Gene Editing Deregulation – What Comes Next?

March 27, 2026 by Beyond GM

Plants are just the beginning.

Two new briefings published by Beyond GM explore the likely next stages for the UK’s deregulation of gene editing. They reveal that gene edited animals and microorganisms are the next frontiers in the removal of key safety and environmental regulations – but the picture is considerably more complicated than developers or the government may want us to believe.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 have paved the way for the production and commercialisation of gene edited – what the UK calls “precision bred” – GMO plants. But the broader regulatory framework in the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 also allows for the deregulation of precision bred GMO vertebrate animals. Even as the new regulations were being signed into law, there was an expectation – shared by industry, parts of government and some researchers – that new regulations for livestock would swiftly follow.

Are farm animals next?

Our new briefing on gene edited livestock shows why that isn’t happening on the timetable originally planned and what the obstacles are.

The short version is the science isn’t ready. Two successive research projects commissioned by Defra from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) concluded that the UK lacks the welfare assessment tools, data infrastructure and multi-generational testing frameworks needed to regulate gene edited farm animals safely. As recently as May 2025, Baroness Hayman confirmed in the House of Lords that no further animal legislation was imminent – though what “imminent” actually means is a fair question.

Our analysis suggests 2027 may be the earliest realistic date for animal-specific secondary legislation – and that’s contingent on welfare research catching up and on what happens with the UK–EU trade negotiations.

There is real tension here. The UK–EU SPS negotiations announced in May 2025, with their commitment to dynamic alignment on food and farming standards, create a significant complication. The EU says it has no plans to deregulate gene edited animals – they remain GMOs across the bloc. Any UK attempt to forge ahead with a separate regime for precision-bred livestock could create serious barriers for farmers and businesses wishing to export. There is currently no easy path forward.

Microorganisms too

The Genetic Technology Act also allows the Secretary of State to remove regulatory control from genetically modified precision bred microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and yeasts.

The picture here is different – and arguably more troubling. Microbes were not explicitly brought into the precision breeding framework and the government has stated it has no immediate plans to change this. But our second briefing reveals that deregulation is already happening, quietly and incrementally, without new legislation.

Through innovation hubs, regulatory sandboxes, streamlined authorisation pathways and administrative reform, oversight of genetically engineered microbes is being progressively narrowed – particularly for organisms used in food, feed and precision fermentation (e.g. lab cultured foods and ingredients). The December 2025 European Commission proposal to exempt certain gene edited microbes from full GMO oversight adds further pressure: under dynamic SPS alignment, what happens in Brussels is likely to follow in Westminster.

This matters because microorganisms reproduce rapidly, readily exchange genetic material, can persist in ecosystems and cannot be recalled or controlled once released. In some cases, researchers are already proposing uncontained environmental releases – even though the regulatory assumptions being applied were designed for crops and contained production. The 2025 Stanford University trial of a probiotic microbe that mutated to persist without its engineered function and resisted antibiotic treatment in human volunteers, is a sobering reminder that the science of engineered microbial behaviour in living systems is still in its infancy.

Across both briefings, a consistent pattern emerges. Governance decisions are being made not through explicit democratic – or even scientific – debate about risk and responsibility, but through regulatory practice: through pace, categorisation, corporate capture, the drive for “growth” and trade alignment. Industry assertions and demands for self-regulation are being embedded into regulatory frameworks before the evidence base has matured and before the public has been asked what it thinks.

Beyond GM will continue to track these developments. Both briefings are available to read in full on our website.

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