Mutagenesis Ruled GMO Technique

BRUSSELS - Jul 25/18 - SNS --- The European Unions's Court of Justice has ruled that organisms obtained by mutagenesis are GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and are, in principle, subject to the obligations laid down by the GMO Directive.

The decision is a direct concern to pulse producers growing Clearfield varieties. Though these may be deemed to be exempt, it creates additional uncertainty in lentil markets.

However, organisms obtained by mutagenesis techniques which have conventionally been used in a number of applications and have a long safety record are exempt from those obligations, on the understanding that the Member States are free to subject them, in compliance with EU law, to the obligations laid down by the directive or to other obligations.

The decision was the result of a case brought by France's Confederation Paysanne to defeat legislation in France which exempted organisms obtained by mutagenesis from the obligations imposed by the GMO directive. That directive provides that GMOs must be authorized following an assessment of the risks which they present for human health and the environment and also makes them subject to traceability, labelling and monitoring obligations.

Confederation Paysanne represents small scale farmers in France, and argued that "the use of herbicide-resistant seed varieties carries a risk of significant harm to the environment and to human and animal health, in the same way as GMOs obtained by transgenesis."

The court did not agree that all forms of mutagenesis should be deemed GMO. They exempted those techniques which have conventionally been used in a number of applications and have a long safety record. However, the court said Member States are free to subject such organisms, in compliance with EU law (in particular the rules on the free movement of goods), to the obligations laid down by the GMO Directive or to other obligations. The means individual countries can impose regulations on the free movement of goods.

In its decision, the court said the risks linked to the use of these new mutagenesis techniques might prove to be similar to those that result from the production and release of a GMO through transgenesis, since the direct modification of the genetic material of an organism through mutagenesis makes it possible to obtain the same effects as the introduction of a foreign gene into the organism (transgenesis) and those new techniques make it possible to produce genetically modified varieties at a rate out of all proportion to those resulting from the application of conventional methods of mutagenesis.

In view of these shared risks, excluding organisms obtained by new mutagenesis techniques from the scope of the GMO Directive would compromise the objective pursued by that directive, which is to avoid adverse effects on human health and the environment, and would fail to respect the precautionary principle which that directive seeks to implement. It follows that the GMO Directive is also applicable to organisms obtained by mutagenesis techniques that have emerged since its adoption.

Even so, it stressed that plant varieties obtained by means of mutagenesis techniques which have conventionally been used in a number of applications and have a long safety record are exempt from that obligation.