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Citizen StakeholdersConservationScience & Technology

Gene Drives in the UK, US, and Australian Press (2015–2019): How a New Focus on Responsibility Is Shaping Science Communication

Aleksandra Stelmach, Brigitte Nerlich, Sarah Hartley
Publication date: 25/01/2022
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Gene drive is a controversial biotechnology for pest control. Despite a commitment from gene drive researchers to responsibility and the key role of the media in debates about science and technology, little research has been conducted on media reporting of gene drive. We employ metaphor and discourse analysis to explore how responsibility is reflected in the coverage of this technology in the U.S., U.K., and Australian press. The findings reveal a rhetorical strategy of trust-building by evoking the moral attributes of gene drive researchers. We discuss the implications of these findings for the communication of new technologies.
Resource type: article: Web Page
Plant & Animal BreedingScience & Technology

Mutation bias reflects natural selection in Arabidopsis thaliana

J. Grey Monroe, et al.
Publication date: 12/01/2022
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Researchers studying Arabidopsis thaliana found that mutations are not random but occur less often in essential and functionally important genes—about half as often within genes and two-thirds less in essential ones. Epigenomic and physical genome features explain over 90% of this variation, and these mutation patterns accurately predict natural genetic diversity. The results show that epigenome-linked mutation bias protects key genes, challenging the traditional view that mutation is a random, directionless process in evolution.

Resource type: article: Web Page
FarmingFood systems

Why are agri-food systems resistant to new directions of change? A systematic review

Costanza Conti, Giacomo Zanello, Andy Hall
Publication date: 01/12/2021
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A central concern about achieving global food security is reconfiguring agri-food systems towards sustainability. However, historically-informed trajectories of agri-food system development remain resistant to a change in direction. Through a systematic literature review, we identify three research domains exploring this phenomenon and six explanations of resistance: embedded nature of technologies, misaligned institutional settings, individual attitudes, political economy factors, infrastructural rigidities, research and innovation priorities. We find ambiguities in the use of the terms lock-in and path-dependency, which often weaken the analysis. We suggest a framing that deals with interdependencies and temporal dynamics of causes of resistance. Finally, we discuss implications for framing innovation for transformational change and other research gaps.

Resource type: article: Web Page
Citizen StakeholdersLegislation & RegulationScience & TechnologySustainability

The complexity of the gene and the precision of CRISPR: What is the gene that is being edited?

Esha Shah, David Ludwig, Phil Macnaghten
Publication date: 26/10/2021
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This article argues that the polarization around the governance of gene editing partly reflects a failure of public engagement with the current state of research in genomics and postgenomics. CRISPR-based gene-editing technology has become embedded in a narrow narrative about the ease and precision of the technique that presents the gene as a stable object under technological control. This narrative fails to position the “ease of CRISPR-based editing” into the wider context of the “complexity of the gene.” While this strategic narrowness of CRISPR narratives aims to create public support for gene-editing technologies, we argue that it stands in the way of socially desirable anticipatory governance and open public dialogue about societal promises and the unintended consequences of gene editing. In addressing the polarization surrounding CRISPR-based editing technology, the article emphasizes the need for engagement with the complex state of postgenomic science that avoids strategic simplifications of the scientific literature in promoting or opposing the commercial use of the gene-editing technology.

Resource type: article: Web Page
Legislation & RegulationScience & Technology

The Generic Risks and the Potential of SDN-1 Applications in Crop Plants

Katharina Kawall
Publication date: 21/10/2021
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This review examines the use of site-directed nuclease 1 (SDN-1) technology in crop plants, which enables precise genetic changes for market-oriented traits but raises regulatory and safety concerns. SDN-1 can create both simple and complex genomic alterations, some comparable to those from natural mutations or conventional breeding. However, analysis shows that nearly half of SDN-1-modified plants exhibit complex genomic changes that could pose new risks. The study emphasizes the need for case-specific risk assessments that consider both the modification process and the final product, to ensure the safety of humans, animals, and the environment under evolving genomic technologies.

