Dr. Thomas McLoughlin:

They will be allowed. This is not easy for the committee members to decipher - it is hard enough for us. As we tried to explain, we cannot identify a wheat plant or soya bean coming in that was produced used CRISPR. There is no technology available to identify it, whereas it was produced using a GMO, that would involve taking a piece of DNA and putting it into that plant and we could identify it. We cannot do that with some CRISPR techniques and that is the crux of the issue. It would not comply with EU legislation and we would not be able to enforce the EU legislation. The Commission is very well aware of this. It has spent a lot of money to see if it could get any techniques it could work with, but it is nearly impossible. It is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.