
In 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union recalled that organisms with genomes modified by artifactual techniques should be considered GMOs under European regulations. GMOs derived from cultures of cells isolated in vitro or from new genomic techniques must therefore be traceable. This chapter reviews the various technical steps and characteristics of those techniques causing genomic a…

Transgenic GMOs were welcomed in the 1990s due to the difficulties distinguishing genetic and epigenetic modifications from random mutagenesis and their ability to insert new nucleic sequences more rapidly but still randomly. Their marketing in Europe has been accompanied by health and environmental risk assessments, specific monitoring and traceability procedures to preserve the free choice of…