Resource type: article: Web Page
Citizen StakeholdersLegislation & RegulationPlant & Animal BreedingSustainability

How to Do What Is Right, Not What Is Easy: Requirements for Assessment of Genome-Edited and Genetically Modified Organisms under Ethical Guidelines

T. Antonsen, T. Dassler
Publication date: 24/06/2021
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An ethical assessment is a complex, dynamic and comprehensive process that requires both ethical expertise and practical knowledge. An ethical assessment of a genetically modified organism (GMO, including genome edited organisms) must follow accepted and transparent methods and be based in relevant considerations. In addition, the Ethical guidelines must include a broad and adequate range of values, so that no groups, stakeholders, agents or areas are left out.

We recommend that ethical assessments of GMOs (including genome-edited organisms) are performed by professionals with competence and practical knowledge of ethical judgements, and that users, non-users, stakeholders and interest groups are actively involved. In addition, we recommend that the Ethical guidelines include a wide range of ethical values.

Resource type: article: Web Page
FarmingFood systemsSustainability

Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms

Vincent Ricciardi, Zia Mehrabi, Hannah Wittman, Dana James, Navin Ramankutty
Publication date: 25/03/2021
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Small farms constitute most of the world’s farms and are a central focus of sustainable agricultural development. However, the relationship between farm size and production, profitability, biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions remains contested. Here, we synthesize current knowledge through an evidence review and meta-analysis and show that smaller farms, on average, have higher yields and harbour greater crop and non-crop biodiversity at the farm and landscape scales than do larger farms. We find little conclusive evidence for differences in resource-use efficiency, greenhouse gas emission intensity and profits. Our findings highlight the importance of farm size in mediating some environmental and social outcomes relevant to sustainable development. We identify a series of research priorities to inform land- and market-based policies that affect smallholders globally.

Resource type: article: Web Page
FarmingLegislation & RegulationScience & TechnologySustainability

Broadening the GMO risk assessment in the EU for genome editing technologies in agriculture

Katharina Kawall, Janet Cotter, Christoph Then
Publication date: 11/08/2020
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Here, we describe the range of specific unintended effects associated with genome editing. We examine the considerable possibilities to change the genome of plants and animals with SDN-1 and SDN-2 genome editing (i.e. without the insertion of genes conferring the novel trait) and show that genome editing techniques are able to produce a broad spectrum of novel traits that, thus far, were not possible to be obtained using conventional breeding techniques. We consider that the current EU risk assessment guidance for GMOs requires revision and broadening to capture all potential genomic irregularities arising from genome editing and suggest additional tools to assist the risk assessment of genome-edited plants and animals for the environment and food/animal feed in the EU.

Resource type: article: Web Page
Science & TechnologySustainability

Precision Technologies for Agriculture: Digital Farming, Gene-Edited Crops, and the Politics of Sustainability

Jennifer Clapp, Sarah-Louise Ruder
Publication date: 01/08/2020
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This article analyzes the rise of precision technologies for agriculture—specifically digital farming and plant genome editing—and their implications for the politics of environmental sustainability in the agrifood sector. We map out opposing views in the emerging debate over the environmental aspects of these technologies: while proponents see them as vital tools for environmental sustainability, critics view them as antithetical to their own agroecological vision of sustainable agriculture. We argue that key insights from the broader literature on the social effects of technological change—in particular, technological lock-in, the double-edged nature of technology, and uneven power relations—help to explain the political dynamics of this debate. Our analysis highlights the divergent perspectives regarding how these technologies interact with environmental problems, as well as the risks and opportunities they present. Yet, as we argue in the article, developments so far suggest that these dynamics are not always straightforward in practice.

Resource type: article: Web Page
FarmingFood systemsSustainability

Farm to Fork Strategy

European Commission
Publication date: 01/05/2020
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The Farm to Fork Strategy is a new comprehensive approach to how Europeans value food sustainability. It is
an opportunity to improve lifestyles, health, and the environment. The creation of a favourable food environment
that makes it easier to choose healthy and sustainable diets will benefit consumers’ health and quality of life,
and reduce health-related costs for society.

Resource type: article: Web Page