On 11 July 2018, the Natural Environment Subcommittee of the Central Environment Council under the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), held a meeting of its GMO, etc. specialist panel, at which it was decided to establish an "investigative panel on genome editing technology, etc. and the Cartagena laws" thus setting the direction for deliberations. The most important task is to organize the concepts that will help to make a decision on whether or not genome editing will be subject to restrictions under the Cartagena laws (see BJ July 2018).

Under the concepts indicated by the MoE, genome editing is divided into three types, known as SDN1 to SDN3. SDN1 is the editing technology in greatest use at present, in which DNA is simply cleaved. This case does not fall under restrictions regardless of whether nucleic acid (e.g. guide RNA) is included in the artificial nuclease (DNA-cleaving enzyme). SDN2 inserts several bases at the location of the cleavage, and while nucleic acid is not included in the artificial nuclease this is subject to restrictions. SDN3 is the case in which genes are inserted at the location of the cleavage, and since nucleic acid is included, this is also subject to restrictions. Therefore, deliberations are to be conducted on the basis that no restrictions are imposed in the case that nothing is inserted, and imposed in the case that something is inserted.

Self-cloning and 'natural occurrence,' which are not covered by GM technology restrictions, have also been exempted for genome technology. Self-cloning is where genetic modification is carried out using only genes from the same species of organism, and natural occurrence refers to genetic modification that could also occur in the natural world. The issues of off-target and mosaics, etc. that have become a problem with genome editing have been left up to the deliberations of the investigative panel.

The panel members were decided on at the same time as the establishment of the panel. Professor Ryo Ohsawa of Tsukuba University was selected as chairperson and all the remaining members consist of researchers in the same field, including Professor Takashi Yamamoto of Hiroshima University Graduate School of Science and Chairperson of the Japanese Society for Genome Editing, and exclude right from the outset anyone who might possibly recommend restrictions, such as specialists in environmental issues, scholars of social sciences, legal scholars, etc. It is not hard to imagine, therefore, that deliberations will move in the direction of evading restrictions on genome editing.

In June, the government gave cabinet approval to the Integrated Innovation Strategy, in which clarification on the relationship of organisms produced using genome editing and the Cartagena laws as well as restrictions under the Food Sanitation Act are called for by the end of this fiscal year. Because of this, in parallel with the deliberations on the Cartagena laws by the MoE, an investigative panel on the safety of such organisms when consumed as food is about to be set up by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. It is certain that this will be strongly influenced by the deliberations in the MoE.

On 28 June 2018, as GM papaya were discovered among papaya imported from Thailand, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ordered measures to dispose or reship the papaya. (See BJ May 2013) In the past, GM papaya being cultivated on a trial basis have disappeared in Thailand and it is thought that illegal cultivation is still occurring. Thus far, only the GM papaya variety carrying resistance to papaya ringspot virus had been developed, and it is thought that it is also this resistant papaya variety involved this time.