EU ruling on gene-edited plants and GMOs is more status quo than disruptive
Prior to the recent European Union ruling regarding gene-edited plants, opponents stoked fears that these new gene editing techniques were a loop-hole for big agricultural companies to release their untested, dangerous GMOs onto an unsuspecting...Continue reading "EU ruling on gene-edited plants and GMOs is more status quo than disruptive"
Space for the Social Sciences in Engineering Biology
I had the pleasure of attending the Canada SynBio 2018 Conference “Engineering Biology for Health, Food and the EnvIronment in Toronto last week. While I’ve been to many such events in the United States, this...Continue reading "Space for the Social Sciences in Engineering Biology"
Journal of Responsible Innovation publishes ‘Roadmap to Gene Drives’ special issue
The Genetic Engineering and Society Center at hosted a workshop in February of 2016, supported in part by the National Science Foundation, entitled ‘A Roadmap to Gene Drives: A Deliberative Workshop to Develop Frameworks for...
Gene Drives and Responsible Innovation
It is not often that a new technology is at once hailed as a potential solution to pandemic disease, wildlife conservation and hunger, while also being feared as a potential military and environmental “bioweapon.” Gene drives,...
Politics “Trumps” Science in the Regulation of Genetically Engineered Crops
In recent years, the regulatory system for biotechnology products has not kept pace with newer ways of engineering organisms, such as through the use of gene editing like CRISPR-Cas9 systems. Under the Obama administration, progress had been made in clarifying U.S. biotechnology regulations. In January 2017, in the last few days of Obama’s term, several proposals were made for updating agency regulations and guidance documents. In particular, new US USDA regulations were proposed for GE crops. Fast forward ten months, and the Trump administration has pulled this proposed rule back to “start fresh” and reconsider the issue. This is no surprise, as it is not uncommon for new political administrations to recall regulatory policy for biotech. Many industry and academic scientists developing GE crops are pleased to hear about the Trump administration’s recall of USDA proposed regulations....Continue reading "Politics “Trumps” Science in the Regulation of Genetically Engineered Crops"
NAS Committee Responds to Critique of Gene Engineering Report
NC State’s Fred Gould, who led a National Academies committee that issued a 2016 report on genetically engineered crops, pens a letter in Nature Biotechnology to respond to a report critique....Continue reading "NAS Committee Responds to Critique of Gene Engineering Report"