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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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

A University of California, Berkeley professor stands at the front of the room, delivering her invited talk about the potential of genetic engineering. Her audience, full of organic farming advocates, listens uneasily. She notices a man get up from his seat and move toward the front of the room. Confused,…

The Netherlands is apprehensive about the recent European court ruling on new plant breeding techniques, warning it could risk the country’s position as the world’s largest seed exporter. The European court ruled last July that agricultural products developed through precise new gene editing techniques like CRISPR should be regulated…

Some 196 countries may decide to limit access to the benefits of pioneering new biotechnological applications at an upcoming international conference on biodiversity. Though the prospect runs counter to the idea that science and innovation are essential to conserving the world’s biodiversity, it is expected to dominate discussions at the…

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…