England poised to green-light precision breeding

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The UK government is close to approving rules for precision-bred plants in England. In May, Parliament published draft legislation that will enable a new regulatory system, as set out in the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.

Precision breeding involves introducing genetic changes into the DNA of plants or animals using techniques such as gene editing. The new regulatory framework aims to introduce gene-edited plants with characteristics such as reduced need for pesticides and fertilizers, lower emissions, and reduced costs for farmers. Because the genetic changes are limited to what may have been obtained through traditional breeding, precision-bred crops pose no greater risk to health or the environment than traditionally bred crops. As such, the new regulatory framework will be distinct from that governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which involve inserting foreign DNA into the genome.

If the draft is approved by both houses of Parliament, the rules will allow the commercial use of gene editing. It will enable plant scientists and breeders to develop varieties of crops with traits that confer resilience to climate change, disease resistance, or enhanced nutrition. Those crops might include oilseed crops enriched in ω-3 oils, non-browning potatoes to reduce food waste, tomatoes enriched with vitamin D₃, and strawberry plants with five times the yield.

Many countries, including the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Australia and Canada, have embraced new genomic techniques (such as CRISPR) in agriculture, implementing regulations that classify gene-edited crops as equivalent to conventional breeds. The EU is also developing a more relaxed regulatory framework that would exempt from GMO rules plants produced with new genomic techniques that could occur naturally or through conventional breeding methods. Scotland and Wales, which opted out of the Precision Breeding Act, may also reconsider.