As of June 17, the European Parliament has adopted new regulations for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). These changes shift some GMOs into different pathways with the result that some plants will no longer be subject to traceability and labelling requirements. Although the EU maintains traceability and labelling requirements at the seed level, Canada relies on a voluntary approach. Since our approaches have always been similar, this shows a separation of policy between countries.
These changes in regulation create some implications for organic agriculture in Canada.
- Increasing the number of NGTs in supply chains may make it more difficult to avoid unintended contamination.
- Diverging approaches globally may make trade more complicated.
- There are questions about how this will be implemented across supply chains.
To learn more on this new policy, click this link.