GMWatch News Review archive

Review 592: Resistance to GMOs

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While some of the world’s governments rush lemming-like towards the cliff of GMO deregulation, the process is going in the opposite direction in that home of GMOs, the US, driven not by the government but by court cases brought by civil society groups – see our lead story below. 

Elsewhere, resistance to GMOs remains strong. Burkina Faso has banned Gates-backed GM mosquito experiments. And in South Africa, an important court victory maintains the ban on cultivation of a GM maize pending the country’s GMO regulator starting to do its job in line with the requirements of the law.

As well as reporting on the inspiring pushback from other African countries and pan-African organisations, we also cover resistance to GMOs in the Philippines, Venezuela, Ireland, Russia, Canada and Hawaii. For all these stories and more, see RESISTANCE WORLDWIDE.

Some of the most sustained opposition to GMOs is seen in India, to the extent that in this Review we’ve given that country its own section (RESISTANCE IN INDIA). Here, a landmark court order targeting GMO imports requires the Indian government and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) not to permit the sale, manufacture, distribution or import of GM foods and products until the government establishes proper regulations governing their handling.

RESISTANCE WORLDWIDE
Victory in the US! Win for the public’s right to know in GMO labelling lawsuit

A federal court of appeals decision handed down on 31 October overturned a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule on the disclosure of genetically engineered foods, the Center for Food Safety reports, which took a leading role in bringing the case. The case challenged the USDA rulemaking which applied the 2016 federal law mandating GMO labelling for foods that are now called “Bioengineered” in the US. USDA had exempted “highly refined” or ultra-processed GMO foods – the category into which the majority of foods with GMO ingredients fall – from disclosure, a massive loophole that the court held unlawful. The court of appeals also held that the lower court abused its discretion regarding USDA’s use of “QR code” or smartphone labelling in the rule: the district court had previously held that USDA’s reliance on “QR code” labelling alone on packages without other forms of disclosure was unlawful, but had nonetheless left such products on market shelves. The court of appeals determined that remedy was an error and instead held that the QR code section should be vacated, or made null and void, so food companies cannot any longer label GMO foods solely with a QR code.
US court ruling on GMO food labelling puts pressure on Canada
As reported above, a US court has strengthened the US labelling law to include processed food ingredients. This should impact the entire North American market, particularly for corn and soy. The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) says the ruling is likely to bring more pressure to bear on Canadian regulators as they consider similar labelling in Canada. A public opinion survey result shows 83% of Canadians want mandatory labelling – this finding has remained consistent for over 20 years. Another recent poll finds that Canadians understand gene editing to be genetic engineering, and they want gene-edited foods similarly labelled. Amazingly, there is no mandatory labelling of any genetically modified foods in Canada. There is a Canadian voluntary standard for labelling that is currently under review but no companies have voluntarily labelled GMOs for Canadian consumers.
Burkina Faso bans Gates-backed GM mosquito experiments, samples to be destroyed nationwide
Burkina Faso has announced a nationwide end to the activities of Target Malaria, the research consortium funded by the Gates Foundation and Open Philanthropy. The decision effectively halts all experimentation with GM mosquitoes in the country. In a statement, the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation revealed that the enclosures containing GM mosquitoes were sealed in August. The statement added that “all samples will be destroyed according to an indicated protocol”. The announcement follows Target Malaria’s second experimental release of 75,000 GM mosquitoes in the country. Target Malaria had planned to follow up their GM mosquito releases with gene drive mosquito releases – gene drive is a genetic modification forced to spread through an entire population to reduce its numbers. With the government’s decision, Burkina Faso has become the first country to formally shut down Target Malaria’s activities nationwide, reflecting growing scepticism over the safety, ethics, and necessity of gene-drive mosquito experiments.
African faith leaders demand reparations from Gates Foundation over industrial farming harm
More than 600 faith leaders across Africa have signed a renewed open letter to the Gates Foundation, demanding reparations for the ecological and social harm caused by industrial agriculture and calling for a just transition towards agroecology. The campaign is led by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, supported by networks such as the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. According to the groups, their updated letter reflects a growing consensus among faith, traditional and community leaders that Africa’s food future must be locally rooted, ecologically sound and socially just. “The letter continues and strengthens the first direct appeal to the Gates Foundation in 2020, to end funding for the failing Green Revolution model in Africa, which seeks to change African seed laws and industrialise farming production,” the groups said.
