The Community of Madrid has received with satisfaction the approval by the European Parliament of the new regulation on New Genomic Techniques (NGT), understanding that it opens the door to new possibilities for agricultural research and the promotion of more resistant and sustainable crops.
The European Parliament gave its final approval this Wednesday to the rules that will regulate genomic techniques applied to plants, that is, procedures that allow their DNA to be precisely adjusted in order to obtain varieties better adapted to drought, floods, or the appearance of diseases.
Sources from the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Interior have indicated to Europa Press that the new regulation represents "a decisive step forward" in updating the European regulatory framework for plant breeding, by establishing specific treatment for plants generated through genetic editing.
According to these sources, the regulation will simplify procedures for those varieties that do not incorporate foreign DNA and whose results are comparable to those achieved with traditional plant breeding methods.
For the regional government, this regulatory modification will promote the creation of new agricultural varieties more tolerant to drought, pests, or extreme climatic phenomena, and will also help to reduce the use of fertilizers and plant protection products.
As detailed by the European Parliament, the regulation introduces a change in perspective in the evaluation of these crops, since plants will be classified based on their final genetic characteristics and not on the procedure used to obtain them.
In practice, the rule differentiates between two groups of plants. The first includes those with limited genetic modifications comparable to those derived from conventional plant breeding, which will be considered traditional varieties once verified by the competent authorities.
The second group comprises plants with more complex genetic changes, which will remain subject to current legislation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This implies that they will have to undergo a risk assessment, obtain prior authorization for their marketing, and comply with specific traceability and labeling requirements.
The role of IMIDRA in the new regulatory stage
The Community has highlighted that the Madrid Institute for Rural, Agrarian and Food Research and Development (IMIDRA) has been demanding for years a review of the European framework that allows the Union to be at a similar level to other countries where these technologies are already applied.
In this context, the Madrid Executive understands that the new regulations offer especially significant opportunities for this regional body, which has extensive germplasm banks and collections of agricultural and forest genetic resources.
Among these collections, those dedicated to vines and different forest species stand out, which facilitate the detection of traits of agronomic interest that, with the new genetic editing techniques, can be incorporated more quickly and precisely into future varieties.
The same sources emphasize that the combination of biodiversity conservation and biotechnological innovation will promote the development of more resilient crops prepared for the effects of climate change, while also allowing research trials and projects to be carried out in a more competitive environment.