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Two years after the primary legislation was passed in March 2023, England’s implementing rules for the cultivation of gene edited crops were signed into law by the responsible minister on May 13, 2025. Its progress was interrupted by a General Election and a change of Government from Conservative to Labour.
England is thus set to become the first country in Europe to allow the commercial production and marketing of precision-bred crops following the voting in Parliament on May 13 the secondary legislation required to fully implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2003.
With the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 signed into law by Defra Minister, Daniel Zeichner, full implementation of the regulations is expected to follow in the autumn.
The new rules, which do not extend to Wales and Scotland, have been notified to the WTO and private sector operators can start using the new rules from November 14, 2025.
Once in force, the regulations will allow farmers, scientists and food manufacturers to utilise gene-editing techniques in order to develop crops with traits that could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding with greater precision.
In a related development, India’s first genome-edited rice varieties, DRR Rice 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1, developed using genome editing technology based on CRISPR-Cas, were launched by Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on May 4, 2025.
With this release, India has become the first country in the world to develop genome-edited rice varieties.
The DRR Rice 100 (Kamala) variety, derived from Samba Mahsuri, was developed by ICAR-IIRR. It has improved tolerance to drought, salinity, and climate stresses, has a 19% increase in yield, a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and a saving of 7,500 million cubic meters of irrigation water.
Pusa DST Rice 1, developed by ICAR-IARI, can increase yields by 9.66% to 30.4% in saline and alkaline soils, with the potential for up to a 20% increase in production.
Similarly, Genus, an animal genetics company, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the gene-edited porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS)-resistant pig (PRP) for use in the U.S. food supply chain, in line with expectations.
Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic have already issued positive determinations for PRP, meaning those countries will regulate the PRP the same as any other pigs. One of the most devastating global pig diseases, PRRS causes suffering and premature death for pigs. A 2023 Iowa State University study indicates that PRRS also increases the need for antibiotics by more than 200%.
Furthermore, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a positive scientific opinion for the renewal of GM soy MON 87708 (dicamba herbicide-resistant), for food and feed uses. This application for renewal will now go through the EU’s usual risk management procedure.
On May 8, the European Parliament Plenary session met to hear a statement by the European Commission on the continued authorisation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for import, food and feed use by the European Union despite Parliament’s objections.
Commissioner Várhelyi said that all EU GMO approvals are based on the scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and that the Commission will continue to follow this policy, despite negative political statements by members of the European Parliament.
