News | Thursday, 24 September 2020
Virtual conference on the regulation of genome-edited plants in the EU
In the debate on the regulation of genome-edited plants in the European Union, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the German Research Foundation (DFG) call for a differentiated regulatory framework that takes current scientific knowledge into account. On the occasion of Germany's EU Council Presidency this year, the two organizations are hosting an English-language virtual conference from Thursday, 1 October to Friday, 2 October, 2020, intended to provide scientific advice to policy-makers and society.
In July 2018, the European Court of Justice ruled that all organisms modified by genome editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 fall under the legal regulations for "genetically modified organisms" (GMOs). This ruling continues to raise many critical voices, ranging from local to EU level and from economy to consumers. The joint conference is intended to facilitate discussions on the latest aspects of GMOs in Europe and the world. Emphasis is placed on the prospects of EU regulation in the field and on the optimal use of scientific findings in policy design and consumer protection.