Battle for African Agriculture podcast
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) has launched an excellent podcast series, “The Battle for African Agriculture” hosted by AFSA general coordinator, Dr Million Belay. It pulls back the curtain on the enduring legacies of colonialism in Africa’s food systems, challenges corporate-driven narratives, and amplifies agroecological solutions rooted in justice, biodiversity, and food sovereignty. The dozen or so guests so far include the academic, activist and author Raj Patel, the environmental justice advocate, architect, writer and poet Nnimmo Bassey, and the globally respected authority on genetic engineering and food safety Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumer Reports. All episodes are here.
Benin: March against GMOs, for agroecology (video)
In Benin in West Africa, during the runup to an agroecology seed fair showcasing local crops that are in danger of disappearing, local officials and rural communities held a march against GMOs and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). If Benin joined UPOV, this would restrict farmers’ saving and exchanging seeds. The protesters were also marching in support of agroecology.
Experts, activists urge ban on GMOs in Nigeria
In Nigeria, some scientists, experts, and activists have called for a ban on GMOs, describing them as a threat to the country’s political, economic, and food sovereignty. The stakeholders made the call at a national symposium. They argued that with the right support, smallholder farmers could feed Africa and even export surplus produce to other regions. They warned that the growing adoption of GMO products in Nigeria risked creating a new form of colonialism with serious health and environmental consequences. They urged the government to declare an immediate moratorium on GMO approvals and imports, stressing that GMOs are difficult to withdraw once released into the environment. Molecular biologist Dr Ifeanyi Casmir of Alex Ekwueme University described GMOs as “a cocktail of promises and pain”. He said he had studied over 204 publications across 179 scientific journals, with overwhelming evidence that most GMO promises were either contradicted or disproved. More on this topic here and here.
Nigeria: Catholic bishops demand ban on GM foods
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has called on the federal and state governments to enact legislation prohibiting the production of GMOs in the country, citing the need to safeguard life and health.
Senegal: African consumer organisation calls on MPs to reinstate law banning GMOs
The executive director of the Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (CICODEV Africa), Amadou Kanouté, called on Senegalese MPs to reinstate the biosafety law, which prohibited the import, storage, use and marketing of GMOs in Senegal. This law was repealed during previous legislative sessions, according to CICODEV Africa. “Just before leaving office, the country's former leaders repealed the biosafety law, which prohibited the import, storage and use of GMOs in this country,” Kanouté said. He added that they did this without debate or consensus. 
South Africa: Court victory keeps ban on GM maize and sets critical legal precedent
In South Africa, the government’s attempt to overturn a hard-won legal ban on the commercial release of Bayer's GM – so-called “drought-tolerant” – maize has been defeated in the highest court in the country. The application for the general release of GM maize MON87460 now has to be sent back to South Africa’s GMO regulator for proper reconsideration in line with the requirements of the law. The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), which pursued the case against the government and its GMO regulatory bodies in a decade-long litigation battle, believes that it “will put an end to the rubber-stamping of GMO approvals” in South Africa ahead of the release of GMOs into the environment. You can read their full statement here. 
South Africa: Objection to GM canola field trials
In August, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) objected to a proposed field trial of GM canola, engineered to tolerate glyphosate-based herbicides. The trial was proposed by Corteva. In the objection, the ACB noted that South Africa had 154 wild relatives of canola that could cross-fertilise, risking widespread genetic contamination.
US: Growing opposition to GMO chestnut trees
More than 170,000 individuals and over 440 organisations worldwide have voiced strong opposition to the release of the GMO American chestnut tree, known as Darling 54 (D54), into wild forests. The USDA is currently considering a petition by SUNY-ESF to deregulate the tree. Anne Petermann of the Global Justice Ecology Project is interviewed by KPFA Radio about the growing opposition to these GM trees. She warns that they are genetically defective, unproven, and could pose serious ecological risks if released into the environment. Meanwhile, despite GMO promoters declaring the American chestnut tree doomed without genetic engineering, wild American chestnuts are thriving in many locations across Northeast forests against all the odds.
