Biotechnology association welcomes EFI recommendations for new genomic techniques in plant breeding
(Berlin – February 28, 2024) In its annual report presented today, the German government's Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI) highlighted the opportunities offered by green genetic engineering for sustainable agriculture. It can improve plant breeding and thus contribute to securing food in times of climate change, while also maintaining crop diversity and biodiversity. The experts also recommend that the German government implement a scientifically sound and coordinated communication strategy on green genetic engineering and approve the European Commission's proposal for the regulation of genome-edited plants in the European Council. The biotechnology industry association BIO Deutschland fully supports these proposals. Plant biotechnology is an important technological building block for feeding a growing global population safely and healthily, as well as for making Germany and Europe sovereign and capable of acting in this important future field of technology.
Oliver Schacht, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, explains: “Biotechnological methods of modifying crops to make them more resistant to climate change and pests or to make them more nutritious have improved significantly in recent years. The methods are safe and the plants produced in this way cannot be distinguished from those produced by natural means. It would be both unreasonable and negligent not to use these methods or to leave them exclusively to other nations. The EFI's recommendations are therefore exactly right. We need knowledge-based regulation of plants produced using new genomic techniques. Furthermore, we need to bring communication about green genetic engineering up to this decade's level of knowledge, and ideally together with our government in a dialogue involving society.”
About BIO Deutschland:
BIO Deutschland e. V. has around 380 members – companies, bio regions and industry service providers – and is based in Berlin. Its aim is to support and promote the development of an innovative economic sector in Germany based on modern biosciences. Oliver Schacht, Ph. D., is chairman of the board of BIO Deutschland.
Further information is available at: www.biodeutschland.org
BIO Deutschland's supporting members and industry partners are:
AGC Biologics, Avia, Baker Tilly, Bayer, BioSpring, Boehringer Ingelheim, BüchnerBarella, Centogene, Citeline, CMS Hasche Sigle, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Evotec, KPMG, Lonza, Miltenyi Bi otec, MorphoSys, Novartis, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, QIAGEN, Rentschler Biopharma, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi Aventis Deutschland, Simmons & Simmons, Thermo Fisher Scientific, SpringerNature, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Vibalogics, ZETA.
Contact:
BIO Deutschland e. V.
Dr. Claudia Englbrecht
Schützenstraße 6a
10117 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 2332 164-32
Mobile: +49 151 14067326
E-Mail: englbrecht@biodeutschland.org