Current regulations in Canada surrounding Plants with Novel Traits (PNTs) have created an innovation barrier in terms of applying genome editing technologies to the development of new varieties, particularly in public sector research.
That’s the finding of a recent survey of 93 public and private plant breeders conducted by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan.
The results contribute to the ongoing debate regarding how, or whether, to regulate products of genome-edited plant breeding, beyond the existing agronomic and safety requirements, according to lead researcher Stuart Smyth, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at USask. He collaborated on the survey with Savannah Gleim and Simona Lubieniechi.
The regulatory system developed in Canada in the early 1990s to regulate GM products regulates plants with novel traits (PNTs), comparing them to conventional varieties. PNT varieties are approved if a risk assessment concludes the risk of the PNT variety is substantially equivalent to conventional crop varieties. Regulatory approval decisions are based on the final product, not the process used to create the product.
According to the survey results, current PNT regulations are having an impact on present variety development research.
- 77% of respondents indicated that Canada’s PNT regulatory framework needs to be updated to reflect current levels of knowledge and the advancements in plant breeding technologies
- 22% experienced research proposals being turned down due to PNT uncertainty
- 34% of breeders have ended research when self-determination indicated PNT status
- 19% have altered research to ensure the variety was not deemed to be a PNT
- 18% experienced a delay once PNT status was applied
- 26% disagreed that PNT regulations encourage investment
“More than one-quarter of plant breeders are clearly expressing they view PNT regulations to be a barrier to investment. Ultimately, what public breeders are doing is undertaking breeding programs that have as little novelty as is possible, thus ensuring they are not regulated as PNTs,” Smyth says.
“This raises questions of what adoption rates these minimally novel varieties might have once approved and commercialized.”
Will producers be willing to adopt new varieties that are only marginally better than existing ones?
“While there is strong support for Canada’s science-based regulatory framework, with 32 per cent expressing the belief this provides a competitive advantage, concerns arise when 27 per cent indicate they conduct field trials outside of Canada to avoid the confined field trial requirements that pertain to PNT varieties.”
