After a nine-year legal battle, a full bench of South Africa’s supreme court of appeal has set aside the commercial approval of a genetically modified variety of maize.

A coalition of over 100 civil society actors, farmers, scientists, legal practitioners, and academics representing 100 million Nigerian consumers have placed a demand on the Nigerian Government to discontinue plans to introduce genetically modified potatoes and out-rightly ban GMOs in the country, stating they violate fundamental human rights and target Nigeria’s food system.

In what is being seen as a significant victory for Mexico, Monsanto has withdrawn its legal challenge against a 2020 presidential decree aimed at banning glyphosate and genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption.

Biotech firms seem to have succeeded in convincing the European Commission that we need new genetically modified crops to tackle climate change. They argue that by enhancing crops’ resistance to drought or improving their ability to capture carbon, climate change may no longer seem such a daunting challenge. If this seems too good to be true, unfortunately, it is.

Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee have backed a proposal to relax rules on genetically modified plants produced using new genomic techniques, prompting strong criticism from environmental groups.

Genetically modified corn is not safe for human consumption and threatens biodiversity in Mexico, several scientists said recently. They made their statements as Mexico fights a bitter trade dispute with the United States and Canada over the importation of genetically modified corn.

About 55 percent of the total harvested cropland in the United States was grown with varieties having at least one genetically modified trait in 2020, according to a recent US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service report.

The Biden administration says it will take steps toward challenging a ban that Mexico has placed on shipments of genetically modified corn from the United States.