Impact of allowing gene-editing and divergence from EU food standards

That this House has grave concerns over the Government’s proposal to authorise in England the use of gene-editing technologies in agriculture and food and drink manufacturing; notes that, since Brexit, any substantial regulatory divergence between the UK and EU poses a major threat to UK exports into European markets, and also for the export of goods from mainland UK ports into Northern Ireland; shares the concern of Unite the Union that such divergence from the approach of EU regulation over gene-editing would have yet more catastrophic impacts including the loss of thousands of jobs and undermining of the Northern Ireland protocol; observes that agriculture is a devolved issue within the UK context, but that, in the event of gene-editing being allowed in England, Scottish and Welsh products without gene-edited ingredients could still be denied access to EU markets; fears the impact that the aggressive commercial exploitation of gene-editing technologies would have on poor farmers in the global south, and on distracting Western governments from addressing the structural causes of climate change; and therefore believes that the Government’s approach to this issue must continue to be subject to the precautionary principle, must not be made in the absence of a robust scientific evidence-base on the long-term impacts of such technologies, must not allow multinational corporations to exert undue influence via proprietary rights, and must not pre-empt decision-making by the devolved nations or the UK's European partners.