Genetic engineering in food: EU Parliament significantly relaxes rules

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Genetic engineering in food: EU Parliament significantly relaxes rules

The EU Parliament has voted to significantly relax the rules on genetic engineering. Certain modified foods will no longer have to be labeled as such in the future.

Food modified using modern genetic engineering techniques will in future be allowed to be sold in supermarkets in the EU without special labeling. The majority of the European Parliament voted to exempt such breeds from the previously strict EU genetic engineering rules in many cases. The changes have already been confirmed by the EU states and are expected to be applied from mid-2028.

The rules concern so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGT): These involve a limited number of genetic engineering interventions – for example through the “gene scissors” Crispr-Cas – which, according to the law, are only intended to accelerate conventional breeding. Advocates hope this will result in new varieties that can cope better with drought and require less fertilizer.

According to the new law, these varieties will only have to be labeled as genetically modified on the seeds. Environmental tests before approval should be eliminated. These have so far been so complex that approval is so expensive and takes a long time that it is often not worth it.

The law also stipulates that the use of the new varieties no longer has to be traceable in every field. Critics fear that genetically modified plants could be carried by the wind to fields where they are not actually grown.

Plants with more extensive genetic modifications are still subject to the old, stricter rules. This also applies to plants whose genomes have been modified to provide resistance to certain weed killers.