With “first-generation” GMOs in practically 90 percent of the crops we grow, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) voted unanimously to recommend an update to US organic standards to exclude ingredients derived from “next-generation” genetic engineering and gene editing. Next-generation genetic engineering techniques include the use of synthetic biology, which is a new set of genetic manipulation methodologies that include using synthetic DNA to re-engineer organisms to produce substances they would not normally make or editing DNA so as to silence the expression of certain traits, according to the Center for Food Safety.
This recommendation to the USDA’s National Organic Program will ensure that ingredients derived from these new genetic engineering techniques will not be allowed in the production or final product of foods and beverages that are certified organic, according to Dana Peris, food and technology policy campaigner with Friends of the Earth (FOE).