Using Ukraine to push lower regulation for Gene Editing

Trust thought for today - Banging my head on my desk here. Further to my letter in FT this morning, this is EXACTLY the arrogant, unscientific, moral bankruptcy that got the government into trouble last time around with GMOs.

Here they are, or is it just the Telegraph, I bet not, deliberately connecting Gene Editing with Ukraine on the front page to put a sheen of urgency and respectability on changes in the laws for gene editing.

Two things strike me:

1. Much of the rest of the world has been using gene editing techniques all along, and even with recent CRISPR advances developed in the US and elsewhere, we won't be by next year transforming our food system with imported or home grown GM crops to 'guarantee our food security'.

2. Wheat is particularly cited. We are exporting alot of wheat, so 'food security' in that area is not a problem.

3. Academic scientists and biotech companies may be crying out for a change in the regulation, but not sure farmers are, not at least until some deal breaker products come along that make an appreciable difference too them.

"The production of gene-edited crops is to be sped up to help guarantee British food supplies in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian blockades are preventing the export of key goods such as wheat from the country, leading to rising food prices and shortages globally.

Amid concern over the UK's food self-sufficiency, the Government will this week introduce a Bill which will allow farms to grow more crops by planting variants that have been edited to be more resistant to disease or need less water or fertiliser."

FYI, I support the use of gene editing in crops for useful purposes; support legislation that makes it easier to research and buy safe crops which will help farmers and give us better food productivity; I was on the UK Synthetic Biology Governance Sub-Group, hype like this will be counter productive.

Very happy to be wrong - any thoughts Julian Hitchcock, Dan Crossley. Simon Allison, Sam Weiss Evans ?

Article found here