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Gene-edited cassava could help millions of farmers
Based on the breathless coverage of CRISPR genome editing technology thus far—the famed patent dispute, the overhyped promises of designer babies, the fears of urban biohackers gone mad—you’d be forgiven for thinking that CRISPR is a first-world solution for first-world problems. Indeed, the first CRISPR product to make it out of the…
Brexit could spell exit from stringent anti-GMO rules
Like most United Kingdom citizens, English farmer Andrew Osmond lives with a certain sense of uncertainty brought on by Brexit. The decision of UK voters to withdraw from the European Union will affect residents in myriad ways, but for farmers like Osmond the process may provide an unexpected opportunity. While…
The GMO debate
The issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as they relate to the food supply is an ongoing, nuanced and highly contentious issue. Individuals from the scientific and medical fields fall on both sides of the argument, some claiming that genetically modified crops are helping to solve issues concerning hunger, environmental…
Forecasting the USDA’s final GMO labeling rule
Two years ago, President Obama signed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law (NBFDL) into law, requiring food manufacturers to disclose the presence of bioengineered foods and ingredients. That law required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finalize regulations for the law’s implementation by its two-year anniversary; that deadline passed…
US ag secretary rejects Europe’s gene editing ruling
US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue criticized the recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on gene editing, saying it’s based in “regressive and outdated regulations” and stymies innovation. Perdue urged the European Union to seek more input from scientists, farmers and its trading partners “in determining the appropriate implementation of…
Scientific community defeated by green groups in European court ruling on gene edited crops
European plant scientists have responded with anger to yesterday’s European Court of Justice ruling that puts new gene edited crops in the same category as GMOs. The ruling is dependent on a legalistic interpretation of a 17-year-old European Union directive which excluded random radiation or chemical mutagenesis from…
EU will regulate gene-edited organisms as GMOs
The long wait is over. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has reached the unambiguous conclusion that organisms made by any mutagenesis method are GMOs under the European GMO regulations.[1] In the decision released yesterday, the Court stated that a small subset of mutagenesis techniques “which have been…
We now have a roadmap for a second green revolution
Imagine a future where agriculture depends not just on crops and livestock, but artificial intelligence, mobile apps, microbes and good old-fashioned teamwork. That’s the scenario envisioned by a committee of scientists, who last summer were recruited by the National Academy of Sciences to answer one question: What key advances over…
New gene drive ‘off-switch’ could assuage fears of critics
Researchers in the UK have developed the first ‘switchable’ gene drive system, potentially addressing fears that the use of gene drives to control malaria or eliminate invasive species might run out of control and have devastating unintended consequences. Gene drives work by overriding the usual Mendelian laws of genetic inheritance,…