Gates open for new GMOs in the UK
New forms of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are on their way to UK fields and dinner plates, and we’ll have no way of knowing if that’s what we’re eating. They will not have been assessed for environmental or health risks.
With the signing into law of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations in May, farming Minster Daniel Zeichner removed all meaningful protections from new GMOs. These are described by the government as “Precision Bred Organisms” (PBOs) though the process doesn’t involve breeding and the definition is “staggeringly imprecise”.[1]
Minister Zeichner, Portcullis House, UK Parliament, 3rd December 2024.
The move is a major blow to public trust in the food system and a smack in the face to the devolved nations and to organic and other non-GMO producers and traders. These new GMOs won’t be identified and it’s unclear how anyone will be able to keep them out of their supply chains.
The new system will come into effect in November.
DEFRA under fire
The change is likely to have huge ramifications for international trade, but we can only guess at the actual impacts because the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) refused to conduct a formal impact assessment. Instead, it produced a half-baked “De Minimis Assessment” – and then didn’t publish even that.
This drew the criticism of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC), which produced a damning report into DEFRA’s conduct. It also highlighted a number of serious concerns regarding the new GMO regime, many of which GM Freeze and others have long been raising.
DEFRA’s assessment claimed that only a “minority” of consumers would want to avoid new GMOs. That ‘evidence’ came from an unpublished survey that contradicts all other surveys on the issue.[2] Further investigation by the Chair of the SLSC, Baron Pack, found that only 1.5% of the mere 2,000 people surveyed said they were well informed about the issue – hardly figures that back up “potentially contentious policy decisions”.[3]
Hopes dashed
The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act (GenTech Act) was passed by the Tory government in March 2023, but the regulations needed to make it operational hadn’t been passed when the general election was called in 2024. Labour politicians, including the now farming minister Zeichner, had previously raised concerns about the Act, so there was a glimmer of hope they’d opt for a more responsible approach than the Tories.
Labelling, traceability and detection methods could have helped to protect conventional and organic agriculture from contamination with GM material. Hiding new GMOs also has implications for international trade, as well as the ability of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to make their own policy choices about new GMOs. Risk assessments and post-market monitoring could have guarded against environmental and human harm.
But once in government, Labour ditched all caution and came out enthusiastically batting for the biotech industry. In subtle ways, the Regulations signed into force by Zeichner in May are even more biotech-friendly than those planned under the previous government.[4]
A smooth passage
The Regulations were published in February 2025 and discussed by a parliamentary Committee at the end March. There were no dissenting voices amongst the cross-party group of MPs in the room, despite the fact that a number had raised concerns about the GenTech Act whilst in opposition.
The SLSC report was mentioned and instantly dispensed with. Never mind the impact on consumer choice or existing markets and trade – the Committee appeared blinded by dollar signs and the need to grab all of the money that the EU is losing out on by not deregulating sooner.
April Fool’s Day was the big day for the GenTech Regulations in the House of Commons but that would not have been apparent to anyone watching the proceedings, as they weren’t even mentioned in the great chamber. Nevertheless, they were passed, as noted on an obscure page on the Parliament website.
From there the Regulations passed to the House of Lords, and at last, some dissenting voices and a meaningful – if one-sided – debate. Green Peer Nathalie Bennett highlighted a number of problems with the Regulations. “We are talking about benefiting biotech companies and food manufacturers, not consumers,” she said. In the end though, she was forced to concede that her ‘regret motion’ would not pass, and the Regulations went through unhindered.
Baroness Bennett regrets the GenTech Regulations, 6th May 2025. Image: Parliament.tv
What next, and can we avoid them?
The removal of protections from newer forms of GMOs will come into effect in November, following a six month World Trade Organization (WTO) implementation period. However, according to the DEFRA Chief Scientific Advisor Gideon Henderson, new GM foods are likely to reach consumers by Autumn this year. This seems quick for PB-GMOs (new GMOs) that were developed in the UK, so he may have been referring to imports.
How difficult it will be to identify PB-GMOs will partly depend on whether the government decides that their seeds will be labelled. It will also depend on the amount of information provided in lists that are to be maintained by DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Through a process of cross-referencing against lists, it may be possible to identify PB-GMO fresh fruit and vegetables at the point of sale. In England, though, their GM status will be completely invisible after they’ve undergone any form of processing – whether that’s being made into sandwiches, tinned food, TV dinners, meals out or any other food. In Wales or Scotland, they should be labelled as GMOs after processing, but it’s questionable how this will work in practice.
Buying organic will be the only way to avoid eating new GMOs in processed foods. In the longer term, however, organic foods may become contaminated due to the lack of any co-existence measures – that is, requirements to identify or segregate new GMOs in fields and supply chains.
And what about bodycare products? GM ingredients will again be invisible and this issue has had no scrutiny at all.
How exposed we’ll be to new GMOs in imported foods also remains to be seen. The banana company Tropic is planning to grow genetically engineered bananas elsewhere and import them into the UK, and is presumably not alone in this. How key markets such as the EU decide to regulate new GMOs is likely to have a significant impact on the quantity that we import and our ability to identify them. Our exposure will also increase when we start to allow imports of GM commodity goods, such as wheat.
One note of comfort is that, for all the promises made about new and older forms of GMOs, the products themselves have often turned out not to be very good. See the new GMO Promises website for multiple cases where the reality has not matched the hype – from failed harvests to increasing use of agricultural chemicals. It may be the case that the global roll-out of new GMOs is more of a trickle than a flood – not because we’re protected by regulations, but because the GMOs are limited by their own poor performance.
Notes
[1] According to Intellectual Property lawyer Dr Michael Edenborough QC when he addressed the Public Bill committee of the Houses of Parliament prior to the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill becoming an Act on 30 June 2022.
[2] See: ‘Consumer perceptions of genome edited food’, FSA, July 2021; ‘Summary of responses to a consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies’, Defra, 29th September 2021; ‘YouGov Poll: UK citizens demand robust regulation of GMOs’, Beyond GM, 18th November 2022 and ‘Consumer perceptions of precision breeding: Executive summary’, Ipsos UK, 9th March 2023.
[3] The Chair of the SLSC, Dr. Mark Pack, did manage to obtain the survey data, which after all was paid for by the taxpayer. He concluded: “Even if Defra has not messed up over its would-be secrecy, relying so heavily on the one poll – on a topic that only 1.5% said they were well informed about – would still have been unwise.”
[4] For example, if the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) requests more information from developers before it decides about a Precision Bred Confirmation, developers will have 90 days to respond rather than 60.
