Webinar: EU Commission's draft regulation on new genomic techniques (NGTs) in plants violates the precautionary principle
The first opinion comprehensively assessed the proposal for a "Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on plants and food and feed derived from certain new techniques and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/625" and concluded among other things that the underlying assumption that NGT plants pose a lower risk than other genetic engineering techniques is contrary to the case law of the European Court of Justice and the precautionary principle. The second short study focusses on the "equivalence criterion" of certain new genetic engineering techniques to conventional breeding and clearly states that it is not in line with the necessary legal standard to properly apply the precautionary principle. The legal opinions were compiled as part of the research project "New genetic engineering and nature conservation" on behalf of the BfN with funding from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. The webinar will be completed by a short assessment of the proposal from a biological perspective with the presentation of the main results of a recent analysis of the BfN on practical impacts of the proposal on NGT plants by Dr. Margret Engelhard. The study concludes that 94% of the analysed NGT plants would not be risk assessed any more, thought they include plants with a clear risk profile. One example are NGT-RNAi plants with pesticidal properties, that have potential adverse effects on non-target organisms like butterflies.
Agenda
- Welcome, introduction and moderation: Barbara Engels, BfN
- Assessment from a biological perspective: Dr. Margret Engelhard, BfN
- Presentation of the legal opinions: Prof. Dr. Dr. Tade Spranger, University of Bonn
- Exchange & Discussion