Copyright © 2007 David Monniaux [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
[2019-07-25] Today, on the anniversary of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on plant breeding with the help of gen-editing, an open letter was sent to the Swedish European parliamentarians and the Swedish government. The letter is a call to action for an expedited change of the European legislation for genetically modified organisms (GMO). It has been signed by the leaders of 14 Swedish universities/research centres, royal science academies or research financiers as representatives of the independent Swedish research community.
“The decision of the European Court of Justice has such far-reaching consequences for research and for a more sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture that the Swedish science community found it necessary to react strongly to try to achieve a change in legislation”, says Stefan Jansson, professor at Umeå University, who coordinated the letter.
Read the open letter (English and Swedish):
Open letter concerning GMO regulations (en)
Oppet brev om GMO lagstiftning (sv)
Attachment 1: Consequences of the EC-ruling according to Swedish companies and research groups (Swedish Board of Agriculture)
Attachment 2: Follow-up from PAFF-meeting on September 11, 2018 (Swedish Board of Agriculture)
The publication of the letter coincides with other activities at the international level that pursue the same purpose (see the links below):
Open Statement from European scientists coordinated by Dirk Inze from VIB in Ghent
European citizens' initiative: 'Grow scientific progress: crops matter!
For further information, please contact:
Stefan Jansson
Professor
Umeå Plant Science Centre
Department of Plant Physiology
Umeå University
Phone: +46 70 677 23 31
Email: