Gene-edited crops and livestock will be produced in the UK under government plans to use post-Brexit freedoms to make it much easier to gain approval to use the technology.
Scientists say the relaxation of the regulations will allow the development of healthier food, and make crops less reliant on pesticides and fertiliser and animals less vulnerable to disease.
Under the proposals published for consultation today, gene-edited organisms will no longer be regulated under the same regime as genetically modified crops, which have such strict rules that only one, a type of maize, is grown commercially in the EU. Unlike genetic modification, gene editing does not involve introducing DNA from different species and is considered by many scientists to pose fewer risks.
However, the government is
