Agriculture mustremain GMO-free

Photo rights: Nina Werth

The EU is one of the last bastions that strictly regulates genetically modified organisms. The pressure from outside is currently increasing, as new genetic engineering is supposedly and absolutely necessary to secure our food supply. However, the Non-GMO Summit 2024 provided countless reasons why new genetic engineering must remain strictly regulated.

In July 2023, the EU Commission proposes extensive deregulation of organisms produced using new genetic engineering (NGT). As a result, they would no longer be subject to environmental risk assessment and monitoring.

This would apply to genetically modified plants in the NGT1 category.

What would be modified organisms according to NGT1?

• Production: Organisms created using new genetic engineering techniques such as the CRISPR/Cas gene scissors or TALEN.
• Modifications: Maximum of 20 modifications per organism.
  • Insert/exchange: Up to 20 base pairs may be inserted or exchanged.
  • Delete: Base pairs can be deleted without limitation.
  • Cisgenesis: Only genes native to the species may be used, e.g. the introduction of a gene from an old apple variety into a domesticated apple variety.
  • Inversion: Chromosomal segments of any size can be rotated by 180°, which changes the order of the genes.

In theory, this would mean that a single organism could have base pairs of any size deleted, 20 base pairs inserted 15 times, chromosomal segments inverted 4 times and a gene from a species-specific organism added.

The argument put forward by NGT proponents is that these are all changes that could also occur with conventional breeding or natural mutation; NGT merely accelerates the events and makes them more targeted and therefore even safer.

NGT can be just as dangerous as "old" genetic engineering

However, in a study published in 2024, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) warns against so-called NGT1-RNAi plant applications with an insecticidal effect, some of which have already been patented. New genetic engineering can genetically modify a plant's own microRNA in such a way that RNAi can switch off essential proteins in insects and cause their death. Incidentally, the US biologists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2024 for their discovery of microRNA, and the BfN has analyzed several NGT plants that are currently under development. They came across an NGT1 plant that uses a molecular mechanism of RNAi to produce non-browning potatoes. They also identified an NGT1 maize where 20 base pairs of a microRNA gene are altered so that consumption by RNAi becomes lethal to the European corn borer by switching off its chitinase. This mode of action is comparable to modified plants of the "old" genetic engineering, such as Bt plants.

These are clearly modes of action that need to be subject to risk assessment, as they could act not only against the harmful organism, but also against protected animals.

However, if NGT1 plants are deregulated, as proposed by the EU, this would no longer be necessary, which is grossly negligent! Dr. Samson Simon from the BfN therefore emphasizes that the possibility of a natural occurrence of the modification should not be a carte blanche for genetically modified plants.

Detection of NGT

The majority of consumers demand GMO-free food. Alexander Hissting, Managing Director of the Verband Lebensmittel ohne Gentechnik(VLOG), puts it aptly: "The GMO market is only successful if it hides from the end consumer." One voice from the audience even suggested that this is why genetic engineering is trying so desperately to pass itself off as "non-GMO".

In order to meet consumers' desire to consume GMO-free food, analytical methods that detect new genetic engineering are also needed. An EU-supported research project called DARWIN is testing various options. The bottom line is that although this is possible, it is currently very costly and time-consuming. The question arises as to who will pay for this if the EU deregulates?

Why give up added value?

The EU is still an island of the blessed, genetically modified plants are only cultivated in Spain and Portugal, and the harvest volume is negligible. Many representatives of the US Non GMO Project were at the summit and their comments were thought-provoking. Hans Eisenbeis described the EU as the last bulwark against GMOs and urged us not to give up. In the USA, there is no turning back and they have to live with the consequences. They are struggling to promote organic and sustainable agriculture because there are such large GMO cultivation areas. New genetic engineering is a real threat to sustainable organic farming.

Promises that are not kept

As with the old genetic engineering, biotechnology companies promise us that the new genetic engineering is safe, that it will end hunger in the world. And yet these promises are already being broken. This is also underpinned by the findings of the BfN. NGT plants currently under development are primarily aimed at lifestyle (non-browning potatoes) or industry-related properties (modified starch properties). Research into stress resistance, for example to drought, which could possibly really reduce hunger, only accounts for a very small proportion.

The new genetic engineering must not be deregulated! This is why LAMPERT also signed the Open Letter to the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers for more transparency and mandatory labeling of genetic engineering. The EU must remain GMO-free; truly sustainable agriculture depends on it.

Author: Dr. Isabell Riedl

Dr. Isabell Riedl has been with LAMPERT since 2012, where she heads the sustainability and communications department. She studied ecology at the University of Vienna, specializing in nature and landscape conservation and tropical ecology. She wrote her dissertation on the importance of tree rows in agricultural areas for forest birds in Costa Rica. Throughout her life, she has been particularly committed to ecological sustainability. She is part of the editorial team of the online magazine "Nachhaltigkeit. Neu denken." (Rethinking Sustainability).