Although the research capacity is lacking in Central America, most countries have GM regulations in place. Some technically allow for the limited cultivation of GM crops, but only Costa Rica and Honduras are growing them. There has been a considerable amount of cross-border harmonization of regulations on developing guidance on gene-edited crops.
Nascent support for gene-edited emerged in 2018, when Honduras, Guatemala and 11 other nations, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil and the US, issued a joint statement to the World Trade Organization supporting more relaxed regulations for plant gene editing, stating that governments should “avoid arbitrary and unjustifiable distinctions” between crops developed through gene editing and crops developed through conventional breeding.
In 2019, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — the three largest GM-growing countries in Central America — signed an inter-ministerial agreement, the Technical Resolution (TR), in 2019 to coordinate streamlining the research and commercialization of crops developed through biotechnology. They agreed that gene-edited crops that do not fulfill the definition of transgenic GMOs should be regulated as conventional crops, and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Honduras has the longest history of support for GM technology in the region. In 2002, it became the first country to adopt herbicide tolerant GM maize. As of 2022, Honduras had seven GM Maize crops approved and allowed for GM Rice cultivation. In 2019 SENASA, the responsible agency for agricultural biotechnology regulation, ‘’updated’’ the TR, and approved of a simplified procedure to greenlight genetically edited products, which shortens the approval time of requests.
Guatemala has not approved any GM crop for planting. Approval is yet to come from the Ministry of Agriculture (MAGA), which oversees if the GE plant is free of quarantine pests. Guatemala does not distinguish between GE and non-GE products, and determination of what a GE plant is, falls under the MAGA jurisdiction. Regulation for the commercialization is made via resolution to lay out approval and field testing guides for GE crops.
El Salvador also has not approved any GM crop for cultivation inside its territory. The country’s final regulation policy was adopted in 2018, which saw to implement and strengthen the implication of the Cartagena protocol.
Costa Rica is the regional leader in the development of GM crops with 20 approved, with cotton varieties having the most approvals. At this time, no specific legislation is required for the approval of biotech crops, including those derived from gene editing, used for consumption or feed. Costa Rica also does not require GMO labeling.
Research/products
- Research Drought resistant rice, 2018: University of Costa Rica researchers, in collaboration with other countries, are studying drought resistance in rice as a way to mitigate climate change effects and contribute to food security.
- Research Alejandro Hernández, a research professor in genome editing and bioinformatics at TEC University in Costa Rica, is focusing on rice, yeast and bananas. He discovered that bananas have a gene that may naturally confer resistance to several plant diseases.
Regulatory Timeline
2019: Honduras approves an updated procedure to evaluate gene edited products applying the 1998 biotechnology regulations. The review process requires SENASA to make a determination of the GMO status of gene edited crops within 45 days of the application being submitted.
2019: Guatemala published Acuerdo Ministerial No. 271, which creates a simplified process for evaluation and registration of seeds that have been approved by other countries with commercial ties with Guatemala, outlines procedures for evaluation and registration of novel seeds/plants, and exempts plants that do not have added DNA or a new combination of DNA from regulation, after the government verifies that they meet those conditions.
2019: Inter-ministerial agreement RT 65:06.01:18 among Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador proposes a streamlined system for the commercialization of crops developed through biotechnology, including a requirement that each country creates a national advisory committee, for the risk assessment evaluation of living modified organisms for agricultural use.
2018: Honduras, Guatemala and 11 other nations issue a joint statement supporting agricultural applications of precision biotechnology, stating that governments should “avoid arbitrary and unjustifiable distinctions between end products (crop traits) derived from precision biotechnology and similar end products, obtained through other production methods.”
2018: Guatemala and Honduras submit genetic engineering regulation draft to the World Trade Organization (WTO) seeking to harmonize the testing and commercialization of genetically engineered plants and animals, but does not address gene editing. It restricts living modified organisms (LMOs) and requires a confined trial, field experimental trial, and a pre-commercial trial before attempting commercial release.
2018: Honduras publishes Guide of Processes and Procedures of the Regulatory System for “Genetically Modified Organisms,” which provides users with procedures to follow in field test, pre-commercial, and commercialization stages of production.
2018: El Salvador concludes GEF program to implement a regulatory framework for agricultural biotechnology, which includes guidelines for technical rulings regarding consumption of genetically engineered organisms (for direct use as human food, animal feed, or for processing).
2017: Honduras’ National Biotechnology and Agricultural Biosafety Committee is created (CNBBA) as part of the National Service of Agrifood Health and Safety (SENASA).
2014: Presidential Decree 207-2014, overseen by the Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), establishes the national policy on genetically engineered organisms, which acts as a disincentive to use biotechnology in agriculture and food production.
2008: Cartagena Protocol (an international agreement) ratified by Honduras, which protects the transport and use of organisms modified by biotechnology.
2008: El Salvador abolishes Article 30 of Planting Seed Law that requires imported seeds to have a certificate with an additional declaration stating that the seeds did not contain genetically engineered organisms.
2006: Guatemala publishes Ministerial Decree 386-2006, which allows for field trials and commercial seed exports of genetically engineered crops, but does not allow commercial production.
2004: Cartagena Protocol (an international agreement) ratified by Guatemala, which protects the transport and use of organisms modified by biotechnology.
2003: Cartagena Protocol (an international agreement) ratified by El Salvador, which protects the transport and use of organisms modified by biotechnology.
2001: El Salvador’s Planting Seed Law goes into effect, which prohibits the import, investigation, production and commercialization of genetically engineered seeds.
1998: Honduras passes Biosafety Regulation with Emphasis on Transgenic Plants, which requires the evaluation of possible health and environmental risks.
1998: El Salvador passes Environment Law, which provides regulations for environmental impact studies determining if genetically engineered organisms are harmful to the environment.
NGO Reaction
Latin American (LATAM) countries have a shared history in which their indigenous communities remain culturally significant, which allows them to influence the political process when they believe their territory or traditions may be compromised. In LATAM countries with onerous biotechnology restrictions and strong anti-GMO groups such as the have aligned with European and North American activists coordinated by Via Campesina, a global anti-biotechnology group that calls GMOs a “threat to peasant” agriculture, the titular head of the global movement.
They vigorously oppose all forms of genetic engineering. According to the pro-organic group Slow Food, which has helped organize these communities, GMOs threaten their identity by allowing corporations to commercialize “Native foods without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous peoples who are the guardians of those foods.”
Groups in Latin America leading the anti-GMO movement include Indigenous Terra Madre Network, Colectivo de Semillas de América Latina, Asociación Nacional para el Fomento de la Agricultura Ecológica (ANAFAE) in Honduras, the Red Nacional para la defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria in Guatemala (REDSAG), Red de Biodiversidad de Costa Rica, the Grupo Semillas de Colombia, Acción Ecológica de Ecuador, Articulación Nacional de Agroecología de Brasil, Acción por la Biodiversidad de Argentina and GRAIN.
Additional Resources
- USDA Biotechnology Annual: Honduras
- USDA Biotechnology Annual: Guatemala
- USDA Biotechnology Annual: El Salvador
- USDA Biotechnology Annual: Costa Rica
- Genome Editing in Latin America: Regional Regulatory Overview
- The regulatory current status of plant breeding technologies in some Latin American and the Caribbean countries, February 2020
Updated: 08/25/2023
