Regulatory Framework and Policy Decisions for Genome-Edited Crops

Gene editing methods have been considered as one of the important approaches that have a huge impact on plant breeding. Currently, gene editing is considered as one of the most powerful techniques for crop improvement, which offers precise base editing in a predictable manner. Within a short span of time, genome editing based breeding has made remarkable advances in the area of crop improvement as well as on human lives, due to cost-effectiveness, reliability and easy to use. However, it has also raised plethora of ethical and legal debates among research organizations, funding agencies besides national and international policy makers. The bigger question is do the prevailing law, directives and regulations anticipate and/or address the societal concern about genome-edited crop? Here, we review the existing regulatory framework and ethical complications that may influence the adoption of technology and its acceptance. Additionally, perspective for an alternative regulatory system that appropriately matches the scientific progress is discussed.