France: stricter breeding rules

If GMOs are to be rigorously assessed, so are other forms of genetic modification, such as mutagenesis. That is in short what the French Council of State has decided. This decision could have far-reaching consequences for the breeding of crops.

Mutagenesis is a form of breeding in which new varieties are created by chemicals and radioactive radiation in laboratories. This breeding process is faster than traditional breeding. The big difference with genetic modification (GMO) is that no genes from other species are inserted into the genome of the desired variety.

As a result, mutagenesis was never covered by European legislation as a GMO. This legislation is very strict in Europe. However, the term GMO is now used for all genetic modifications made by humans. The French Council of State has then also decided that a change of law should be made in France. In case mutagenesis has been performed to make varieties more tolerant to herbicides, these varieties should now be subject to the same legislation as GMOs.

Many races on the run
This in fact again attacks the agricultural system in which herbicide tolerant varieties are used. The best-known example of this is making varieties more tolerant to glyphosate. Because many varieties have been created by mutagenesis, many varieties are at risk due to the new legislation to be implemented.

The French government has 6 months to implement the amendment. The government then has 9 months to determine which varieties appear in the official variety lists that do not meet the requirements of the precautionary principle under which GMOs fall. These varieties, as well as new varieties created by mutagenesis, must then be treated and tested as if they were GMOs. This makes the admission procedure for these varieties much more difficult, which means that a large part of these varieties is expected to disappear from the market.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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