Rachael Hamilton MSP has said the Scottish Government is ‘behind the curve’ with its current stance on the gene-editing of crops.
In a question to the Rural Minister Ben Macpherson MSP, Mrs Hamilton said that if Defra allows gene-editing in England, Scottish farmers will be at a competitive ‘disadvantage’.
The Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Fergus Ewing, at the Oxford Farming Conference last year, said that the Scottish Government would not comment until the EU had considered the prevailing European Court of Justice ruling, that gene editing should be considered in the same way as genetic modification.
Under current European law, gene-editing is placed with genetic modification, and as such is excluded from use in producing crop plants.
Gene editing involves tweaking the DNA in the same organism to change its expression. This is different to genetic modification, involves taking a gene from a different organism and inserting it into another organism to deliver a desired change.
In England, Defra has launched a gene editing consultation as an early consequence of leaving the EU which could potentially give English farmers an edge over European neighbours.
Mrs Hamilton is calling on the Scottish Government to follow suit with a Scottish consultation, as she believes that it could drive down the cost of applying pesticides, in turn helping biodiversity, improving water quality and increasing yields.
She believes it could help farmers reduce their carbon footprint, without making major chances to their practices.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“If Scottish farming is to be at the leading edge of the future of agriculture, we need to see the SNP Government grasp the opportunities presented by gene-editing crops.
“The James Hutton Institute, NFU Scotland and farmers across the country are keen to see the benefits of GE for driving productivity, reducing emissions and improving the environmental quality of the countryside.
“Yet, it is the SNP and their obsession with the outdated views presented by the European Union that is really holding farmers back.
“We know it’s not the first time the SNP have sided with the EU, when it’s stance has been unpopular amongst farmers, take for example the debate over glyphosate.
“Scotland could risk being left behind the curve, whilst English farmers take advantage of new opportunities.
“Once again, it just shows that the SNP Government will roll over and let Brussels dictate to them the way forward, rather than seizing the opportunity to take action now”.