Defra Seeks Support for Gene Editing; Launches Consultation January 13, 2021
George Eustice, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, England. Photo Source: Oxford Farming Conference
The United Kingdom s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is planning to conduct a consultation on gene editing which could unlock substantial benefits to nature, the environment and help farmers with crops resistant to pests, diseases, or extreme weather and to produce healthier, more nutritious food. Secretary George Eustice made the announcement in his speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on January 7, which focused on science.
In his speech, the Secretary said that techniques such as gene editing are really a natural evolution of conventional approaches to plant breeding. Gene editing, he said, gives us the power to evolve plant varieties with particular traits far faster than was ever possible with conventional breeding and this opens up hug
GENE EDITING involves accentuating or suppressing genes withn an organism s own natural genetic sequence PERMISSION for gene editing in agriculture is back on the political agenda, following the launch of a Defra consultation on a potential change in UK law to allow the technology into the food chain. Under current European law, Gene Editing is lumped together with Genetic Modification, and as such is excluded from use in producing novel crop plants and livestock. Defra is touting the GE consultation as an early consequence of its post-Brexit independence from EU law, potentially giving UK farmers a tech edge over their continental counterparts.