Climate- and disease-resistant super-bananas from Belgium thanks to genetic modification

Brussels – Bananas that are more resistant to weather, bacteria, and the consequences of climate change: from Belgium comes the possible answer to product shortages that could ensure availability and waste. The University of Leuven developed a targeted and circumscribed gene-editing technique (better known as CRISPR) that, through internal DNA correction and without recourse to external DNA, banned by EU rules, could allow the product to remain on the market.

The key is all here, in the definition of a genetically modified organism. The EU has very stringent rules on the subject, the strictest in the world. In the name of human health, environmental protection, and the functioning of the internal market, the EU is anything but GMO-free. Moreover, in 2018, the EU Court of Justice, in a judgment, ruled that even targeted genetic modification produces genetically modified organisms. Everything changed last year, however, when the European Parliament approved the Commission’s proposal on new genomic techniques.

CRISPR’s targeted and circumscribed gene-editing techniques received the first European green light as a tool for crop improvement. Discussions on its use in food production are ongoing, with the Council finding the qualified majority needed to begin inter-institutional negotiations on March 14. Belgium wasted no time, and work is underway on the super-banana.

 “We alter a single letter in the DNA sequence,” Hervé Vanderschuren, professor of plant biotechnology, explained to the Belgian press, confident that an actual and recognized contribution can come from the university he works for. “This type of mutation could have occurred naturally,” he points out, hinting that human intervention would not turn out to be that decisive. Or rather, yes, but in a good way. “Climate change is making it even more difficult for farmers to protect their crops,” the university lecturer continues. From Leuven comes a proposal for a solution to the problem. Now, policy, especially European policy, is awaited.