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The testing and release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—in particular GM plants—is tightly regulated internationally to prevent any negative effects on the environment or human health. However, these regulations are based on transgenic organisms and do not discriminate between transgenic plants and cisgenic plants, although we believe that they are fundamentally different (see sidebar). Now, cisgenic plants fall under regulations designed for transgenic organisms, possibly because there have not yet been any applications for the approval of the deliberate release of cisgenic plants into the environment.

Although transgenesis and cisgenesis both use the same genetic modification techniques—namely the introduction of one or more genes and their promoters into a plant—cisgenesis involves only genes from the plant itself or from a close relative, and these genes could also be transferred by …