Trade in Gene-Edited Crops; International Perspectives

More food will need to be produced from less land to feed the growing world population in a sustainable manner, whilst preserving biodiversity for future generations. This will require the application of the best science and technology, including in the areas of AgriBio, Agritech and Food Tech. The genetic potential of crop plants in the field is what underlies all these technologies, and the major new suite of technologies described as Genome- or Gene-Editing (abbreviated here as ‘GEd’) are providing exciting new opportunities for genetic crop improvement. Significantly, the potential now exists to break the nexus between Genetically Modified (GM) plants and GEd plants, and to avoid the issues that have prevented wider use of GM crops. National and international policies and regulations on GEd crop produce are advancing rapidly. Their alignment or harmonisation is a pre-requisite for achieving the full benefits and enabling international trade in GEd produce. Many countries in North and South America and the Asia-Pacific region, more recently in Africa and potentially in Europe, have already or are now reassessing their regulatory regimes. The general principle being followed is that if the GEd undertaken could have been achieved by conventional breeding practices (e.g. mutagenesis, wide crosses within a species’ gene pool), then there is no reason why GEd produce which achieves the same ends more rapidly and precisely should be regulated any differently from conventionally bred produce. In this Chapter, the current regulatory status of GEd crops is described, with a focus on trade and the Asia-Pacific region, since this is where two-thirds of the world’s population will reside.