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Is a gene-edited animal a drug?
We eat mutations every day. All the vegetables, grains, fruits and meat humans consume as part of their diet is jam-packed with DNA speckled with mutations and beneficial variations. In 2017, the United States Food and Drug Administration proposed to regulate a specific subset of these variations as drugs: in particular,…
Biotech buzz: the week’s top stories
Bangladesh will approve Golden Rice Farmers in Bangladesh will soon be able to grow Golden Rice, according to Dr. Abdur Razzak, the nation’s agriculture minister. The vitamin A-enriched rice will be easier to cultivate in coastal areas with saline soils, he noted. Nigeria adopts its first GM food crop Nigeria…
Uganda to launch innovative gene-edited cassava research
African researchers are optimistic that gene editing will help solve the continent’s plant breeding challenges, especially the infestation of cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) that is ravaging the crop in Uganda and other East African countries. John Odipio, a scientist with Uganda’s National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI) who is…
Petition seeks review of international policies banning biotech trees
A coalition of forest scientists and the Alliance for Science have launched a petition calling for an immediate review of international policies that are hindering research on the use of biotechnology to improve forest health. This petition is timed to highlight the release of a National Academy of Sciences report,…
European researchers demand science-based policy on gene editing
Leading European scientists have united around an urgent call urging European policy makers to safeguard gene editing and other innovations in plant science and agriculture. Scientists representing 93 European plant and life sciences research centers and institutes have endorsed a position paper that was prompted by a July 25…
Helping plants remove natural toxins could boost crop yields by 47 percent
Can you imagine the entire population of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom and France going hungry? You don’t need to imagine. That is exactly what happens every day when an estimated 815 million people around the globe go hungry. In the short term, the problem is likely…
Top science panel criticizes EU’s GMO regulations
The European Commission’s top scientific advisory panel has sharply rebuked both a recent European Court decision on gene editing and Europe’s entire framework for regulating genetically modified organisms. Noting that the court decision could have broad consequences for international trade, food security in developing nations, European competitiveness and even the…
Meet the guitar-playing plant scientist who describes genetic engineering with playing cards and cookbooks
Paul Vincelli spends a good deal of his time talking to the public about genetic engineering so it’s not surprising that he’s developed a few tricks for explaining complicated science to the layperson. Vincelli, an extension professor at the University of Kentucky, describes himself as “a science communicator” and says…
World Food Prize to focus on challenge of feeding 9 billion by 2050
When policymakers, farmers, researchers and executives gather in Des Moines, Iowa this week they will be taking a multifaceted look at how to meet the massive global challenge of feeding an estimated nine billion people by 2050. ‘Rise to the Challenge’ is the theme of the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue, the…