US moves to sell gene-edited mushrooms fuel doubts over British ban on GM imports

American regulators have allowed the cultivation and sale of two crops modified with the gene-editing technique known as Crispr. The crops – a white button mushroom and a form of corn – are the first Crispr plants to be permitted for commercial use in the US.

The move is a boost for new technology in the creation of foodstuffs, but is expected to worsen the considerable confusion in Britain over the use of gene-editing in agriculture and the importing of crops created using such technology.

A committee of European commission regulators was expected to report last month on whether gene-edited crops should be classed as genetically-modified organisms or should be freed from the severe restrictions concerning GMOs in Europe. At the last minute it announced a delay in its verdict – to the dismay of many UK scientists.

“The committee knew it would be highly controversial, no matter what decision it made, so they have kicked the issue into the long grass, and that is very damaging,” said crop scientist Professor Huw Jones of Aberystwyth university.

“Researchers...