News

UK and EU supermarkets must support GMO regulation

11th October 2022

A coalition of 64 leaders from food, farming, religion, business, philanthropy and academia in the UK and in Europe have written to supermarkets with businesses in both the UK and EU, calling on them to support strong regulation of gene edited products and to protect consumer choice.

Scientists and policy experts: The term “precision breeding” misleads and has no place in serious legislation

8th September 2022

A joint statement signed by international scientists and policy experts criticises the British government for the use of the term “precision breeding” in its draft legislation to deregulate GMOs. We wholly support their aims.

Regulatory Policy Committee: Government’s case for deregulation “not fit for purpose”

24th June 2022

A damning report by the government’s Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) concludes that the government has failed to make a convincing business case for the deregulation of genetically engineered (so called “precision bred”) organisms in the farming and food system.

Civil society to MPs: The gene editing bill must be amended

10th June 2022

Groups and individuals from UK civil society issued a joint statement today urging MPs to take urgent steps to amend and strengthen the draft Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Bill.

Help us raise awareness of the UK’s GMO deregulation agenda

2nd June 2022

The government promised a “step-by-step” approach to deregulating gene editing. What it has delivered is a broad remit for deregulating most kinds of GMOs used in agriculture. See here for how you can help us push back.

FOI documents show Defra wilfully ignores public views on gene editing

25th May 2022

Freedom of information documents obtained by Beyond GM show the breathtaking lengths the UK government has gone to in order to ignore public views on the regulation of gene editing.

A ‘Precision Breeding’ Bill to fast-track GMO deregulation in England

10th May 2022

Today’s Queen’s Speech detailed careless government plans to extend the deregulation of GMOs to commercial food and feed products.

UK removes ‘barriers’ from GMO field trials

15th March 2022

The UK government has voted through a new law that will remove restrictions from GMO field trials in England. Far from being a limited change, it opens up the possibility of a rapid expansion of open air trials of GMO plants of all kinds.

House of Lords Committee says GMO amendment ‘lacks clarity and detail’ – Beyond GM responds

16th February 2022

In response to civil society criticisms, including those formally raised by Beyond GM, the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has raised several concerns in relation to a proposed change in law that would allow open field trials of experimental GMO crops in any field in England.

New legislative changes for GMO field trials – Beyond GM responds

20th January 2022

The UK government has announced that is changing the law on field trials for gene edited crops – today. Here is our response.