b'EDITORS MESSAGECRACKING THE TOMBSTONEDID COMMON SENSE PREVAIL?L o and behold, the long-awaitedferent from those for plants resulting fromRegulation. First, the European Parliament draft regulation for new genomicconventional breeding including their pro- will need to discuss it, followed by the techniques (NGTs) is out. On thehibition for organic farming and specificEuropean Council. The goal is to achieve 5th of July 2023, almost five years afterseed bag labelling.a text that is approved by all three bodies. we thought the European Court of JusticeIf you ask me, these components of theThis will take a considerable amount of time carried EU plant breeding innovation to theproposal dont make any sense. Already byand effort. Seeing that the EU elections grave, the EU Commission published itsthe name conventional-like, the proposalare in June 2024, it is pretty challenging proposal for this regulation. We now haveindicates that these varieties are similarand needs strong political commitment to at least an idea of where were heading onto what can be achieved via current con- advance on this proposal before then. this contentious topic.ventional plant breeding methods. ByThere is also a huge risk that this (again) The EU Commissions proposal onseparating them and forbidding their usebecomes politicised. As with other dossiers, NGTs wants to group plants developedto organic farmers, a regulation would pre- the NGOs will likely make the regulatory through NGTs into two different catego- vent a decent chunk of farmers from usingprocess so incredibly complex and, as such, ries. All NGT plants need to undergo athe best germplasm. I know that there areso incredibly expensive that only those with verification process to test if they meet theorganic farmers out there who would lovethe deepest pockets will be able to afford to equivalence criteria to be dubbed conven- to use the best and newest varieties on theircreate new and better varieties with gene-ed-tional-like plants, i.e.: plants that couldfarm and are thoroughly unhappy aboutiting. Isnt it better to have a wide variety of also result from older breeding methodsthis discrimination. Shouldnt it be up toorganizations that can help mitigate climate or natural processes. These are Category 1each farmer to be able to choose whichchange and population increase by creat-plants. If NGT plants do not meet thosevarieties fit best with her or his productioning better and climate-proof varieties? My criteria, they are Category 2 and will besystem? advice is: lets make sure they can, and lets considered GMOs and authorized under anIf you expect changes now, hold yournot block this opportunity. We need all the adapted GMO risk assessment procedure. horses; were not there yet. There are stillhelp we can get.In my opinion, it is fully justified andseveral snags ahead. One of them is that long overdue to separate the convention- this text by the EU Commission is merelyMarcel Bruinsal-like NGTs from the extremely cumber- a proposal. A few other bodies neededitorial director, Seed World Europesome approval requirements of transgenicto review it before we will see any newmbruins@seedworldgroup.comGMOs. But, as always, the requirements need to be based on sound science. The reg-ulatory framework needs to be tailor-made to the different profiles of these plants. It is imperative that the verification procedure is efficient and based on scientific criteria to make sure that we end up with a simple administrative process.With the massive challenges ahead (climate change, population growth, urban-ization, changing diets, and others), we will need to enable and encourage the develop-ment of NGT plant varieties by all breed-ers, small and large, from both the public and private sectors. Europe is known for its diverse breeding sector, and we will need to empower all actors in finding solutions. Unfortunately, there are several incon-sistencies in the proposal. One of them is that the conventional-like NGT plants would still face specific requirements dif-4ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'