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GLP 2021 Annual Report

The GLP is committed to full transparency. Download our 2021 Annual Report.

Month: May 2013

Predicting the IQ of future people

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

Jason Richwine was forced to resign from the Heritage Foundation by a media storm about his offensive comments on race and IQ. That’s remarkable, and perhaps significant, but there are likely more and bigger headlines to come.

The researchers will find something [relating genetics to IQ]. And someone will abuse the findings. History tells us that’s a given. The fallacy may not be that Hispanics (who, ahem, are a cultural community not a race) are dumb, or Jews (essentially a religious group) are smart, or Asians (a broad geographical set) are good at math, or any such nonsense. But suggesting that this embryo has brilliance while this one does not … that could become a very significant problem.

Read the full story here: Predicting the IQ of Future People

Kenya: GMO ban has no legal basis

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

Nairobi — A senior Kenyan government official has dismissed last year’s ban on the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the country – calling it ill-advised and lacking the backing of law.

Read the full story here: Kenya: GMO Ban Has No Legal Basis, Official Says

Monsanto CEO: U.S. Regulatory System Is ‘Functional’

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The following is an edited excerpt.

The head of the world’s largest seed company brushed aside suggestions the U.S. regulatory system has become too burdensome less than a week after a new Monsanto product was delayed by the Department of Agriculture.

Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant is “not overly concerned” by the USDA’s decision last week to compile a fuller environmental assessment of the company’s latest soybean and cotton seeds—which are genetically modified to withstand the herbicide dicamba.

“There’s a lot of noise that the system is broken,” Mr. Grant said at the company’s headquarters on Tuesday. “The reality is the U.S. has over the past decade and a half had a functional system.”

Read the original article in its entirety here: Monsanto CEO: U.S. Regulatory System Is ‘Functional’

Washington: I-522 debate offers chance for education on plant science

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The following is an edited excerpt.

Monday’s unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for Monsanto Co. plays into the hands of the forces organizing to support Initiative 522. But it is also an assist for researchers at Washington State University and other institutions on the frontiers of plant science.

I-522, which goes to Washington voters in November, would require all food containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled. Many consumers shy from GMOs, as the shorthand goes, despite little evidence they are harmful to humans. But it’s early yet in the introduction of this technology, and genes can persist for a long, long time, with the potential side-effects on future generations and the environment unknowable.

What is known is how incredibly valuable patented seeds can be.

Read the original article in its entirety here: I-522 offers chance for education on plant science

Kenya: Biotech supporters lobby to overturn ban

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The following is an edited excerpt.

The supporters of biotechnology have launched a new offensive to overturn last November’s Cabinet decision purporting to ban imports of genetically engineered foods.

The pro-GMO lobby knows very well the ban never amounted to anything but is sparing no efforts to overturn it nonetheless.

The lobby’s strategy has so far been aimed at showing that the decision was ill-conceived, particularly because it was influenced by an allegedly flawed scientific study by eminent French molecular biologist, Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini.The lobby has repeatedly asserted that Seralini’s study was dismissed by scientists in his own country, but has carefully omitted to acknowledge that a larger body of French scientists publicly supported the study and harshly condemned the attacks on Seralini.

Read the original article in its entirety here: Why is this lobby in such a frenzy to overturn GMOs ban that never was?

 

Greenpeace moves anti-GMO jihad to Mexico

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The following is an edited excerpt.

Corn is the most important staple of the Mexican diet. Corn tortillas of many varieties – white, yellow, blue – figure into every meal of the day. The grain works its way into the national cuisine in endless other ways: The large kernels of hominy corn in rich pozole soup, as the base for spicy tamales, in sweet breads, and in hot, thick atole drinks.

It’s native to Mexico, where some 59 indigenous strains of corn exist.

Which is why an emerging debate over whether to allow growers to cultivate genetically modified corn has heated up. Opponents of GMO corn have urged the Mexican government to ban GMO. To draw attention to their cause, on Thursday four local Greenpeaceactivists climbed a 335-foot monument on Mexico City’s busy Reforma Avenue and dropped a banner reading “No GMO” on the iconic Estela de Luz tower in protest, according to a Greenpeace spokeswoman.

Read the original article in its entirety here: ‘People of corn’ protest GMO strain in Mexico

Viable human embryonic stem cells created by cloning

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

A paper in this week’s Cell describes how a team in Oregon finally achieved what many scientists have expected–and many others have dreaded: they derived embryonic stem cells from human embryos that they created in the lab themselves.

It could have an impact on the research into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These stem cells do not require the use of human embryos for their derivation, and they can be generated from any cell in the adult body.

Read the full story here: Viable Human Embryonic Stem Cells Created By Cloning

Moving genomics closer to the clinic

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

Foundation Medicine and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center this month announced a partnership that aims to bring genomics further into the clinic and help to translate molecular information into personalized cancer treatment.

Foundation Medicine, a molecular information company on the forefront of bringing comprehensive cancer genomic analysis to routine clinical care, has provided its first product, the FoundationOne™ assay, to clinicians since June 2012. It uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to interrogate hundreds of cancer related genes from routine tumor samples. Test results are provided in a report that aligns detected mutations with potentially relevant treatment options and clinical trials.

