Member

To put some flesh on that, let us say that a seed breeding company finds and edits a variety of wheat for improved milling quality. It would have its in-house testing for off-target characteristics and, above all, for its stability through generations. I am advised that this in-house testing takes three or four generations, spanning the same number of years. Then you have a further two years and two generations of statutory testing. At that point, maybe your new variety gets a recommended listing, and you probably then have another one or two years of multiplying up the seed for the farmer to sow. It is a long process, and I am not sure that the final crop of wheat could be called gene edited as such; it is six or seven generations down the line.