The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has launched a public consultation regarding gene-editing in agriculture. The consultation, covering the regulation of genetic technologies, is primarily focused on the regulation of gene-edited (GE) organisms possessing genetic changes which could have been introduced by traditional breeding.

This follows the recent withdrawal of an amendment tabled in the new UK agriculture bill, designed to allow access to new gene-editing technology (see AgbioNews Jul 30, 2020). Despite the withdrawal, it has been reported that the government is generally looking favourably at gene editing, however, no further steps will be taken until this public consultation has been completed.

EU legislation controlling the use of GMOs has been retained by the UK following the country’s departure from the EU on December 31, 2020. This legislation requires all GE organisms to be classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), irrespective of whether they could be produced by traditional breeding methods. DEFRA has launched this public consultation with the view that organisms produced by GE or by other genetic technologies should not be regulated as GMOs if they could have been produced by traditional breeding methods.