Tag: CRISPR
-
The National Academies’ Gene Drive study has ignored important and obvious issues
by Jim Thomas (The Guardian): ‘Gene drives’ seem to be the ultimate high-leverage technology. Yesterday’s report from the US National Academies begun the job of describing what is at stake, but it missed some important questions. If there is a prize for the fastest emerging tech controversy of the century the ‘gene drive’ may have […]
-
Permanently changing a species: What could go wrong?
by Dana Perls, Food and Technology campaigner (Friends of the Earth US) No commercial or environmental release of gene drives, says Friends of the Earth The National Academies of Sciences released a new report today, which calls for robust safety assessments for “gene drive modified organisms.” The NAS says the controversial new genetic engineering technology […]
-
Stop The Gene Bomb! ETC Group Comment on NAS Report on Gene Drives
The National Academy of Sciences is releasing a report about “gene drives”, which are attempts to cause entire populations to inherit certain traits, such as reducing reproductive capacity, and which can cause species crashes, or even extinction. ETC Group have countered with this news release on the topic: 8th June 2016 · First study on […]
-
European Greens launch new gene-editing resources
New GMOs, an undemocratic authorization process for imports of GMO plants, glyphosate, patents on Life… all of these issues feature prominently in today’s news and political agendas, and because of this, the European Greens/EFA group is reviving its GMO website! In it you will be able to find press releases, articles, videos, brochures and resources […]
-
U.S. tries to export its biotech deregulatory regime
by Dr. Steve Suppan (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) A long standing claim by the U.S. government and agribusiness lobby is that U.S. regulations on genetically engineered (GE) crops are science-based while European regulations are not. For example, an April 8 letter from the American Soybean Association to the U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman […]
-
NGOs highlight synthetic biology concerns at CBD side event
Third World Network Biosafety Information Service Kuala Lumpur, 2 May (TWN) – A standing room only side event at a recent United Nations intergovernmental biodiversity meeting highlighted recent developments in synthetic biology and its implications. On Monday 25 April, a panel of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) spoke at the side event for government delegates to the […]
-
No new GMOs through the back door!
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, La Via Campesina and other organisations are hosting a petition calling on the European Commission to effectively regulate new GMOs. These organisms are having their genes “edited” through new GM and synbio techniques, and the companies developing them are claiming that they’re not technically GMOs, so they shouldn’t face the […]
-
God’s Red Pencil? CRISPR and The Three Myths of Precise Genome Editing
by Jonathan Latham, PhD (Independent Science News) For the benefit of those parts of the world where public acceptance of biotechnology is incomplete, a public relations blitz is at full tilt. It concerns an emerging set of methods for altering the DNA of living organisms. “Easy DNA Editing Will Remake the World. Buckle Up“; “We […]
-
New GMOs are ‘not GM’ – EU folds under US pressure
by Oliver Tickell (the Ecologist) The EU Commission has caved in to US pressure in TTIP trade talks by deciding to consider organisms modified by new ‘gene editing’ techniques as non-GM – in violation of the EU’s own laws. The move could make the ‘new GMOs’ exempt from labeling and from health and environmental testing. […]
-
Who Approved the Genetically Engineered Foods Coming to Your Plate? No One.
by Mike Orcutt (MIT Technology Review) The debate over genetically modified foods is about to get a lot more heated in Washington, D.C. DuPont Pioneer’s new waxy corn hybrid and a Penn State plant scientist’s “anti-browning” white button mushroom are the latest additions to a fast-growing pile of new genetically engineered crops that have so […]