"Advocates for the Safe & Responsible Use of Biotechnology"
Golden Rice meets food safety standards in three global leading regulatory agencies
Los Baños, Philippines, 25 MAY 2018 – GR2E Golden Rice, a provitamin-A biofortified rice variety, completed its third positive food safety evaluation, this time from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). In an official response received by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on 24 May (EST), the US FDA concurred with IRRI’s assessment regarding the safety and nutrition of...
Bioengineered plants help defend against Ebola and other deadly diseases
National Science Fdn| Where Discoveries Begin| Mar 20 The world was gripped with panic and near hysteria when, in 2014, an Ebola disease outbreak in the West African country of Guinea threatened to become a pandemic. The disease, one of the most contagious and deadliest known to man, had hitherto caused isolated epidemics only in localized rural areas of Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the...
UPLABS holds annual National Biotechnology Summit 2018
INQUIRER.NET BRANDROOM | MARCH 5TH, 2018 To continue its mission to raise awareness about biotechnology, the UP League of Agricultural Biotechnology Students (UPLABS), holds its annual National Biotechnology Summit (NBS), a four-day biotechnology awareness program, on March 5-9, 2018 at the University of the Philippines Los Banos. This 2018, the National Biotechnology Summit, with the...
GMO crops create “halo effect” that benefits organic farmers, says new research
MARK LYNAS | MARCH 13, 2018 Growing genetically modified insect-resistant corn in the United States has dramatically reduced insecticide use and created a “halo effect” that also benefits farmers raising non-GM and organic crops, new research shows. This finding, published by University of Maryland researchers in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Genetic tweak makes plants use 25% less water
Agence France-Presse / 05:21 PM March 07, 2018 Researchers on Tuesday unveiled a genetic modification that enables plants to use a quarter less water with scant reduction in yield. By altering a single gene, scientists coaxed tobacco plants, a model crop often used in experiments, to grow to near normal size with only 75 percent of the water they usually require. If major food crops respond the same...
15 surprising GMO and gene-edited crop advances underway in South and Central America
Daniel Norero | Genetic Literacy Project | February 28, 2018 Latin America is a vital region in the global production of genetically modified (GM) crops, with Brazil and Argentina ranked as the world’s second and third largest producers, respectively. Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia are major producers of GM soy, with Chile and Costa Rica functioning as important counter-station seed countries....
Brazil sugar mills start genetically-modified cane plantation
José Roberto Gomes | MARCH 2, 2018 PIRACICABA, Brazil, March 2 (Reuters) – Brazilian sugar mills looking to grow the world’s first variety of genetically modified (GM) sugarcane have planted an initial area of 400 hectares (988 acres), according to the research firm behind the project. Developed by Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) genes that make it...
Does GMO corn increase crop yields? 21 years of data confirm it does—and provides substantial health benefits
Paul McDivitt | Genetic Literacy Project | February 19, 2018 While many studies show that genetically modified crops contribute to yield gains, GMO critics say that they don’t. Such claims, they say, are industry talking points drawn from industry-funded studies. Most recently and notably, The New York Times’ Danny Hakim asserted in a 2016 front-page analysis that “genetic...
After Two Decades And 6,000 Studies, Scientists Find GMO Corn Is Actually Good For You
There is a great deal of misinformation out there regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). From monikers like “Frankenfoods” to general skepticism, there has been a variety of biased reactions to these organisms, even though we as a species have been genetically modifying our foods in one way or another for approximately 10,000 years. Perhaps some of this distrust will be put to rest...
When genetic engineering came of age: World’s first GMO—GE insulin—approved 35 years ago
Henry Miller | October 30, 2017 | Genetic Literacy Project 35 years ago, the world entered an important new era in pharmaceutical development with the approval by the FDA of human insulin synthesized in genetically engineered bacteria–the world’s first recombinant DNA drug product. As the medical reviewer of the product and the head of the review team, I had a front-row seat. The saga is remarkable in...