“new GMOs” soon to be authorized in Europe?

For some politicians and industrialists, these corn plants modified represent the future of agriculture. For the associations, these are new GMOs and they are fighting to ensure that they are never grown in the open field. In Belgium, a researcher is working to improve plants. It uses what are called NGTs, new genome editing techniques to make plants more resistant. “Unfortunately, today they are not able to withstand the drought”explains Hilde Nelissen, researcher and biologist.

Very strict procedures

These plants are more resistant to drought, consume less water, fewer pesticides and defend against certain diseases. Today, for European justice, these are non-marketed GMOs. The procedures are very strict. For NGT, there is no introduction of other species as for the old GMOs. The European Commission proposes to relax the rules to facilitate the marketing of its plants. The associations denounce, among other things, false promises.