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.
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.
A crossroads for ‘genome editing’ in Europe – questions, options and dilemmas
Published: 16-03-2021
A new policy briefing from the Genome Editing and Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Public Perceptions (GEAP3) project discusses choices and dilemmas facing policy makers and societal stakeholders in the European Union and the United Kingdom asks bigger questions.
Can a new method for detecting a new gene-edited plant ensure product traceability, labelling and consumer trust?
Published: 16-11-2020
In September of this year, the first-ever public detection method for a gene-edited crop was announced. The new method detects a herbicide-tolerant (SU) rapeseed variety that was developed using gene […]
How a new biotech rule will foster distrust with the public and impede progress in science
Published: 02-06-2020
Reclaiming a baseline of accountability is the first step in building public confidence in regulatory systems that work for people as well as science that the public believes in.
We need to talk about CRISPR
Published: 10-01-2020
We need an active public debate on the ethics of gene editing technology to realise its potential and prevent it being used in nefarious ways.
Moving the discussion around GE animals beyond soundbites
Published: 21-06-2019
This week an unusually diverse group of stakeholders gathered together to discuss a rapidly developing issue in animal agriculture – gene edited livestock. The day-long roundtable meeting, which was co-hosted […]
Rewriting nature?
Published: 16-05-2019
Synthetic biology – altering or redesigning genes to meet human objectives – is a fast-developing field. So far mostly applied in agriculture and medicine, synthetic biology could have substantial knock-on […]
A lively discussion about ‘organic GMOs’
Published: 20-04-2019
Panellists took up very different positions during a lively and provocative discussion on the question ‘Can organic GMOs ever be a thing?’ held last week at Natural & Organic Products […]
Scientists call for a moratorium on heritable human gene-editing
Published: 18-03-2019
A group of 18 scientists and bioethicists from seven countries has called for a “global moratorium” on all clinical uses of human germline editing to ‘re-engineer’ humans.