On February 18, President Trump signed an executive order to "advance national defense by securing supplies of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides." The order empowers the Secretary of Agriculture, provides legal immunity for domestic producers, and stipulates that no implementing regulations may jeopardize the viability of domestic producers. In other words, phosphorus and glyphosate producers can produce independently without any influence from anyone or anything. The target company is Bayer AG of Germany.

Regarding glyphosate, in the United States, victims of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other cancers and health problems sued Monsanto, which developed and marketed Roundup, resulting in a mammoth lawsuit involving more than 100,000 people. In 2018, the lawsuit was handed over to Bayer AG, which acquired Monsanto, and about 67,000 cases are still pending. In Japan, glyphosate toxicity is currently being reassessed, and the outcome of the lawsuit is also expected to affect this reassessment.

Elemental phosphorus has been used in white phosphorus shells by the Israeli army in Palestine and by the Russian army in Ukraine, becoming problematic due to increasingly widespread damage. White phosphorus is a substance that ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen. In wartime, it has been used as smoke screens and for illumination, and as an incendiary weapon that burns buildings to the ground. In addition, it is an inhumane weapon that can cause severe burns, respiratory and organ damage, and death. However, it was not included in the Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1997. Although the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons prohibits the use of incendiary weapons in densely populated civilian areas, the prohibition is limited. In recent years, red phosphorus munitions have been developed in addition to white phosphorus munitions. This is because white phosphorus is easily detected by infrared sensors and is less effective as a smoke screen.

As a chemical weapon, glyphosate was also previously used by the US military as a defoliant in jungle warfare in Central and South America. Today, the Israeli military sprays it not only in inhabited areas but also in fields in southern Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria to kill crops and deprive people of food. It is widely used as a weapon to deprive people of their livelihoods at the most basic level.

The acquisition by Germany's Bayer of Monsanto, the company that developed Roundup, put the former poison gas developer back on the chemical weapons scene. Now, the Trump administration has bailed out Bayer through its executive order. Today, Bayer is the sole manufacturer of glyphosate. In the United States, it controls the entire domestic supply chain: phosphorus mining in Soda Springs, Idaho; active ingredient synthesis in Muscatine, Iowa, and formulation in Luling, Louisiana.

But the company is now in a crisis. That is because of the growing lawsuits filed by those affected, including those who developed cancer. Bayer reported a net loss of €3.62 billion in the year ended December 2025, and the deficit is growing. The company has been weighed down by the huge damages, settlements, and litigation costs incurred by the 100,000-person lawsuit.

Now, however, Bayer has a tailwind. In an earlier verdict in a Missouri jury trial ordering Bayer to pay $1.25 million to victims, the US Supreme Court has accepted Bayer's appeal. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments this spring. The executive order is expected to help support Bayer's case. If Bayer is successful, many of its lawsuits could be dismissed, greatly reducing the company's financial crisis.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Headquarters, Musashino City, Tokyo) announced on March 13, that it has received a patent after successful experiments on plant genome editing that uses no foreign genes. The company has granted a patent license to Inplanta Innovations Inc. (Headquarters, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture), a venture company in plant biotechnology that is RIKEN's first start-up company, and has begun to provide technology such as equipment rental and experiment support. (Nikkei Biotech Online Edition 2026/3/19)

On March 12, Tropic Biosciences UK Ltd, which has already registered its genome-edited banana in Japan, announced that it has raised an additional $105 million from investors including Corteva Catalyst. In addition to the "reduced browning" banana already registered in Japan, Tropic Biosciences aims to market a prolonged shelf life banana. The company is also developing a banana that is resistant to the disease Fusarium TR4, and hopes to market that banana in 2027. In addition to bananas, Tropic Biosciences is also expanding its reach into rice, coffee, and other areas. (Foovo 2026/3/19)

At a meeting of the Japan Growth Strategy Council held at the Prime Minister's Office on March 10, the government selected 61 products and technologies for intensive support in 17 strategic areas, and presented a draft roadmap for public-private investment in 27 of them. In the "synthetic biology and biotechnology" sector, the government picked out two projects: bio-monozukuri and biopharmaceuticals/regenerative medicine products. In the area of food technology, two projects were selected: land-based aquaculture and plant factories. In the area of bio-monozukuri, citing the use of AI and digital technology, the economic impact of the bio-industry is estimated to be 165 trillion yen (2030-2040). In the pharmaceuticals area, the government aims to strengthen Japan's international competitiveness by building up achievements in such fields as iPS cells. Plant factories will contribute to economic growth through sales of cultivation systems both in Japan and overseas, and contribute to food security by accelerating the development of new varieties and improving yields and quality in order to achieve a stable supply of agricultural products. Land aquaculture will aim to contribute to food security by providing a stable supply of marine products that is not affected by the marine environment or by other countries. The development and utilization of highly productive seeds and feed through the use of genomic-related technologies and algal fermentation technologies is also targeted for overseas expansion.

The Cellular Agriculture Working Team of the Council for Public-Private Partnership in Food Technology released guidelines on March 10 on how to describe cultured meat. In the future, cultured meat will be termed "cell-based food," and the guidelines call for the use of the terms "cultured meat," "meat substitutes," and "clean meat" to be eliminated in the future. (Foovo 2026/3/17)

In February and March, further local assemblies adopted opinion statements calling for the labeling of genome-edited foods. The Saitama City assembly adopted the proposals on February 12, followed by the Komatsushima City assembly in Tokushima Prefecture on March 5, the Kanra Town assembly in Gunma Prefecture on March 16, the Chichibu City assembly in Saitama Prefecture on March 17, the Nagoya City assembly on March 19, and the Tsurugashima City assembly in Saitama Prefecture on March 19. A total of six prefectural assemblies, including Aichi Prefecture, and 36 municipal assemblies have now adopted the statements.

On March 3, Integriculture Inc. announced a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Riko Co., Ltd., aiming to apply for approval of cultured meat derived from poultry in Singapore by the end of the year. In Singapore, the company aims to test and launch commercial production using a two-liter cell culture bag jointly developed by Sumitomo Riko and the CulNet Consortium, operated by manufacturing partner Cell AgriTech, at whose facility production will be implemented. (Foovo 2026/3/9)