Parents’ Bill of Rights: Vaccine wars heat up in states allowing exemptions for schoolchildren

| | March 18, 2024
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Gayle Borne has fostered more than 300 children in Springfield, Tennessee. She’s cared for kids who have rarely seen a doctor — kids so neglected that they cannot speak. Such children are now even more vulnerable because of a law Tennessee passed last year that requires the direct consent of birth parents or legal guardians for every routine childhood vaccination. Foster parents, social workers, and other caregivers cannot provide permission.

CRISPR gene editing applications are expanding dramatically in agriculture. Here are the latest advances

| | March 18, 2024
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In the past decade, after the release of CRISPR-Cas9 as a genome-editing tool, it has revolutionized biological research. CRISPR and its applications have changed how biological research is done. A review by Nobel Laureate and CRISPR pioneer Jennifer A. Doudna of the Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and Joy Y. Wang, also from UC Berkeley, explores the origins, applications, and limitations of this technology. They discuss advancements, future directions, and real-world examples of CRISPR’s impact on medicine and agriculture, highlighting its potential to shape various aspects of society.

Switzerland green lights field tests on CRISPR yield-enhanced barley

| March 18, 2024
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Agroscope has been granted approval by the Federal Office for the Environment for a field trial with spring barley. The focus is on a barley gene that has been disabled by new breeding techniques. The trial, which will be launched in spring 2024 on the Protected Site in Zurich-Reckenholz and will run for three years, aims to determine whether yields can be increased in this manner.

Food security challenged Pakistan reevaluating benefits of currently-banned GMO crops

| | March 18, 2024
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For the last two decades, Pakistan has faced several challenges, such as drought, salinity, temperature, climate change, and an increasing population, causing food security issues to rise. The use of biotechnological approaches in agriculture to fulfill the desired need is one of the solutions. Still, the public is reluctant to use GM crops due to several reasons, including cultural aspects and traditional values.

Viewpoint: The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list is a danger to public health put out by an organic industry funded activist group

| | March 15, 2024
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an anti-science activist organization.

Viewpoint: ‘Heavy’ pesticide exposure linked to cardiovascular disease? Flawed study raises ‘troubling’ questions about public health research

| | March 15, 2024
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What do the results really show?

Hairy questions: As scientists edge closer to resurrecting mammoths, a host of ethical and scientific issues arise

| | March 15, 2024
Hairy questions: As scientists edge closer to resurrecting mammoths, a host of ethical and scientific issues arise

Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Dallas, announced [March 6] that it has produced a line of Asian elephant stem cells that can be coaxed to transform into other types of cells needed to reconstruct the extinct giant — or at a least a mammoth-like elephant designed to thrive in the cold.

Scientists losing uphill battle to prevent measles spread

| | March 15, 2024
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Measles seems poised to make a comeback in America. Two adults and two children staying at a migrant shelter in Chicago have gotten sick with the disease. A sick kid in Sacramento, California, may have exposed hundreds of people to the virus at the hospital. Three other people were diagnosed in Michigan, along with seven from the same elementary school in Florida. As of [March 7], 17 states have reported cases to the CDC since the start of the year.

Viewpoint — Part V: ‘Ignominious’, fabricated attacks on GM crops jeopardize Africa’s food security and seed sovereignty

, , | | March 15, 2024
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For two years, groups of farmers have been testing the PBR [pod borer resistant]-cowpea; they are thrilled with the product in Nigeria, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. 

‘Science proves GM corn and the herbicide glyphosate are harmful to human health and native crop varieties’: US claims Mexico ignores ‘decades’ worth of evidence demonstrating their safety

, | | March 15, 2024

In a written submission to a panel of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexico, the top buyer of U.S. corn, argued that science proves GM corn and the herbicide glyphosate are harmful to human health and its native varieties, and that its decree to ban GM corn for human consumption is within its right.

‘Texas Two-Step’ — Bayer weighs new Roundup suit strategy as costs of cancer litigation mount

, , | | March 15, 2024
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Bayer AG is weighing whether to use a controversial legal maneuver known as the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy to try to resolve tens of thousands of US lawsuits claiming its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, according to people familiar with its thinking.

Global ‘longevity hotspots’: What’s the secret of these blue zones?

, | | March 14, 2024
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Ageing is an inevitable part of life, which may explain our strong fascination with the quest for longevity. The allure of eternal youth drives a multi-billion pound industry ranging from anti-ageing products, supplements and diets for those hoping to extend their lifespan.

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