The Irish Farm Magazine, the UK government, has unveiled new plans to launch Gene Editing (GE) capability as a key tool to help UK farmers produce more sustainable, nutritious and productive crops. According to reports, the plans were released as part of the government’s response to its latest public consultation process.
No longer defined by EU rules, the UK government differs from the Federation and plans to allow the use of transgenic technologies for the development of new crop varieties. GE allows for faster, more accurate and efficient plant breeding, with the aim of producing new varieties that are more nutritious, resistant to pests and diseases, more productive and more environmentally friendly. The government says achieving these goals should help farmers and the environment.
An example of its use might be improving antiviral crop varieties. This will reduce the use of pesticides, while maintaining high yield potential in crops and helping to protect bees and other pollinating insects.
Although there is no specific reference to the use of transgenics in animals, it appears that some of the benefits will be considered and this is a time before human diseases will move even further towards specifically targeted transgenic technology.
For example, researchers have recently identified 14 genes that cause weight gain in humans and three genes that help prevent it. This information opens the door to possible new treatments for obesity.
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