Issues: Regulating Gene-Edited Crops

December 10, 2018 | Jennifer Kuzma

This article reviews the current state of gene-editing regulation for crops, illuminating the ways in which technology developers are repeating practices that may lead to the public and ethical failures of the first generation genetically engineered crops, and argues that the contentious socio-political history of genetic engineering will repeat itself for gene editing if these continue....

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Photo of Dr. Jennifer Kuzma, Co-Director of the GES Center

GES Center Co-director Jennifer Kuzma Named AAAS Fellow

November 27, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

Jennifer Kuzma, Goodnight-North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Distinguished Professor in Social Sciences and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at NC State, elected for distinguished translational work in bridging the bench and society, advancing anticipatory governance of new technologies, and contributions to methods for oversight policy analysis....

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GES Center Co-director Dr. Jennifer Kuzma discussing gene edited foods.

AP: Kuzma discusses need for case-by-case scrutiny of gene-edited foods

November 14, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

Per Kuzma, companies will have to be up-front about how these new foods were made and the evidence that they’re healthy. She wants regulators to decide case-by-case which changes are no big deal and which might need more scrutiny.“Most gene-edited plants and animals are probably going to be just fine to eat. But you’re only going to do yourself a disservice in the long run if you hide behind the terminology,” Kuzma said....

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Editing nature: Local roots of global governance

November 1, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

Dr. Jennifer Kuzma, Goodnight-NC GSK Foundation Distinguished Professor and Co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, was one of the lead authors on an interdisciplinary team calling for global oversight of environmental gene editing in this Science Policy Forum, Editing Nature: Local roots of global governance....

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The Problems Driving Resistance to Bt Crops—and Some Proposed Solutions

October 26, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

By: DOMINIC REISIG, Entomology Today | Bt crops—those genetically engineered to produce an insecticidal toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis—are special due to their benefits: reducing foliar insecticide applications, which increase populations of beneficial insects and minimize environmental harm; reducing pest populations throughout the landscape; and preserving yield, to name a few. Therefore, preventing resistance to Bt crops is important and is usually formalized in a set of Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM) practices. Because bollworm is now resistant to two Bt toxin families in cotton, IRM practices may have to change to slow resistance to other Bt toxins....

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Report: Biotechnology, the American Chestnut, and Public Engagement

October 25, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

In April 2018, a team of NC State faculty and students convened a stakeholder workshop to explore opportunities for public engagement surrounding the development, regulatory review, and potential deployment of a genetically engineered American chestnut tree. As perhaps the first GMO designed to spread and persist in the wild, the tree has the potential to restore a functionally extinct species, but also raises important ethical, political, ecological, and cultural questions. This report describes the workshop and its purpose, details the substance of the discussions, and offers the research team’s perspective on lessons learned and ways forward....

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Podcast: Regulate This!: How Genetic Engineering is Regulated, with Jennifer Kuzma

October 3, 2018 | Jennifer Kuzma

Podcast - Regulate This!: How Genetic Engineering is Regulated Dr. Jennifer Kuzma from NC State walks us through the complicated world of regulations that control how genetically engineering plants and animals make into our world and onto our plates. Really interesting conversation with broad implications for how society regulates complex technologies. Length: 1 hour, 28 minutes...

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‘Changing the Landscape of Graduate Education’

September 6, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

GES Center to launch NSF-funded AgBioFEWS graduate program, blending natural and social sciences to train next-gen problem-solvers in agricultural biotechnology....

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Gould quoted in C&EN: Building bioethics into the future of life sciences innovation

August 27, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

Scientists who refuse to engage with ethicists and the public will find themselves at a disadvantage. “Just because you are a scientist and have invented something doesn’t mean you have authority over it,” says Fred Gould, an entomologist and co-director of the Genetic Engineering & Society Center at North Carolina State University. He points to the National Academies report’s advocacy of participatory decision-making. Resistance from the science community based on ethicists and the public not fully understanding the science wears thin, he says. “You are a pretty poor scientist if you can’t explain what these things are about to an ethicist,” he says....

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Roundup weed killer contains the pesticide glyphosate.

NBC News – Gould: Exposure levels determine toxicity of glyphosate

August 17, 2018 | Patti Mulligan

“With all things, it is the level of exposure that matters,” said Fred Gould, head of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University. “The poison is in the concentration.”...

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