Open letter to Commission President Junker - New breeding methods / Genome editing

Over sixty organizations (public and private research centers, universities, academies, technical institutes, professional agricultural organizations) and scientific leaders from different European Union countries and Switzerland have come together as a group called "European Initiative for plant genome editing".

The signatories of the Initiative address an open letter to President Jean‐Claude Juncker, as well as to the four Commissioners concerned, to stress that the European Union must not miss out on the opportunities offered by genomic editing of plants. For the members of the Initiative, the innovations allowed by these technologies will be essential to enable European researchers and farmers to work with the best tools available and to avoid distortions of competition with the major agricultural countries that have already committed to them.

Only by allowing European private and public researchers to become major players in Plant genomic publishing will the EU find its place in this “new era” of biotechnology for agriculture and agroecology.