The I2SysBio is a founding member of EU-SAGE, a network created in 2018 representing scientists from 134 European scientific institutes and societies that provides information on genome editing and promotes the development of European and EU member state policies that enable the use of this technology for sustainable agriculture and food production.

Genome editing is a disruptive technology, the significance of which has been recognized with the recent award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, two scientists who contributed to the development of CRISPR-based genome editing.

Genome editing is a new approach to knowledge-based genetic improvement, which takes advantage of plants' own natural solutions, and can be used to reduce current external input requirements and enable more environmentally friendly food production.

The decision of the EU Court of Justice to subject plants improved by genome editing to the complicated and costly European regulation on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) places this technology outside the usual scope of obtaining and registering plant varieties. This represents a severe blow to the expectations and promises that genetic editing offers for the sustainability and competitiveness of a sector such as agri-food, which is so important in our country.

The numerous reactions to this ruling have led the EU to carry out a study on its importance and impact within the Union. I2SysBio joins the numerous academic and business voices that demand a review of said legislation, so that it does not restrict the enormous opportunities that these techniques can bring to European agriculture, emphasizing the need to create favorable conditions, based on scientific evidence, for the optimal development of plant production.

In this sense, I2SysBio subscribes to the EU-SAGE letter addressed to the European Commission. It calls for taking into account the sustainability and biodiversity challenges facing the EU and the international situation, in which the regulatory framework of important trading partners allows the development and commercialization of genomically edited crops. It is also requested that the ongoing EU study should be accompanied by an appropriate policy proposal to enable the development and market introduction of genomically edited crops in the EU.

More information:

• Letter (PDF) in Spanish
• Letter in English