Biotech News

Omega 3 Fish Oil Supplement

We need another source of omega-3 supplements for food and animal feed. Enriched genetically modified rapeseed could fill the gap

August 7, 2023

In March this year, Norway’s Food Safety Authority became the latest country to conclude that using Omega-3 enriched GM rapeseed oil in aquaculture feed poses no additional health or environmental risks.In March this year, Norway’s Food Safety Authority became the latest country to conclude that using Omega-3 enriched GM rapeseed oil in aquaculture feed poses…

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‘CRISPR’ crops more resilient in climate crisis

August 7, 2023

  The ongoing scorching summer is pushing up global food prices, once again putting the food security in spotlight. And CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) crops could be part of the needed response, assuming governments allow them to be grown. In the 1990s, when a novel transgenic method for improving crops was commercially…

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Nearly all soy and corn exporters plant genetically modified seeds. Why, so far, is there a dearth of GM wheat?

March 14, 2023

Nearly all corn and soybean acres in the world’s largest exporting countries are seeded with genetically modified varieties, but that is not the case for wheat, a crop grown primarily for human food. Biotech varieties of corn and soy, used for animal feed, biofuels and ingredients like cooking oil, were introduced in 1996 and soon…

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Give farmers a chance: Pro-GMO activists march through Nairobi and Kampala calling for the adoption of improved seeds

February 23, 2023

GMO activists marched through Nairobi in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda on February 10 and 15, 2023, calling for the adoption of improved seeds. They carried placards with pro-GMO slogans such as Genetically Modified Crops are Safe and Nutritious and Yes to Food Security. This was in response to a petition filed at the East African Court of Justice in…

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Viewpoint: Global crop biotechnology revolution — 2022 saw dramatic advances in agricultural innovation

February 13, 2023

Conquest, war, famine, and death: Looking back on 2022 as the COVID-19 plague roars into its fourth year, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have all been well exercised. But though there was much to be dismayed about, all was not gloomy, and there were indicators of an important sea change. In the past year, after decades of unwarranted delay, Golden…

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Using cost-benefit analysis: Crop biotechnology offers sizable yield and sustainability benefits when compared to non-GM farming

February 13, 2023

What are the costs of not adopting the best food producing technologies? The ability to quantify a choice that is not made is not an easy thing to do, especially when the choices are government decisions that are not made. For many policy decisions, a cost-benefit analysis is performed to compare and sum the benefits to the…

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Genetically Modified Houseplant Pothos to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution

November 22, 2022

Neoplants, a Paris-based startup, has genetically engineered both a pothos (Epipremnum aureum) plant and its associated root microbiome. The houseplant called Neo P1 is capable of purifying the air as effectively as 30 houseplants, according to Neoplants. The air that circulates in most homes is up to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air due…

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Pumplin: Public and industry response to purple tomatoes are questions waiting for answer

September 23, 2022

The Packer’s Tom Karst visited in August with Nathan Pumplin, president of Norfolk Healthy Produce, about his company’s work on a genetically modified purple tomato. The USDA recently released its response to the agency review of the purple tomato and determined that it may be safely grown and used in breeding in the United States.…

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EFSA: Five-event GM Stack Maize and Subcombinations as Safe as Non-GM Maize

August 18, 2022

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO Panel) has published their assessment on the safety of five-event stack genetically modified (GM) herbicide tolerant and insect resistant maize MON 89034 × 1507 × MIR162 × NK603 × DAS-40278-9. The Scientific Opinion is published based on the application EFSA-GMO-NL-2018-151 under Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 received from Dow AgroSciences LLC. The…

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Kenyan farming experts urge permanent lift of GM ban to address animal feed shortage

August 18, 2022

Kenyan farmers are far too familiar with the devastation that resource shortfalls cause to their livestock. Punitive local tax regimes, technical restrictions, challenges in access to foreign currency and logistics disruptions — most of these exacerbated by the pandemic — have been dragging Kenya’s bid for seamless [grain] importation back. A problem with accessing yellow…

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