Summary
Abstract The European Commission has proposed to amend the EU GMO regulation, exempting certain genetically modified plants generated with new genomic techniques (NGTs) from risk assessment. In the suggested lex specialis so-called “category 1 NGT plants” would be treated as equivalent to conventionally bred plants, if they meet threshold-based criteria, which limit the number and size of induced genetic changes. Here, we critically analyze the scientific validity of these thresholds and show that the proposal oversimplifies genetic complexity—disregarding the biological context, mutational bias, and functional consequences. The proposal’s central claim of equivalence between NGT1 plants and conventionally bred plants is thus scientifically unfounded. Many conceivable genetic modifications
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