Seeds at Risk: Genetically Edited Crops, Corporate Control, and the Defense of Food Sovereignty in Chile

The offensive of biotechnology corporations against seeds does not stop. Today, under new names and discourses of “innovation,” they seek to impose genetically edited crops in Chile as if they were conventional seeds, concealing the environmental, social, and political risks they pose for peasant agriculture and for peoples everywhere.

The so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), promoted by corporations and supported by sectors of agribusiness, aim to advance without strict regulations, without real participation from communities, and without independent assessments that consider their impacts on biodiversity and food sovereignty.

In Chile, peasant organizations, environmental groups, and civil society organizations have denounced the actions of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), questioning the lack of scientific rigor and the absence of democratic processes in the regulation of genetically edited crops. According to these organizations, the goal is to pave the way for these seeds to enter the market without being considered transgenic, thereby avoiding controls, labeling requirements, and more in-depth evaluations.