Articles

The EU is considering the exclusion of gene-edited plants and animals from GMO (genetically modified organism) regulations. Two scientists explore this in an article in The Ecologist. The current debate surrounds applications of gene-editing that, instead of inserting genes, re-write genes using a sort of 'DNA typewriter'. In both EU law and the UN Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, GMOs involve novel arrangements of genetic material that do not occur naturally, and alterations to genetic material being made directly without mating. The article concludes that gene-editing does produce GMOs and should be regulated as such.

Products of gene-editing with re-written genes that might be imported, grown or farmed in Europe in the near future include a herbicide-tolerant oil seed rape, produced by a technique known as oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis (ODM), and hornless cattle, developed through a popular gene-editing technique known as 'CRISPR'.

CRISPR applications are moving ahead so fast that many scientists are calling for caution as major safety and ethical concerns need to be addressed.