News

Between December 2021 and July 2022, the European Commission met with the seed and biotech industries to discuss the proposed deregulation of many GMOs. Documents from the European Commission obtained by the European Corporate Observatory (CEO), which Inf’OGM was able to read, shed light on the legislative intentions of this body. They also show that […]

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is one of the world’s largest certifiers of ’sustainably harvested timber’. Since 1995, it has banned genetically modified trees, which limits de facto their development and marketing. Indeed, this label covers very large areas of forest and involves the main companies in the timber industry. However, the FSC has been […]

On 22 July 2022, the public consultation conducted by the European Commission on a potential future differentiated framework for GMOs obtained by “directed mutagenesis and cisgenesis” ended. At the same time, a targeted consultation of various European stakeholders was held by a consultancy firm mandated by the European Commission. According to the questionnaire sent out […]

In the Western world, conducting pseudo-public consultations before decisions are made seems to become more and more the regular mode of public action and of building social acceptance. The field of GMOs is no exception. In the European Union (EU), a public consultation on the legislation applicable to certain GMOs has just ended. But the […]

Many States currently reflect on the legal status of GMOs resulting from new genetic modification techniques, and some have already decided. It is not easy to give an exhaustive picture of all the positions and legislation adopted : it is sometimes difficult to have access to national legislation, national positions may be unclear at this stage, […]

Historically, the protection of living organisms through patents has been developed in the United States and Europe. Abandoning a then conservative position, the US Supreme Court validated a patent on a genetically modified (GM) bacterium in 1980 [1]. This institution defined the micro-organism as a « composition of matter », opening up the field of patentability of living […]

In April 2022, MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) organised a webinar on “ Detection and traceability of new genomic techniques for GMOs ”, concerned by the European Commission’s inertia. The invited scientists reaffirmed that they have been possible for a long time. The Director of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s scientific […]

To modify genomes, new techniques of genetic modification are increasingly available. The Crispr/Cas9 system, mentioned on several occasions by Inf’OGM, is today by far the most widely used. Although this technique is less expensive, the patent law means that it does not lead to a diversification of the economic actors… The global seed market is […]

Since 2020, the European Commission has been arguing that mutagenesis carried out on cells isolated and propagated in vitro is exempt from the requirements of the GMO legislation. This position offers an open door for companies to commercialize patented plants without declaring them as GMOs. However, in 1992, the European Commission did not consider this […]