be able to reproduce this variety and will owe royalties to the company owning the NGT genetic material. This poses a direct threat to artisanal seed industries in France and the rest of the EU. At the same time, the lack of labeling regulations for NGT products also means consumers would not be adequately informed about what they are consuming.
Requests to the EU Members of Parliament
Réseau Semences Paysannes wrote to Members of the European Parliament to remind them that that the EU Council’s proposal from March 14th 2025 is in opposition with the EU Parliament’s 2024 decision to ban patenting plants derived from NGT. In the letter, they also make three requests:
- Require a robust and independent environmental and health risk assessment procedure for all plants from NTGs as well as an assessment of risks and effects on ecosystems.
- Make mandatory the publication of methods for detecting and identifying GMOs obtained by NTGs. This should be an essential mechanism to make monitoring sectors more reliable and to enabling effective traceability in the market.
- Make traceability mandatory. Without enforced traceability the ban on plants from NTG in organic farming is impossible. Traceability is needed to preserve the right of consumers to choose whether or not they want to consume products from NTG. Traceability also serves to protect non-GMO and organic operators from possible contamination through strict measures by making practitioners using NTG accountable in order to guarantee an alternative for consumers.
