Tag: gene editing
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New “GM 2.0” fact sheet explains the basics on gene-editing and Plant Breeding Techniques
Download the GM 2.0 Fact Sheet Friends of the Earth Australia have produced a great fact sheet that highlights the issues around the current campaign to see new GM techniques treated and regulated in the same way as more conventional GM. It sets out how regulators are currently failing the public on this issue, and […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Synthetic biology: A continuing challenge for the CBD
by Helena Paul and Silvia Ribeiro ([square brackets]) The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pioneered the discussion on synthetic biology at the global level, with the vast majority of countries asking for the full application of precaution. Following the decisions taken at the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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From rogue scientists to DIY biohackers: real threats to ecosystems are not being taken seriously
This spring could see new synbio techniques literally hitting the streets, with DIY biohacking kits going on sale. These promise you the ability to make yeast turn red. More significantly, other biohackers are planning to post synbio glow-in-the-dark plants to enthusiasts throughout the US. Whilst these biohacking gimmicks may sound perfectly innocuous, they are potentially […]
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Speak up for the regulation of new GM techniques!
The European Commission is about to decide whether or not a set of new genetic engineering techniques should be regulated as GM. Let them know why they should and why it matters to you. We’re supporting GM Freeze’s action to write to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, to let him know that […]
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‘Rogue scientists’ could exploit gene editing technology – or are they already?
An article in The Guardian (copied below) describes how a senior geneticist and a bioethicist is in agreement with a US security chief that gene-editing presents a serious risk to national security, equivalent to North Korea’s WMDs. Whilst the focus is on accidentally (or deliberately) releasing viruses, or the inevitability of “designer babies”, the researchers […]
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Solazyme: Synthetic Biology Company Claimed to be Capable of Replacing Palm Oil Struggles to Stay Afloat
A Biofuelwatch investigation of a Californian company that has been at the forefront of genetically engineering algae. It set out to produce vast quantities of biofuels with them – but is only producing small quantities of algal oil, mainly for anti-wrinkle skin care instead. Download the briefing Solazyme is a Californian company founded in 2003 […]