GMO rules should be changed, say EU agriculture ministers

Revamped law must account for scientific progress and address legal uncertainties, ministers say

EU agriculture ministers have said that the bloc’s rules on genetically modified organisms need to be changed to keep up with the development of new gene-editing technologies—in a move that increases the likelihood of restrictions on some edited plant-based foods being loosened.

Ministers met on 26 May as the Council of the EU to discuss topics including a European Commission study on new genomic techniques, published last month. The study found “strong indications” that the EU’s laws on GMOs, which date from 2001, were “not fit for purpose” for regulating the products of some of these new technologies.