At a Euractiv media event to mark the launch of the Breakthrough Institute/Alliance for Science’s new report on ‘new genomic techniques,’ stakeholders representing farmers, seed producers, and policymakers welcomed the more science-based approach proposed by the European Commission.Speaking at the event were Klaus Berend, Director, Food Safety, Sustainability and Innovation directorate of the European Commission’s DG SANTE; Garlich von Essen, Secretary-General of Euroseeds, representing seed producers in Europe; Thor Gunnar Kofoed, an organic farmer and chair of the seed working group of the European farmers association COPA-COGECA; and Dr Sheila Ochugboju, Director of the Alliance for Science.Divide gene-edited plants into two categoriesThe report, entitled The €3 Trillion Cost of Saying No: How the EU Risks Falling Behind in the Bio-economy Revolution, examines how outdated EU laws, especially a 2001 regulatory framework that currently classifies gene-edited cro