Discussion prompts:
Developing new plant breeding techniques due to climate change threats to crops has been an increasingly debatable issue across the EU. The plant breeding techniques create new crop varieties by increasing crop yield and resilience to extreme climate
changes and pests. However, since 2018, considerable debate has been on how these techniques should be regulated and whether they should fall under the EU legislation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). You may use the references listed below to create a more educated discussion.
Issue Stances:
- Exempting the new techniques from GMO legislation
- Classifying the new techniques under GMO legislation
Sources that can be used:
- Jorasch, P. (2020). Potential, challenges, and threats for the application of new breeding techniques by the private plant breeding sector in the EU. Frontiers in Plant Science, 11, 582011.
- Madre, Y. and Agostino, V. D. (2017). NEW PLANT-BREEDING TECHNIQUES: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?. https://www.farm-europe.eu/travaux/new-plantbreeding-techniques-what-are-we-talking-about/
- Myskja B, Schouten H & Gjerris M (2015): Ethical distinctions between different kinds of plant breeding. In: Dumitras DE, Mugurel JI & Aerts S (eds.): Know your food: food ethics and innovation. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp. 95-100.
https://nationaltcenterforetik.dk/Media/637838140852364542/Ethical%20distinction
s%20between%20different%20kinds%20of%20plant%20breeding.pdf - Laaninen, T. (2019). New plant-breeding techniques: Applicability of EU GMO rules.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/659343/EPRS_BRI(202
0)659343_EN.pdf - Zaidi, S. S. E. A., Mahas, A., Vanderschuren, H., & Mahfouz, M. M. (2020). Engineering
crops of the future: CRISPR approaches to develop climate-resilient and diseaseresistant plants. Genome biology, 21(1), 1-19.