Cuba only recently began experimenting with the gene editing of crops, and any approvals may not happen for years. Its gradual embrace of genetic engineering began in 1986, when Fidel Castro founded the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB). In the 1990s, 50 research centers emerged, which were merged in 2012 into the state owned business BioCubaPharma. Because of government scepticism about their safety, no crops have been approved although GM maize and soybean seeds are in the regulatory pipeline.
The CIGB and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA) focused on the development of recombinant enzymes for the food industry, vaccines and veterinary drugs, and plant breeding — conventional and biotechnological — of key crops such as corn, soybeans, beans and sugar cane, in addition to plants that function as biofactories.
The first transgenic plants created at laboratory level in Cuba by the CIGB date back to 1996 -specifically a tobacco that produces the monoclonal antibody Hep-1. In the mid-2000s, Carlos Borroto, then vice rector of the CIGB, reported that “among the most advanced GMOs, there are varieties of pest-resistant corn and sweet potatoes, rice immune to fungi, and tomatoes unaffected by viruses”.
In 2004, a collaboration among CIGB, the Liliana Dimitrova Horticultural Research Institute and the Cuban Grain Research Institute, developed a GM corn called resistant to fall armyworm and tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate. In 2009, this Bt corn variety obtained safety permits. By 2013, more than 3,000 hectares of Bt corn were reported being grown as part of a government plan to reduce production costs. Another research project implemented by a partnership between CIGB and INCA is the production of an herbicide-resistant GM soybean.
Dr. Mario Pablo Estrada, director of Agricultural Research at CIGB, has said that by 2024 Cuba expects to add between 50 and 100 thousand hectares of local Bt corn and herbicide-tolerant soybean. Scientists are also working in collaboration with EMBRAPA, a Brazilian state company, to develop gene-edited beans, which would be the country’s first CRISPR crop, if approved.
In 2020, in response to stresses on the global food system exacerbated by the COVID crisis, the Cuban government created a National Commission for the Use of Genetically Modified (GM) Organisms. Its responsibility is to monitor the orderly use of biotechnology in support of Cuba’s agricultural development.
That July, the Commission released Decree-Law No. 4, a “food sovereignty” plan designed to open the door to the growing of transgenic crops as a “complement to conventional agriculture”. The law implemented a nationwide policy of ‘’controlled inclusion’’. It did not distinguish between transgenic and gene-edited crops.
“Cuba is seeking to use this technology for the purposes of sustainable development and not with practices that in other contexts have had an environmental impact,” said the deputy minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA).
Decree-Law No.4 also harmonized Cuban biotech with international regulatory instruments, like the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and CODEX Alimentarius. It stated that all activities related to genetic engineering will “have an adequate risk assessment, following the principles of precaution, transparency in management, the communication of information and ethical-scientific responsibility”.
Products/Research
There are no gene edited crops in development.
Regulatory Timeline
2020: New biotechnology framework, Movement of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms (also called the SECURE Biotechnology Regulations), finalized.
2012: BioCubaPharma created from the majority of major Cuban biotechnology institutes.
2008: FR-Bt1, Cuba’s first GM corn, is planted.
1986: Foundation of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).
NGO Reaction
No organized resistance. The press in Cuba never demonized GM crop innovation as was the case in other left-leaning countries. Well reported and positive stories can be found in Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, and CubaDebate, a group of journalists that defends the Cuban regime.
Additional Resources
- Viewpoint: Why leftist GMO rejectionists should take notice of Cuba’s emergence as a biomedicine and ag-biotech innovator
- Gaceta Oficial No. 52 Ordinaria de 2020
- Cuba Considers Genetically Modified Agriculture
- Cuba opens door to GM crops amid food crisis
Updated: 04/18/2023
