Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

A new chance for genome editing in Europe

Nature Biotechnology (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

European universities and research institutions helped to pioneer the development of key technologies for the genetic engineering of crops1. Despite its early leading role, Europe has largely resisted the use of modern genetic technologies in agriculture. The combined implementation of an unofficial moratorium on the cultivation and import of transgenic genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (1998–2004) and a strict approval process for transgenic GMOs established by a 2001 European Union (EU) directive2 has severely constrained innovation by both the public and private sectors in the past decades. The hurdle of restrictive GMO regulation created a situation in which many larger corporations and enterprises have relocated their R&D efforts to places and markets more open to technological innovations. At the same time, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public research institutions had little prospect of seeing their GMO research reach the field. This discouraged translational and applied research in this area and also prevented the rigorous testing of scientific hypotheses with field experiments.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Somssich, M. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.7287/PEERJ.PREPRINTS.27556V2 (2019).

  2. European Commission. Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC - Commission Declaration. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32001L0018 (2001).

  3. Chen, K., Wang, Y., Zhang, R., Zhang, H. & Gao, C. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 70, 667–697 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Purnhagen, K. P. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 36, 573–575 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Court of Justice of the European Union. Press release 111/18, https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2018-07/cp180111en.pdf (25 July 2018).

  6. Phillips, P. W. B. & Williams, A. A meta-analysis of GM crops regulatory approval costs. https://www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca/csip/documents/research-paper-summaries/2023_a-meta-analysis-of-gm-crops-regulatory-approval-costs.pdf.pdf (Johnson-Shoyama Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy, 2022).

  7. Whelan, A. I., Gutti, P. & Lema, M. A. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 8, 525237 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Smyth, S. J. Food Energy Secur. 6, 78–86 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. EFSA Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). EFSA J https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2943 (2012).

  10. European Commission. Commission recommendation of 13 July 2010 on guidelines for the development of national co-existence measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:200:0001:0005:EN:PDF (2010).

  11. Schütte, G. et al. Environ. Sci. Eur. 29, 5 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Colbach, N. & Cordeau, S. Front. Agron. 4, 823069 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Löbmann, A., Christen, O. & Petersen, J. Weed Res. 59, 479–489 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. European Commission. Herbicide resistant rice development for European Continental Project | HerbaRice | Fact sheet | Horizon 2020. CORDIS https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/897192 (2020).

  15. Cao, J. et al. Nat. Genet. 43, 956–963 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Agriculture and Fisheries Council. Public session PM. https://video.consilium.europa.eu/event/en/26992 (2023).

  17. Irandu, E. M. GeoJournal 84, 877–887 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Jayne, T. S. et al. Agric. Econ. 50, 75–95 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Glass-O’Shea, B. J. Food Law Policy 7, 3 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Shumbe, L., Soares, E., Muhovski, Y., Smit, I. & Vanderschuren, H. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.18.549223 (2023).

Download references

Acknowledgements

P.C. and D.W. are funded by the Max Planck Society. D.M. is supported by the KU Leuven Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crop Biotechnics, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Hervé Vanderschuren & Devang Mehta

  2. KU Leuven Plant Institute (LPI), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Hervé Vanderschuren & Devang Mehta

  3. TERRA Teaching and Research Center, University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium

    Hervé Vanderschuren

  4. Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Patience Chatukuta & Detlef Weigel

Authors
  1. Hervé Vanderschuren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Patience Chatukuta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Detlef Weigel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Devang Mehta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hervé Vanderschuren, Patience Chatukuta, Detlef Weigel or Devang Mehta.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

D.W. holds equity in Computomics, which advises plant breeders. D.W. also consults for KWS SE, a plant breeder and seed producer with activities throughout the world. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vanderschuren, H., Chatukuta, P., Weigel, D. et al. A new chance for genome editing in Europe. Nat Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01969-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01969-4

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research