UK plans to adopt the latest gene-editing technology face delays over fears they will run afoul of EU law if Downing Street strikes a deal with Brussels to scrap border controls on food and plant products.
Two senior EU diplomats told the Financial Times that Brussels has formally warned the UK government that a deal to cut such controls would be incompatible with Britain’s current plans for gene-editing technology.
The previous Conservative government approved legislation in 2023 to simplify rules on gene editing, hailing it as a major Brexit benefit that would attract investment to a growing sector estimated to be worth £1bn a year.
But the current Labor administration, which has set out ambitions to reduce barriers to trade with the EU, has yet to introduce the measures that would give effect to the 2023 law.
Gene editing involves precise changes to a plant’s existing DNA and is used to develop crops that are more resistant to pests, diseases and the effects of climate change.
“We don’t want things to stop moving forward because of a potential negotiation that we don’t even know is taking place,” said Anthony Hopkins, head of policy at the British Plant Breeders’ Society. “Delays and uncertainty are terrible for investment.”
The Labor government said in September it would introduce the secondary legislation needed to enable companies to bring genetically modified products to market, claiming it would put the farming sector “at the forefront of innovation around the world”.
But four months later, the measures needed to give practical effect to the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 have not been introduced.
The delay has raised fears among science and business leaders that plans have been put on hold ahead of the UK’s attempt to negotiate a wider agreement with the EU to remove border controls on food and plant products, known as the Veterinary Agreement .
Brussels has previously indicated it is open to a veterinary deal, but only if the UK agrees to so-called “dynamic approximation” to EU food and plant safety rules that require the UK to transcribe the law of the EU automatically in its statute book.
EU rules require a genetically modified plant to go through a cumbersome and expensive approval process.
EU proposals to create a simplified approach to gene editing have been blocked for a year by some member states, who say the consequences for conventional crops are unknown.
In a sign of growing concern in the UK farming industry, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agricultural Science and Technology this week sent out a letter, signed by more than 50 leading scientists, politicians and investors, urging UK food minister Daniel Zeichner to commit to a “certain plan” to introduce secondary legislation.
“The Precision Breeding Act is progressive, coherent and evidence-based. There can be no certainty that the EU will end up with a similar agreement,” they warned in the letter, adding that a veterinary agreement with Brussels could take “many years”.
Defra declined to comment when asked if it was delaying the legislation as a result of warnings from Brussels. She also refused to repeat in the process her previous commitments to introduce the legislation or set a timeline for doing so.
George Freeman, the former Conservative science minister and the main signatory of the letter, said ministers should set out a timetable for implementation. “Potential investors and innovators need clarity and certainty, not delays and speculation,” he added.
Professor Johnathan Napier, scientific director at Rothamsted Research, the UK’s leading agricultural research institute, said it would be a mistake for the UK to link its regulatory system to that of the EU.
“There is a real risk that we will end up being ‘rule takers’ rather than ‘rule makers’ as we have no input or say in whatever position the EU takes on gene editing , he said.
But former UK trade department official Allie Renison, now at SEC consultancy Newgate, said the government’s apparent reluctance to introduce gene-editing legislation was unwarranted and a compromise could be brokered in the upcoming talks. start this year.
“The EU is already moving forward with its similar version of gene editing and any differences can be bridged during the negotiations,” she added.
The European Commission declined to comment.
