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Plant Gene Editing panel discussion
On 11 September 2019 Michiel de Both (KeyGene) visited the Vikki Plant Science Centre of the University of Helsinki (Finland), to give a seminar as an invited speaker in their seminar series in plant science. The seminar covered genome editing technology in crop plant breeding, as well as the CHIC program, and was attended by ~80 people.
Because of the strong concerns in the Finnish plant science community about the 2018 Court of Justice ruling, the institute organized a panel discussion to debate issues of regulation, IP and science policy related to genome editing.
The panel consisted of a representative of the Finnish seed company Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd., of the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, of Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey of CHIC partner institute VTT, of Michiel de Both on behalf of KeyGene and of Alan Schulman, the current president of the European Plant Science Organization EPSO.
Journalists and politicians present in the audience took part in the discussions, which concluded with the realization that any change in the European regulation must be instigated by the EU member states, supported by informing stakeholders and the general public of the importance of plant breeding and innovation for the European economy.
More news about this project:
Urgent scientific advances for Spanish agriculture: Genetic editing proposal under debate in the EU
The European Union faces a crucial decision on the use of plants developed with New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) in agriculture before the upcoming elections.
Avances científicos urgentes para la agricultura española: Propuesta de edición genética en debate en la UE
La Unión Europea se enfrenta a la crucial decisión sobre la utilización de Plantas obtenidas con Nuevas Técnicas Genómicas (NGT) en la agricultura antes de las próximas elecciones.
Researchers make chicory plants without bitter compounds using CRISPR/Cas method
Researchers have used new breeding techniques to develop a chicory variety that no longer contains bitter compounds. The research consortium published their results in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.