Press release
Editing under provision. Dutch citizens' views on new genomic techniques in food crops
Thursday, April 13, the Rathenau report 'Editing under provision.
Dutch citizens' views on new genomic techniques in food crops' is released based on research conducted by Prof. Phil MacNaghten and Michelle Habets of the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation department of Wageningen University.
For this study, we spoke with Dutch citizens about the use of new genomic techniques in crops. In focus groups, we explored their views, the values that underlie them and the conditions they want to impose on the possible admission of these GM crops to the European market.
New genomic techniques emerged after the European Commission adopted policies on the genetic modification of crops in 2001. The best-known ngt is CRISPR-Cas. By 2023, the Commission wants to come up with new rules for these techniques that are faster, simpler and cheaper than their predecessors. The discussion about this is mainly led by people from industry, politicians and scientists. With this report we want the voice of the citizen to be heard. We conducted this research together with Phil Macnaghten of Wageningen University & Research.
Zembla
April 13 at 20:30, the BNN/VARA program Zembla will focus on the moral considerations and legislation surrounding Gene editing, featuring interviews with Phi Macnaghtenl and Michelle Habets.