"Rollback of GMO Regulations" for Food and Fibre Crops

Dear Colleagues,

By 2050, at which point the human population is expected to have grown to beyond 9 billion, a 70–100% increase in food production is needed, even as the world continues to warm and have more abiotic and biotic stresses impacting crop production.

Crop improvement will face increasing challenges from climate change, and crops will need to be more resilient. Introgression of heat, frost, and drought tolerances into crops from crop wild relatives with genome editing is a key strategy for plant and agricultural scientists and requires a rollback of GMO regulation for rapid uptake and implementation.

Genome editing offers a more precise and easier means of modifying plant genomes than previously, enabling linkage drag of unwanted DNA to be excluded, and provides new opportunities for manipulation of gene expression. Options include switching genes on or off, base pair insertion or deletion, epigenetic changes, and interspecific DNA transfer.

However, GMO crops/microbes for the production of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other medicinals for humans and animals should be separated into a different category and must remain subject to GMO regulatory risk assessment for their impact on health and on the environment.

Dr. Robert J. Redden
Guest Editor

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