Defra has confirmed four sites will trial genetically modified wheat this season, following an admission by Oxford University.
It comes after the Independent non-departmental public body Acre (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment,) advised the Government that the trial posed an ‘extremely low’ risk to human health and the environment.
Nine gene-edited plant lines planned will be trialled to target a master regulator of chloroplast protein import, SP1. It is hoped that doing so will improve yields and stress tolerance
Plots will be planted this spring at sites in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Hertfordshire.