Hawaii: Court says state failed to require environmental review for GMO farm
The Hawaii State Supreme Court has ruled that the land department should have ordered a GMO seed company to do an environmental review before planting on state land. Environmentalists say the ruling could impact other businesses that use state facilities or property. Eight years ago, when Syngenta Seeds got a permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to do corn and pesticide research in Kekaha, Kauai, the state decided it didn’t require an environmental assessment. Now the Supreme Court says that was wrong, but it’s too late. Syngenta has left the property. 
Philippines: Negros Occidental groups rally vs GMO ordinance, threaten hunger strike
Protesters staged a rally on 9 September in front of the provincial capitol in Bacolod City to oppose a proposed ordinance that would allow GMOs and related facilities into Negros Occidental, warning they would launch a hunger strike if officials push ahead. Carrying placards that read “No to GMO”, more than 100 protesters staged a “silent protest” outside the capitol and demanded that the provincial board scrap the proposed “Negros Occidental GMO Regulatory Ordinance”, which has already passed first and second readings in August.
Venezuela: Seeds, GMOs and sovereignty
In an interview, Venezuelan biologist, ecologist and activist Esquisa Omaña takes stock of the country’s Seed Law and the struggle for food sovereignty. She says, “One of the law’s features, which sets it apart from any similar seed law around the world, is that it contemplates two main seed systems that stem from two different knowledge structures. The 2015 Seed Law acknowledges what we could call a more formal system, with the certified seed. It also recognises the system of local, traditional and ancestral knowledge, with the campesino, Indigenous and Afro-descendant seeds... This is key for us, because instead of denying a knowledge system, it acknowledges these two different ones. At the time, some critics claimed the law was against progress, but it promotes progress. It proposes participatory research processes and the improvement of local seeds and the generation of local varieties, which is something that campesinos have done for centuries.” She adds, “The other fundamental aspect is, of course, the anti-GMO character of the law. It forbids the use, multiplication, and sowing of genetically modified organisms. Importing is not forbidden, for example, GMO corn for consumption, but it can’t be sown.”
Irish grain growers want action on imports of GM maize products
The Irish Grain Growers’ Group is calling for an immediate examination of what it has described as the “now excessive use” of GM maize and soy entering the Irish food chain from third countries. 
Russia’s non-GMO soybeans exports to China safe despite US-China trade deal
Russia’s non-GM soybean exports to China are safe, a Russian government source said, despite a deal between China and the US concluded by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Russia ranked fifth among the largest soybean exporters to China in 2024, but its shipments consist exclusively of non-GM soybeans, used in the production of foods such as tofu, soy milk, and soy sauce. The US primarily supplies GM soybeans to China, which are used for animal feed. The IKAR consultancy estimates Russia’s exports to China at up to 0.8 million tons of non-GMO soybeans this season. Russia banned GMO farming in 2016 in a bid to capture a share of the growing global non-GMO food market, which Fortune Business Insights projects will reach $2 trillion by 2032, up from $895 billion in 2025.
RESISTANCE IN INDIA
India-US trade talks may face hurdles following Rajasthan High Court order on GM food imports 
In a ruling targeting GMO imports, the Rajasthan High Court has ordered the Indian government and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) not to permit the sale, manufacture, distribution or import of GM foods and products until the government establishes proper regulations governing their handling. The ruling could throw a spanner into India-US trade talks, with Washington seeking Indian market access for its GM corn and soybeans. Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition for a GM-Free India emphasised that the court order serves as a reminder for regulatory bodies such as the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and the FSSAI to fulfil their statutory responsibilities. “GEAC and FSSAI have consistently failed to perform their statutory duty to ensure biosafety and food safety, thereby protecting the Indian public,” said Kuruganti. “The High Court’s order ensures that ordinary Indians are not made scapegoats due to American pressure on the Indian government.”
The soy mirage: When “strategic alliances” pose a threat to Indian farmers
The India-US trade talks are being promoted with the narrative that India and the United States can strike a soybean deal that could benefit both nations – America finding markets for its surplus soybeans, and India reducing its edible-oil deficit. But such a deal risks trapping India in GM seed dependence and crushing its farmers – a win-win only for Trump, US soy farmers and corporations, writes Sridhar Radhakrishnan, a member of the Steering Committee of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj).
