EU Decision on Gene Editing Technologies Supports NZ legislation
Organisations and individuals concerned about the risks posed by GMOs applaud the ruling by the European Court of
Justice that the new advanced gene-editing technologies, called ‘GMO 2.0,' are genetically modified organisms and should
go through the same regulatory process. The warning from scientists at the UK Sanger Institute of unintended effects
from CRISPR-Cas9 supports the decision to regulate gene editing in Europe. [1]
New scientific research confirms that all genetic modification technologies can have much more damaging health effects
than has been believed.
Dr. I. M. Zdziarski at the University of Adelaide and colleagues have just published a study that shows the stomachs of
rats who eat GMOs have alterations in their gut lining. [3] The study conducted on triple stacked corn that contained
two types of insecticide resistant transgenes and one herbicide tolerant transgene. This study’s findings support
earlier research on pigs and rats and the earth-shaking study by Dr. Arpad Puzstai, who found that the process of
genetically modifying a plant had the potential to cause stomach alterations with serious health implications.
Since Sir Peter Gluckman called for the GE debate to be reopened there, voices have called for such gene editing
technologies to bypass the regulatory process. These new GE technologies are intended for use on humans, animals,
insects, and plant.
“These are dangerous suggestions, as this study has come ten years after the corn was commercialised and entered the
food chain and we still have no real evidence that the GMOs are safe,” said Jon Carapiet, national spokesperson for GE
Free NZ “To introduce these advanced GE technologies without regulation would be irresponsible and negligent”.
New Zealand legislation leads the way through the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, which sets out clear
guidelines regarding advanced GE technologies devised since 1998. This means that the Environmental Protection Authority
(EPA) must approve any organism that uses gene-editing tools to alter the cells’ natural traits before such an organism
can be released into the environment.
“New Zealand must ensure that it maintains its regulation as they are a new and unproven genetic engineering procedure
that has no history of safe use” said Mr. Carapiet.
References:
[1] https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/genome-damage-crisprcas9-geneediting-higher-thought
[2] Zdziarski, I.M., Carman, J.A. and Edwards, J.W. (2018) Histopathological Investigation of the Stomach of Rats Fed a
60% Genetically Modified Corn Diet. Food and Nutrition Sciences , 9, 763-796. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2018.96058
[3] https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_1217550/en/
ENDS