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Take Action: No Regulatory Exemptions

The federal government has removed pre-market regulation from many gene-edited foods and seeds, and livestock feed. This means that companies can release these genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) organisms in the the food system and our environment without any government risk assessment and without notifying the government or public.

Send an instant letter to your Member of Parliament and the ministers using the letter action in the green box on this page.

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) should assess the safety of all genetically engineered foods and plants, including all gene-edited products, and should urgently establish mandatory registration of all genetically engineered products.

CBAN Briefing: Gene Edited Foods: Government oversight needed for safety and transparency, June 2025

Summary

Some genetically modified organisms (GMOs) produced through techniques of genome editing (gene editing) can enter the market without being assessed for safety by government regulators. They can also enter the market without any notification to the federal government.

There is no pre-market regulation for most gene-edited seeds as well as the foods derived from these genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) plants. This means that some of these new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can enter the market without being assessed for safety by government regulators. Instead, product developers can assess the food and environmental safety of their own gene-edited GMOs without government oversight, and without providing any notification to the government or public about their market release. The regulatory exclusion of many gene-edited products enhances safety concerns and comes at the expense of transparency and choice for Canadian farmers and consumers.

In 2022 and 2023, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) updated regulatory guidance on genetically engineered foods and seeds to exclude genetically engineered plants if they have no foreign DNA. These exemptions will apply to most (but not all) GMOs created with the new genetic engineering techniques of genome editing, also called gene editing. Plants that have no foreign DNA and the foods from those plants do not trigger the Novel Food Regulations or Part V of the Seeds Regulations:

  • Most gene-edited plants, and the foods from those plants, are exempt from pre-market regulation such that there are no government safety assessments for human consumption or for environmental release. The federal government has handed safety assessments for these plants and foods over to product developers, with no government oversight.
  • Additionally, the federal government is not requiring product developers to notify the government when they are releasing unregulated gene-edited foods and seeds onto the market. Instead, the government is “encouraging” companies to let the government know if they are selling new gene-edited foods and seeds. The federal government calls this “voluntary transparency”.

Corporate Self-Regulation

The new regulatory guidance results in corporate self-regulation of most future genetically engineered foods and seeds (genetically modified organisms or GMOs).

Multinational biotech and pesticide companies and their lobby group CropLife Canada have lobbied for an end to regulation because companies want easier, faster regulations for the new genetic engineering techniques of gene editing in particular. Click here to read what corporations were asking for.

May 3, 2023: The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), a Crown corporation, has teamed up with the agrochemical industry lobby to inform the public about genetically modified seeds as the federal government prepares to announce a controversial seed reform on Wednesday. The choice of speakers has been criticised as almost all of them have an interest in the industry. Read the article.

Press Release – May 3, 2023: Federal government allows biotechnology companies free reign in the food system, removes safety checks on corporate science and denies transparency to farmers and food companies

Updates

December 2, 2024: A US judge has overturned US regulatory exemptions for some GMOs, forcing the US Department of Agriculture to revert to 2020 regulations. Click here to read the press release from the plaintiffs.

May 3, 2024: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency published new regulatory guidance that frees companies to sell livestock feed from gene-edited products (those with no foreign DNA) without government safety assessments or other government oversight.

October 19, 2023: Joint letter from SaskOrganics, National Farmers Union, CBAN and Vigilance OGM, Urgent need to reinstate safety assessments and transparency for all GMOs

CBAN Briefing to Members of Parliament – May 2023: Reverse New GMO Regulatory Guidance, to Ensure Safety and Transparency

May 3, 2023: The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has approved changes to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulatory guidance that, along with similar changes permitted by the Minister of Health in May of 2022, allow product developers to assess the safety of their own genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) seeds and foods without government oversight. CBAN Press Release – May 3, 2023: Federal government allows biotechnology companies free reign in the food system, removes safety checks on corporate science and denies transparency to farmers and food companies

March 6, 2023: The farmer-led organization SaskOrganics has called March 9, 2023, a Day of Action with the message “No Hidden GM Seeds“, to ensure transparency and traceability of GM seeds for organic farmers. “A mandatory list of all GM seeds is necessary so organic farmers can continue to farm organically. If biotechnology companies can hide GM seeds from farmers by leaving them off a voluntary registry, we won’t be able to protect our fields from genetic modification.” – Marla Carlson, SaskOrganics’ Executive Director.

January 24, 2023: The president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has resigned. This follows media revelations that biotech industry lobby group CropLife Canada authored a CFIA document that proposes to exempt new genetically engineered seeds from regulation. In October, the National Farmers Union, CBAN and 13 other groups asked for the president to be replaced

November 29, 2022: Hundreds of farmers in the Prairies and across the country have sent seed packets in the mail to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. CBAN also send the packet to every Member of Parliament. The seed packets carry a message of warning that the sale of undisclosed GM seeds would threaten the future of organic food and farming. Click here to send your seed packet message to the Minister.

September 20, 2022: The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is now pledging to ensure transparency and traceability of all GMOs. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food now says, “The integrity of the organic certifications must be guaranteed at the end of the work and that is a very clear directive that I gave to the [CFIA]” and, “Automatically, there must be one way or another to ensure traceability, transparency.”

September/October 2022: An investigative report from French-language CBC has exposed that the biotechnology and pesticide industry lobby group CropLife Canada directly created a government document that proposes removing safety assessments for new genetically engineered seeds. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) presented a document outlining proposed regulatory exemptions for many new gene-edited seeds but the document was created by the corporate lobby group CropLife. Read the full story in French here or the English translation here.

May 18, 2022: Companies are now free to assess the safety of some of their own genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) foods, without any government oversight. Consumer, environmental, and farmer groups across Canada are denouncing an announcement from Health Canada that will allow private companies to release many new genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) foods without any government safety checks. The federal government will now allow product developers to assess the safety of many new gene-edited foods (those with no foreign DNA) with no role for Health Canada regulators. Health Canada’s new regulatory guidance will also limit the government’s powers to simply asking companies to voluntarily notify the government of new gene-edited foods coming to market.

April 2022: Poll results show Canadians oppose by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 (46% to 24%) the proposals to let companies conduct their own safety assessments of some GM foods produced through gene editing (those with no foreign DNA) rather than require independent regulators at Health Canada to assess safety. Click here to access the details.

April 13, 2022 – CBAN Report and Summary: New Proposals Would Eliminate Transparency on GMOs in Canada: Regulatory guidance changes would result in unregulated, unreported genetically engineered foods and seeds.

March 24, 2022 – Report: Unintended effects caused by techniques of new genetic engineering create a new quality of hazards and risks, report from CBAN and Testbiotech (Germany)

December 15, 2021 – Opinion : “Health Canada proposes blind trust in the safety of GMOs”, Lucy Sharratt, CBAN, Opinion article, rabble.ca

December 9, 2021 – Health Canada did not announce its new regulatory guidance on December 8th as anticipated. This announcement could come at anytime, however many people are calling or emailing the Minister of Health to object: Add your voice by filling out the letter form on this page to send your letter to the Minister. 

November 17, 2021 – 105 groups send letter to the Ministers calling for transparency and government oversight of all genetically engineered foods. Click here to read the letter and see the signatures.

Resources

All of CBAN’s reports and commentary documents on this issue are now posted in one place: Click here to access the full campaign library.

 

CBAN analysis:

CBAN responses to CFIA proposals on GM seeds regulation:

CBAN responses on Health Canada’s proposals on GM foods regulation:

 Government proposals and consultation documents:

Information on genome editing (gene editing):

Information on GMO regulation in Canada: