Earlier in May, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) published updated guidelines on gene edited crops. The new guidelines put gene editing on the level of conventional crop breeding, and this represents a step forward for Canada’s market competitiveness and global food security. The Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) supports the CFIA decision to use science-based policy for regulating crop gene-editing.
Coupled with last year’s updates by Health Canada to Canada’s Novel Food Regulations, this announcement opens the door in Canada to commercializing crops developed in a precise, effective and safer way, while also being more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.
The world needs gene editing alongside other safe and efficacious innovative technologies to help feed a growing global population under increasingly challenging growing conditions.
Canada is a leading global producer of sustainable, safe and highly nutritious food. Having a science-based regulatory framework ensures our crop breeders and producers can compete with regions that have already adapted gene editing policy and accelerate current crop breeding programs with a suite of technologies that includes gene editing, machine learning, high fidelity drone imaging, speed breeding and automation.
Gene editing, in concert with other technologies that improve our ability to produce safe and sustainable food for the world, is a more precise, efficient and effective way of achieving crops with better nutrition and that perform better in harsh climates, while producing more yield with an efficient use of inputs, such as fertilizers.
We consider the decision by the CFIA a positive move forward for Canada’s competitiveness in global markets, and a critical step in our ability to feed a growing world within a rapidly changing climate.