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  • Four Steps Forward, One Leap Back on Global Governance of Synthetic Biology

    UN Biodiversity Convention grapples with threats posed by extreme biotech industry CANCUN, MEXICO — This week, 196 countries meeting at the 2016 UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties made progress on the global governance and oversight of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology (syn bio) has become one of the most fiercely debated topics […]

  • Victory! GE mosquitoes will not be let loose on Florida community

    by Friends of the Earth US Citizens/environment will not be impacted by novel experiment releasing millions of GE mosquitoes WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration announced that it will not move forward with the controversial release of millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the community of Key Haven in Monroe County, Florida. The […]

  • 160 Global Groups Call for Moratorium on New Genetic Extinction Technology at UN Convention

    160 Global Groups Call for Moratorium on New Genetic Extinction Technology at UN Convention

    CANCUN, MEXICO – This week, international conservation and environmental leaders are calling on governments at the 2016 UN Convention on Biodiversity to establish a moratorium on the controversial genetic extinction technology called gene drives. More resources on gene drives and campaigns at CBD COP13 Gene drives, developed through new gene-editing techniques- are designed to force […]

  • Podcast: Synthetic Biology & Gene Drives – Should We Be Concerned?

    Podcast: Synthetic Biology & Gene Drives – Should We Be Concerned?

    “Genetic engineering is passé. Today, scientists aren’t just mapping genomes and manipulating genes, they’re building life from scratch – and they’re doing it in the absence of societal debate and regulatory oversight.” – Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, whose mission is to access the consequences and impacts of new technologies. Listen to the […]

  • SynBio, Gene Editing and Other New Stuff: Same Concerns, Supersized

    SynBio, Gene Editing and Other New Stuff: Same Concerns, Supersized

    by Mary Lou McDonald (Safe Food Matters) New words like “synthetic biology”, “GMOs 2.0”, “CRISPR”, and “new biology” are being heard.  And new compounds are in our fragrances, flavourings, cosmetics and foods. The new words are for new techniques of genetic engineering. What are the techniques and their products, and should we be concerned? New […]

  • Gene Editing and Seed Stealing

    Gene Editing and Seed Stealing

    by Chee Yoke Ling and Edward Hammond (Project Syndicate) AUSTIN, TEXAS – Four hundred years ago, John Rolfe used tobacco seeds pilfered from the West Indies to develop Virginia’s first profitable export, undermining the tobacco trade of Spain’s Caribbean colonies. More than 200 years later, another Briton, Henry Wickham, took seeds for a rubber-bearing tree […]

  • A Collision Course with Unintended Consequences

    A Collision Course with Unintended Consequences

    by Melody Meyer (Organic Matters) In an early morning jaunt to Sacramento last week my car was rear ended.  I serve on the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (who by the way are looking for new members), and was on my way to attend a subcommittee meeting when boom—a fine young man rammed me in […]

  • Genetically modifying a plant is far from harmless

    Genetically modifying a plant is far from harmless

    by Eric Meunier (Inf’OGM) Several new techniques of genetic modification (also called NBT) are currently being discussed worldwide to decide whether to define products obtained from them as GMOs and to regulate them as such, or not. Following a parliamentary hearing in France [1] in April 2016, Inf’OGM tries to figure out some of the potential […]

  • Experts warn home ‘gene editing’ kits pose risk to society

    Experts warn home ‘gene editing’ kits pose risk to society

    by Ian Sample (the Guardian) Nuffield Council on Bioethics report finds materials to perform basic experiments are now available to ‘garage scientists’ The simplicity and low cost of tools to edit the genetic code means “garage scientists” – or amateurs with some skill – can now perform their own experiments, posing a potential risk from […]

  • The Monsanto–Bayer tie-up is just one of seven; Mega-Mergers and Big Data Domination Threaten Seeds, Food Security

    The Monsanto–Bayer tie-up is just one of seven; Mega-Mergers and Big Data Domination Threaten Seeds, Food Security

    by ETC Group Policymakers could still block the agribiz mergers; peasants and farmers will continue the fight for seeds and rights Wednesday’s confirmation that Monsanto and Bayer have agreed to a $66 billion merger is just the latest of four M&A announcements, but at least three more game-changing mergers are in play (and flying under […]