The UK government is to relax the regulation of gene-edited crops to enable commercial growing in England.
The plants are to be tested and assessed in the same way as conventional new varieties.
The changes are possible because the UK no longer has to follow European Union regulations, which are the strictest in the world.
The Scottish, Irish, & Welsh Govt’s will decide whether to follow suit…this will be interesting!
Hi
Another broken promise and huge rewards to the few.
With the way the world is heading regarding population growth and climate change it’s fairly obvious that something needs to be done, and since the UK has been a net importer of food for ages and this could well increase our independence as well as improving things globally I think that it’s an excellent idea.
We should not be increasingly putting ourselves at the mercy of others that might in future use our dependence upon them as a weapon.
I find myself nodding sadly in agreement Zaphod, but I loathe the idea of our food being messed around with. I know its not sustainable as is, but it still rankles with me. I wonder how it will affect the Organic sector? 
(Not that I can afford most organic food regularly, but I try)
Oh I absolutely agree and I have grave concerns myself, but something has to be done and if not this then what?
As I see it the organicand ethical sector will continue to grow and provide alternatives to the likes of gene-edited and factory-farmed.
If we want to be less reliant on other countries for our food and increase our farming capabilities, gene edited crops are the way to go. Our climate doesn’t suit a lot of crops that we need. Besides, this has been done in famine affected countries for decades to enable crops to grow in drought affected areas. Nobody complained about that.
Don’t come running to me when you are all attacked by Triffids. 
Hmmm…perhaps they can try but I don’t see it being economically viable in the long term. From planting, to harvesting, storage, transport to sales…the chain will break somewhere…I guess with this article anyway, its about tweaking the genes already there, not adding them from something else.
Bread, are you ready for your plate of insects now? Midges on toast, perhaps? 
There is nothing wrong with gene edited crops. Its been going on for decades, they help farmers with better yields, produce more insect repellent crops and make is more sustainable and self sufficient.
Most crops have been gene edited one way or another.
Spot on! Editing is completely different to modifying where genes from other species are introduced. Editing get my vote every time.
Many of our plants and to some degree animals too have bene selectively bred and cross bred to produce what we have today.
And the meddling has resulted in damage to our native flora & fauna. As what benefits one plant, may harm countless others.
It is believed, although not yet conclusively proven, as strangely no one wants to fund the research, that horizontal gene transfer may be harming bees DNA. And they are already suffering from dramatic effects caused by modern, non wildlife friendly, farming.
Mainly pesticides such as Roundup. Banned here and has been for a long time, the EU on the other hand (in particular countries such as Spain) continue to use it while the EU turns a blind eye
I saw this item on the lunchtime BBC news. The gene editing done to these tomato plants makes them produce more vitamin C, nothing less, nothing more. The same thing could have been achieved over many years of cross hybridisation techniques but this technique is swifter, lower cost overall and much more precise. I’m all for it as it has NOTHING at all to do with genetic modification 
.
It’s not banned here yet. Two months ago a farmer friend gave me 5L of glyphosate for my stubborn weed that keep popping up along my driveway. Very effective it was too!
Completely agree^^. This is yet another thing driven by greed/profit 
Not exactly true. Earlier this year Boris & friends authorised the potential use of thiamethoxam on sugar beet. This chemical is known to harm Bees. The chemical was not used. But our government was happy to permit it’s potential use, in a case of profit over bunny hugging.
Yes it does, that is why they produce more Vitamin C than normal tomatoes without any selective development. For a plant to develop, it either takes years of natural development, or it’s genetics to be modified in some way.
It was you European bastards that made creosote so difficult to buy, I wouldn’t be without my glyphosate 360 (poor man’s Roundup) for gardening. Let’s hope that ban doesn’t catch on here.
The only way I can buy creosote now is along with some others and buy in bulk and share it out. Full strength glyphosate is still available on e-bay via 5L containers a another friend pointed out to me. Gallup XL from several farm suppliers and delivered to your door for around £35 5L Gallup XL Glyphosate Weedkiller Professional Strength | eBay
