MEPs back plan to relax EU rules on gene-edited crops

But Parliament committee says crops akin to those from traditional farming should not be patentable

The European Parliament’s environment and food safety committee has agreed that the EU should relax its rules on crop gene-editing, making it likely that only the bloc’s national governments could now prevent such a move.

Last year, the European Commission proposed that the EU should adopt a dual-track system for gene-edited crops, with plants produced using new genomic techniques that are indistinguishable from those produced using traditional agricultural methods becoming exempt from rules for genetically modified organisms.