Biotech Updates

European Parliament Report Says EU Missing Out Great Opportunity

March 27, 2019

The Panel for the Future of Science and Technology of the European Parliament has published a report, Farming without plant protection products. The report presents the current role of plant protection products (PPPs) in securing global food production, preserving biodiversity, and supporting farmer's income in the EU.

The report's section on Novel technologies and their impact on pesticide use discusses agricultural technologies, including biotechnology, crop protection products, and the new genome editing tool CRISPR. However, genetically modified and genome-edited crops must comply with the strict conditions of the EU GMO legislation. The authors said, "In our opinion, Europe is missing out a great opportunity to implement these technologies to reduce PPP use."

For more details, read or download the complete analysis in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.