Published: 31-10-2022
The UK government has committed itself to deregulating genetically engineered organisms created using new ‘gene editing’ technologies. But how well do its proposals align with those elsewhere in the world?
Gene-edited Animals – Public Views Add Value to Policy Discourse
Published: 14-10-2022
A new public dialogue on gene edited farm animals, by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, BBSRC and Sciencewise, challenges the notion that members of the public are incapable of contributing to complex policy and regulatory discussions
Sustainability is Not a Substitute for Safety
Published: 04-10-2022
Calls for sustainability criteria for genome edited organisms are welcome and long overdue, but sustainability cannot be used as a substitute for risk assessment
‘Voices from the Ground’ Make Regulation Better
Published: 26-09-2022
Citizen views are integral to ensuring that technologies and science responds to the needs and wants of society at large. Our new review concludes it’s time to make meaningful citizen engagement part of the DNA of the regulatory process.
The Public Wants Gene-editing Regulated – The Government Should Listen
Published: 01-06-2022
Anything can happen between now and the final version of the new Precision Breeding Bill. But government seems to have taken to heart the suggestion from last year’s Regulatory Horizons Council report to apply “creative use of guidelines, standards [and] policies” to see if it’s possible to get it right (or get away with it).
Deregulating GMOs in the UK – New Report ‘Fills in the Blanks’ in Defra’s Plans
Published: 18-01-2022
A new analysis by A Bigger Conversation suggests that, in its haste to deregulate agricultural gene technologies, the UK government is “choosing to get it wrong” by ignoring expertise from all sides.
The AgroEcoTech Trap
Published: 14-01-2022
Technology isn’t values neutral and treating it as if it is diminishes discussions around innovation and appropriateness and diverts from much needed dialogue around sustainability and sufficiency.
Are gene-editing technologies traditional? Not if they are linked to intellectual rights
Published: 09-06-2021
The recent Defra public consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies suggested that gene editing was the same as ‘traditional plant breeding’. But, says Kathleen Garnett, if its patented its not traditional.
New paper: Policy and Regulation of New Genetic Technologies – Editing or Evisceration?
Published: 29-05-2021
EU and UK attempts to change genome editing regulations could have opened the door to interesting, even productive discussions. Instead they have further entrenched the unhelpful polarisation of early GMO debates.
Genetic technologies: safety and risk correlate with scale, not naturalness
Published: 29-04-2021
Framing genetic engineering as ‘natural’ fuels conflict and creates distractions in the discussions about the technology, says Jack Heinemann – including those around the newly commercialised techniques of genome editing and gene silencing.