New GM Plants: EFSA Overlooked Most Powerful and Risky Applications

New GM Plants: EFSA Overlooked Most Powerful and Risky Applications

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has overlooked extremely powerful and risky applications of new genetic engineering (NGTs) on plants, writes Testbiotech. This is particularly worrying as EFSA is responsible for correctly informing the EU institutions about the risks associated with NGT plants. If their reports are not correct or misguiding, it can have consequences for legislation and the future safety of health and the environment.

Several publications show that CRISPR/Cas gene scissors are a highly effective tool for knocking out genes coding for so-called micro-RNAs (miRNA). The miRNA molecules regulate various complex functions in regard to, e.g. growth, development and stress responses. Just a few changes in the genes producing miRNAs can cause profound in-depth changes in plant metabolism, involving regulatory networks of hundreds of genes. Nevertheless, EFSA has failed to consider any of these applications in its opinions on NGT plants.

Knock-out of miRNA genes is practically impossible to achieve with conventional breeding methods due to the genome organisation in plants. In the past, similar effects were only achieved in transgenic plants. However, CRISPR/Cas has proved to be much more efficient at targeting several miRNA genes simultaneously.