News

GE deregulation amendment is withdrawn – but there is more work to do

29th July 2020

In its last meeting before the summer recess the House of Lords finally debated Amendment 275 of the Agriculture Bill, which proposed to regulate products of gene editing in the UK. The amendment was withdrawn.

Liberating ‘Agricultural research’? Agriculture Bill update

2nd July 2020

A new amendment to the UK’s Agriculture Bill proposes to deregulate gene edited organisms for ‘agricultural research’. In reality it is a Trojan horse designed deregulate most forms of genome editing.

Take Action: Ask Ministers to reject plans to deregulate genome editing

2nd July 2020

Beyond GM is working with GM Freeze and GMWatch to mobilise supporters to oppose an a attempt, via the Agriculture Bill, to deregulate the use of genome editing in our food or on our farms. Here’s what you can do.

Deregulating GMOs via the Agriculture Bill – what happens next?

18th June 2020

The second reading of the Agriculture Bill in the House of Lords was less of a debate and more of an exercise in priming the pump for the proposed amendment to deregulate GMOs. With support from an uncritical media, expect more to follow.

Regulatory chicanery – Biotech lobby quietly hijacks the UK’s Agriculture Bill to change the definition of ‘GMOs’

28th May 2020

MPs, peers and the research establishment, intent on ‘liberating’ the UK’s agri-bioscience sector, are sidestepping democratic processes to try and change the definition of a GMO to exclude organisms engineered with new gene editing technologies.

Exploring the boundaries of plant breeding

6th April 2020

Our new report from our world cafe The Boundaries of Plant breeding follows the conversations between biotech, conventional and organic plant breeders and finds clashes – but also encouraging areas of agreement.

House of Lords debate on genome editing…what was the point?

6th March 2020

This week the House of Lords ‘debated’ how the UK might regulate genome edited foods post-Brexit. While governments elsewhere are struggling to understand some of the nuances of this issue, here in the UK we are treating it like an afterthought – and that is unacceptable.

New UK GMO regulations – what do they mean?

8th December 2019

During the prorogation of Parliament in September several key pieces of legislation slipped through undebated including a set of new GMO regulations for the UK Here’s what you need to know.

Antibiotic-resistant GMO genes persist in sewage sludge

5th November 2019

When people eat – and then digest – GMO foods, some of that the genetic material, which can carry antibiotic resistance, can eventually be flushed into the environment, and can survive wastewater treatment

European NGOs warn GMO approvals process carries ‘unacceptable risk’

7th June 2019

More than 40 organisations from science, environmental protection, lobby control, food production and agriculture have signed a joint letter calling for a halt to the approval processes for GMO applications in the pipeline.