Thanks to CRISPR, farmers may finally have a good defense against rice blast, a fungal disease so devastating, it’s known as the “cancer of rice.” The challenge Rice provides more than 20% of the world’s calories, but every year, rice blast wipes out 10-30% of the world’s rice crops, making it a major threat to both global food security…
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State actors at the County and National levels have been challenged to engage Extension Services personnel to sensitise Farmers to adopt the tested and tried BT maize to improve production. Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) is a species of bacteria that produces proteins that are toxic to certain insects. Because of this, it has been used as…
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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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