The United Kingdom plans to accept the EU agreement on gene editing technology conflicts

Open the editor’s digest for free

FT editor Rula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

UK plans to use the latest gene-editing technology have been delayed by Downing Street over concerns it would clash with EU law if a deal with Brussels to scrap border checks on food and plant products.

Two senior EU diplomats told the Financial Times that Brussels had warned informally. UK An agreement to cut the government such checks would not be incompatible with existing British gene-editing technology.

The previous Conservative government introduced legislation to ease rules for gene editing by 2023, saying it would be a major benefit of Brexit and attract investment to the emerging sector, worth up to $1 billion a year.

But the current Labor administration, which has expressed its desire to reduce barriers to trade with the European Union, has yet to propose measures that would give effect to the 2023 law.

Gene editing involves making precise changes to a plant’s DNA and is used to produce crops that are more resistant to pests, diseases and the effects of climate change.

Anthony Hopkins, head of policy at the British Plant Breeders’ Association, said: “We don’t want things to stop progressing because of an unknown negotiation. “Delays and uncertainty are devastating for investment.”

Labor government He said in September He announced that he would introduce secondary legislation that would allow companies to bring genetically modified products to market, saying it would put the agricultural sector “at the forefront of innovation around the world”.

But four months later, the steps needed to bring the Genetic Technology (Proper Breeding) Act 2023 into effect have not been introduced.

The delay has worried science and business leaders that the plans have been put on ice before the UK tries to strike a wider deal with the EU to eliminate border checks on food and plant products, known as the Veterinary Agreement.

Brussels was earlier They pointed out A deal on veterinary medicine is open, but only if the UK agrees to a so-called “flexible alignment” with EU food and plant safety rules, which would require the UK to transpose EU law into its own regulation.

EU laws require a Gene editing plant To go through a tedious and expensive approval process.

An EU proposal to create a streamlined approach to gene editing has been blocked for a year by several member states, who say the consequences for conventional crops are unknown.

A letter signed by more than 50 leading scientists, politicians and investors this week from the All-Party Parliament’s Agricultural Science and Technology Group has warned UK Food Secretary Daniel Zeichner of the growing threat to the UK’s agricultural industry. Decide on a “firm schedule” to introduce secondary legislation.

“Precision breeding legislation is progressive, consistent and evidence-based. It is not certain that the EU will finalize similar arrangements in the letter, as a veterinary agreement with Brussels could take “several years”.

Defra declined to comment when asked whether the legislation was being delayed by warnings from Brussels. He refused to repeat on the record his earlier promises to introduce the legislation or set a timetable.

Former Conservative science minister and leader of the letter’s signatories, George Freeman, said ministers should set a timetable for implementation. “Future investors and innovators need clarity and certainty, not delays and guesswork,” he said.

Professor Jonathan Napier, scientific director of Rothamsted Research, the UK’s leading agricultural research institute, said it would be a mistake for the UK to link its regulatory framework to the EU.

“There is a big risk that we will be ‘buyers’ rather than ‘buyers’ because there is no input into the EU’s stance on gene editing,” he said.

But Ali Rennison, a former UK Trade Department official who now advises SEC Newgate, said the government’s caution over introducing gene-editing legislation was unwarranted and a deal could be reached in talks expected to start this year.

“The EU is moving forward with its own version of the same gene editing, and any differences could be ironed out during negotiations,” she added.

The European Commission declined to comment.