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2022-10-18 | permalink
The advantages of current EU GMO legislation
In the EU, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strictly regulated in order to protect human and animal health and the environment. We examine why the current EU legislation works well for both the industry and the consumer.
In the EU, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strictly regulated, by a legal framework, which - according to the EU Commission’s website - aims to protect human and animal health and the environment, by having a safety assessment “of the highest possible standards” at EU level before any product is placed on the market.
Enga: The advantages of current EU GMO legislation2022-10-13 | permalink
Twisted facts and incorrect assumptions about NGT plants
Misleading report published on behalf of the EU Parliament
13 October 2022 / On 20 October, the ‘Panel for the Future of Science and Technology’ (STOA) at the European Parliament will host a presentation of a new report on plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGT, also New Genetic Engineering or genome editing). The authors of the report “Genome edited crops and 21st century food systems challenges” and their institute, the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), are actively lobbying to deregulate agricultural plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGTs). However, the report fails to make this background transparent.
2022-10-04 | permalink
Open letter: European Commission’s biased road to deregulation of new GMOs
Together with 39 organisations we have sent a letter to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to express our serious concerns over the way in which the Directorate-General for Health (DG Sante) is organising the impact assessment on new GMOs – new genomic techniques (NGTs) – and in particular, the consultations that will feed into the assessment. The outcome of this assessment could have far reaching impacts on consumer choice, food safety, organic and conventional farming and the environment.
FoEE: Open letter: European Commission’s biased road to deregulation of new GMOs2022-09-29 | permalink
New Report: BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN VESTED INTERESTS OF EU SCIENTISTS LOBBYING FOR GMO DEREGULATION
In 2018 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that new gene-edited organisms are covered by the EU’s GMO laws and are subject to the same safety assessments and labelling requirements as any other GMOs. The ruling galvanised a concerted lobbying response by promoters of new GM technology to get these new GMOs exempted from the EU’s GMO laws.
2022-09-28 | permalink
Researchers with vested interests lobbying to undermine GMO safety rules
The EU’s green ambitions are in great jeopardy. The agribusiness industry is using the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to push stronger EU environmental legislation off the table and weaken already existing legislation. For instance, they are pushing against tighter pesticides rules and in favour of relaxing GMO rules. But the lobby is increasingly driven by GM researchers and institutes with links to industry or with vested interests. The Commission seems to be listening to these pro-deregula
2022-09-08 | permalink
Gene editing is not “precision breeding” – international scientists and policy experts
UK government and EU lobbyists are misleading policymakers, regulators, and the public. Report by Claire Robinson
A group of 56 international scientists and policy experts have published a statement opposing the use of the term “precision breeding” to describe gene or genome editing, on the grounds that it is “technically and scientifically inaccurate and therefore misleads Parliament, regulators, and the public”.
2022-07-12 | permalink
10 things the food sector needs to know about New GMOs: number 2
The main differences between targeted mutagenesis (=new GMOs) and conventional breeding
Targeted mutagenesis is the term for new GMOs that are produced with new genetic engineering methods, such as CRISPR/Cas, TALENs and others. As a rule of thumb no genetic material from other species is permanently integrated.
Targeted mutagenesis is the term for new GMOs that are produced with new genetic engineering methods, such as CRISPR/Cas, TALENs and others. As a rule of thumb no genetic material from other species is permanently integrated.
2022-06-30 | permalink
Biased questions and flawed assumptions
How the EU Commission and EFSA are paving the way for deregulation of New GE
30 June 2022 / Testbiotech recently participated in an European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) consultation on guidelines for the risk assessment of ‘cisgenic’ plants, which ended at the beginning of this week. The ‘cisgenic’ plants are genetically engineered, but, in contrast to transgenic plants, contain no genetic material from other species. EFSA suggests that most applications of CRISPR/Cas can be put into this category. The consultation is, therefore, generally relevant to the risk assessment of plants derived from New GE (also called new genomic techniques, NGT). However, the way in which EFSA deals with this issue appears to be completely inadequate.
2022-06-25 | permalink
No Environmental Release of Gene Drive Organisms
By Stop Gene Drives Campaign, Save Our Seeds, Germany; Terre a Vie, Burkina Faso; Third World Network; African Biodiversity Network (ABN); Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA Kenya).
Gene drive technology uses new genetic engineering techniques including CRISPR/Cas9 to forcibly spread genetically engineered traits, including lethal ones, throughout entire populations and species, overriding natural rules of inheritance so that nearly 100% of offspring inherit the genetically engineered trait.
2022-04-25 | permalink
World Malaria Day 2022: What risks are we willing to take to (maybe) end malaria?
While this disease affects one third of the world’s population, some scientists suggest that a new technology called gene drive could be a game-changer.
Gene Drives – manipulating the DNA of mosquitoes to pass down an extinction gene
The research consortium Target Malaria, mostly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Philanthropy Fund, is developing genetically engineered mosquitoes in the lab that would either make all offspring male or all female offspring infertile. They use the Crispr-Cas methodology to implant a system into their DNA that would replicate when mosquitoes mate, ensuring that this gene spreads throughout the wild mosquito population. But while some hope that this would be the magic bullet to suppress mosquitoe populations and stop the malaria transmission cycle, this currently unproven high risk technology poses fundamental questions for humanity: How far are we willing to go, how high can the risks and uncertainties be in order to test a hypothesis?
The Risks of Gene Drive mosquitoes
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