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.
US academics feel the invisible hand of politicians and big agriculture
Published: 31-01-2019
As universities rely more on industry for funds, researchers taking a stand on health or environment say they’re sidelined. The Guardian newspaper delves into the influence that corporate money can have on academics and scientists, and therefore the accepted framing and narratives around global problems – and proposed solutions.
What care ethics can bring to the GMO conversation
How do we deal with the increasing polarisation in the GMO debate? Care ethics, a theme coming from ecofeminism, allows, according to the authors, to assess technologies “not simply as devices designed to create a certain end experience for a user, but as transformative systems that smuggle in numerous social and political interests”
Are GM food opponents stupid?
Published: 25-01-2019
A new survey claims to show that GM food opponents are ignorant extremists. That’s how it’s being spun- with , arguably, too much enthusiasm – in the media but does the evidence for a dumb public with nothing to add to the GMO debate really stand up?
It’s the End of the Gene As We Know It
Published: 03-01-2019
We have reached peak gene, and passed it and, according to Ken Richardson author of Genes, Brains and Human Potential: The Science and Ideology of Intelligence, we are not nearly as determined by our genes as once thought.
Big business circles EU’s consumer protections
Published: 12-12-2018
Corporate lobbyists argue that the innovation principle would boost innovations that could be used to tackle problems facing the planet such as decreasing the impact of animal feed on the planet, while civil society groups believe it leaves regulations vulnerable to corporate lobbyists and worry that it spells the end of the Precautionary Principle – which ensures only safe products reach the EU market.
Opinion: Science denialism is dangerous. But so is science imperialism.
Published: 25-07-2018
In this struggle to ensure that science is not pushed out from its well-earned place in our polity by those with political or economic motivations to do so, is there a risk of coming on too strong?