By PA News Agency
A Bill that would ease regulations around gene editing in the food sector should not “force products on Scotland”, a minister has said.
The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill was introduced earlier this month at Westminster and would create a separate regulatory category for gene editing – a practice which can change traits within a plant or animal much more quickly than traditional selective breeding.
Officials and scientists draw a distinction between gene editing, which involves the manipulation of genes within a single species or genus, and genetic modification (GM), in which DNA from one species is introduced to another.
After an EU ruling in 2018, it is regulated in the same stringent way as GM organisms, a situation the Government is now unpicking as the UK has left the bloc.
In a letter to Environment Secretary George Eustice and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, Scottish Government environment minister Mairi McAllan said Scotland would not make the same changes as England if the Bill passed.
Ms McAllan also took issue with engagement between the UK and Scottish governments in the lead-up to the Bill being introduced, and claimed changes in regulation in England would have an impact on the rest of the devolved administrations.
Under the Internal Market Act 2020, items that meet regulatory standards in one part of the country must be allowed to be sold elsewhere in the UK.
Critics of the Act, including the Scottish Government and the SNP group at Westminster, described it as a “power grab” before it was passed.
An impact assessment published alongside the new Bill said: “Whilst this legislative change will only take effect in England, the mutual recognition element of the United Kingdom Internal Market (UKIM) Act means that products entering the market in England would also be marketable in both Scotland and Wales.
“Thus, there would be no tangible barrier to precision-bred organisms entering the market across Great Britain.”