Is India going to be the dumpyard for the US’s GM soybean?
In a retaliatory move against US-imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, China has decided to stop buying soybean from the US. So, what happens with the US soybean surpluses? With China out of the picture, in order to appease its soybean farmers, the Trump administration can pressure India to buy GMO soybean and soybean oil cakes from the US. Both these steps could lead to disastrous implications for cattle and human health, writes agri-policy analyst Indra Shekhar Singh. He adds that India could lose its non-GM or GM free tag in agriculture, which would further diminish its agrarian exports and be bad for biodiversity.
India: Farmers’ body calls for cancellation of permission to test GM maize at Punjab Agricultural University
Farmers’ group Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has demanded the cancellation of the permission granted to test GM herbicide-tolerant and insecticidal maize in Punjab Agricultural University’s fields, terming it “cancer-causing farming”. “We want organic, not GM,” the BKS delegation said. The delegation added, “Bt cotton, a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton, was brought to India and insects started eating it soon after its introduction. Later, more toxic Bt-2 was introduced which witnessed the same fate as whiteflies and sucking insects started destroying the cotton crop. It is clear from this that the use of pest-resistant GM cotton turned out to be uncertain, unsafe and full of adverse effects. Hence, the way of giving permission to test GM corn is also an attempt to bring the failed experiment back on the farmers.” 
India should learn from Bt cotton fiasco
After the GM Bt cotton fiasco, pushing GM maize with glyphosate tolerance is repeating a dangerous mistake, writes policy analyst Devinder Sharma.
India: Herbicide tolerant cotton not a panacea, only ecological disaster
In India, the reason for the decline in the area of cotton cultivation is primarily the failure of Bt cotton against pink bollworms and other insects, writes Dr Virender Singh Lather, former principal scientist at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). Bt cotton is now also affected by a new pest, tobacco streak virus (TSV), which is causing yield losses. This crisis of cotton production has given multinational seed companies an opportunity to pressure Indian policymakers to seek legalisation of HT cotton (herbicide tolerant) hybrids with false promises to double cotton production. But frequent use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate can have adverse ecological effects. Dr Lather calls for a ban on all GM crops. 
India should shift to organic cotton to circumvent US sanctions, says farmers’ leader 
Over the last month, India reduced its cotton import duty from 11% to zero under US pressure. The move effectively allowed foreign US grown cotton to reach India with a cheap price, severely harming the domestic market. As a result, many farmers’ organisations launched protests. However, Mohini Mishra of the Indian farmers' union Bhartiya Kisan Sangh said, “There is nothing to worry about [in] the USA tariff. This is a trade attack. We are a world in ourselves and if we develop organic cotton we don’t have to come under USA pressure and buy the genetically modified cotton from the USA. If we strengthen our organic production we can sell our organic cotton to the USA, and circumvent the sanctions.”
After India cracks down on pesticide makers, experts question nod for herbicides and herbicide-tolerant seed varieties 
After India's Agriculture Minister ordered the suspension of licence of a pesticides manufacturer, experts are questioning the necessity of indiscriminate approval of herbicide-tolerant varieties. These varieties increase the use of herbicides which ultimately result in polluting the soil, the experts point out. “There are several herbicides approved for agriculture use whereas there are limited herbicide-tolerant varieties of different crops available in the market. This has created a research push to develop herbicide-tolerant (HT) varieties as well as push sales of those chemicals by companies,” said a senior agriculture scientist. There has been a push to approve a herbicide-tolerant variety of ‘Swarna sub 1’ rice variety, which is known to be flood tolerant, sources said. “As the ‘Swarna sub 1’ paddy [rice] is grown where water is abundantly available and there is no weed threat due to water-logged field, there is no need for any HT variety,” said the agriculture scientist.
“Act of war” on Indian agriculture: Aruna Rodrigues slams GM crop expansion and regulatory apathy
Aruna Rodrigues – lead petitioner in the Supreme Court case launched in 2005 that seeks a moratorium on GM crops – told India’s Agriculture Minister in a letter that conflicts of interest have infiltrated India’s regulatory system like a cancer: “The result is that the agenda of the biotech industry, Bayer-Monsanto/Syngenta, is being executed in Indian agriculture to fully prepare it for GM crops”, including gene-edited and mutagenesis-bred herbicide-tolerant (HT) rice varieties. India is the origin of over 80,000 rice varieties and the regulators’ targeting of rice is “an open act of war on Indian agriculture and our farming community”, she wrote.