Regulatory issues concerning CRISPR/Cas9-modified plants

Overview

From the very beginning, genetically modified organisms (GMO) and their use have been subject of countless discussions. Even today there isn’t a public consent, whether we should use all the possible methods to modify and improve certain species or better keep our hands off it. The CRISPR/Cas9 technique and its ability to knock-out or insert specific genes has shown its potential in a various amount of different research topics. At the same time more and more people are afraid that scientists don’t know their limits and the discourse about the ethical and economic guidelines are years behind. Worldwide regulations are non-existent and therefore every country has its own vision what ethically is fine and what not. The question now is, what kind of regulations are already existent in Switzerland and what is the estimated public opinion on the subject?

Regulatory issues

In Switzerland a genetically modified organism is defined as:

“… an organism, which genetic material was manipulated in a way that could not be possible with crossbreeding or natural recombination.” (Der Schweizerische Bundesrat, Gentechnikgesetz)

For example, in wheat it’s extremely difficult to knock-out certain genes with cross breeding or with radiation because the chromosomes are hexaploid and the gene is therefore six times present. (GenSuisse, o. J.)

CRISPR/Cas9 made this step faster, easier to do and a lot cheaper. Following the Swiss definition of GMOs, this method is showing that it can produce manipulated plants at a time rate which are almost impossible to achieve in a natural way. Conclusion: Plants which were modified with CRISPR/Cas9 are GMOs even though the plants can’t be differentiated from types which were bred with conservative methods. (Lahrtz, 2018)

Figure 1: Overview of the different modification types and the regulatory issues.
Picture from the NZZ article (see references below)

In 2018 the European Court of Justice decided that plants which were manipulated with the CRISPR/Cas9 technique must be labelled as GMO and need to fulfill all the regulatory requirements which are attached to it before they can be used in the open. (Michael Lange, 2018)
It’s likely that the Swiss authorities will follow the same argumentation.

Additionally, issues with mutations in unintended targets (known as off-targets) have yet to be extensively investigated across plant species. (Lahrtz, 2018)

Conclusion

To put my personal opinion into it. It’s clear that plants which were modified with CRISPR/Cas9 need to be declared as GMOs. The thing is. People still tend to believe that products which are GMOs are in some way not safe, or not healthy, even though there is still no evidence for it. Therefore, a lot of products won’t have a chance on the market when they must be labelled as genetically modified. This is in many ways linked with side effects. As an example: Farmers won’t use seeds from genetically modified plants because they know that the consumers don’t want them. That means, they will still have to use crops that are in many ways less adapted to new biotic or abiotic conditions compared to GMOs. Higher water usage and a higher demand for pesticides is the logical consequence. This can’t be in anybody’s interest. Not the farmers and surely not the consumers. 

References

Der Schweizerische Bundesrat. (o. J.). SR 814.91 Bundesgesetz vom 21. März 2003 über die Gentechnik im Ausserhumanbereich (Gentechnikgesetz, GTG). 

Zugriff am 7.5.2019. 

Verfügbar unter: https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/19996136/index.html

GenSuisse. (o. J.). CRISPR/Cas | GEN SUISSE.

Zugriff am 7.5.2019. 

Verfügbar unter: https://www.gensuisse.ch/de/crisprcas

Lahrtz, S. (2018, Juli 25). EuGH bremst neue Gentech-Pflanzen aus | NZZ. 

Zugriff am 7.5.2019. 

Verfügbar unter: https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/eugh-urteil-die-genschere-crispr-faellt-unter-das-europaeische-gentechnikrecht-ld.1406326

Michael Lange. (2018, Juli 25). Hintergründe zum EuGH-Urteil - Was genau macht die Genschere Crispr/Cas? Deutschlandfunk. 

Zugriff am 7.5.2019. 

Verfügbar unter: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/hintergruende-zum-eugh-urteil-was-genau-macht-die-genschere.676.de.html?dram:article_id=423793