Read the full story here: Moving Genomics Closer to the Clinic

Probing the genetics of intelligence

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

Researchers in China will scour the genomes of 1,600 super-smart people in an attempt to find common genetic variants associated with intelligence, reported Nature. But some geneticists argue that the sample size remains too small, and intelligence too complex, for the study to produce any meaningful conclusions.

“If they think they’re likely to get much useful data out of this study, they’re almost certainly wrong,” geneticist Daniel MacArthur of the Massachusetts General Hospital told Nature.

Read the full story here: Probing the Genetics of Intelligence

“You catch criminals with DNA” — What kids know (and don’t) about genetics

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

“DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as evidence if someone’s been stabbed. We can run tests in suspects.” (Girl, 12, central Queensland)

“DNA has to do with blood types and fingerprints, it helps to identify us. It can find out criminals and relatives.” (Boy, 10, outback New South Wales)

“DNA is blood. Genes is a part of you, DNA is your uniqueness inside you… you can be identified by your DNA and your fingerprints. If there’s a robbery, can get fingerprints, that’s DNA, and put them in the computer and find out who it is.” (Girl, 11, coastal South Australia)

These three children were among 62 children aged 10-12 interviewed about genes and DNA. For subjects not taught until much later on in the curriculum, these primary school students clearly know something about these complicated scientific concepts – even if their knowledge is limited.

But if they’re not getting their information from school, then where are they getting it? And do schools need to start teaching these concepts earlier?

Read the full story here: ‘You catch criminals with DNA’: What kids know (and don’t know) about genetics

Monsanto: More Saint than Sinner

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The following is an edited excerpt. 

Monsanto is the Devil Incarnate, a ruthless corporation hell bent upon forcing their unnatural food down our open gullets. The soy and corn they sow are more likely to transmogrify us into imps than sustain us.

At least that’s what a lot of people seem to believe these days.

Poring over Monsanto’s well documented past, the company’s haters might have a point. The company was instrumental in manufacturing the much maligned insecticide DDT as well as the herbicide Agent Orange.  Moreover, the company has been criminally complacent in many cases of environmental pollution, including a sinister occurrence in Alabama in which the company “drenched” a town in toxic industrial coolants for 40 years.

Yes, Monsanto has done some bad things, and unfortunately for them, their relentless dedication to being a successful company has stifled public forgiveness.

Read the original post in its entirety here:  Monsanto: More Saint than Sinner 

Himalayan sea salt promoted by activists as non-GMO has lead, arsenic, plutonium and more

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The following is an edited excerpt.

Yesterday I wrote about a website I found HERE and could not believe my eyes.  It was a picture of Himalayan Sea Salt, VERIFIED GMO-Free!   I wrote a little something about this and its insanity.

I decided to follow up on this curious stuff.  Himalayan Sea Salt.  GMO-Free. Going forward, when I mention “salt” we’re talking table salt. Table salt is one simple molecule, a sodium and a chloride locked together in ionic bliss.  In our typical table salt they add a pinch of goiter-busting iodine and calcium silicate to prevent caking. Other than that, pretty simple stuff.

I know I’m risking being called a shill for big salt, but here goes…

So I go online and the first thing that pops up is Mercola’s website- he loves not good old sodium chloride, but Himalayan Salt, over 250,000,000 years old, so it claims.

Read the original post in its entirety here: Himalayan Sea Salt! GMO Free! With Extra Plutonium!

Anti-biotech critics propose killing Hawaiian papaya crop

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The following is an edited excerpt. 

Genetic engineering opponents turned out in force Tuesday before the Hawaii County Council to support a bill that could determine the future of agriculture on the Big Island.

The bill would prevent farmers from planting any genetically modified crops not already grown on the island, and has gained enthusiastic support from critics of the biotech industry.

“I don’t want my kids eating it. I don’t want it in our Hawaii,” said Monique Cobb-Adams, speaking from Waimea.

“I think this type of frankenscience doesn’t belong here.”

More than 100 people from across the island signed up to speak before the council’s Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit. A large majority spoke in favor of the bill, which will be discussed again at the committee’s May 29 meeting.

Much of the criticism focused on the biotech companies that have set up farms in every other county in the state to grow seed.

Read the original article in its entirety here: GMO critics fight for ban

 

Bill Gates: Technology, including GE, key to reducing world poverty

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The following is an edited excerpt.

Nothing improves an economy as efficiently as agriculture, the Microsoft founder said.

Investing in agriculture is key if the fight against world poverty is to succeed, according to Bill Gates who spoke at an International Agriculture and Food Security briefing.

“It’s been proven that of all the interventions to reduce poverty, improving agricultural productivity is the best. All the other different economic activity—yes it trickles down. But nothing as efficiently as in agriculture,” Gates said to a packed conference room in the U.S. Senate office building.

Read the original article in its entirety here: Bill Gates: Agricultural Productivity Is Key to  Reducing World Poverty

Why race as a biological construct matters

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

My own inclination has been to not get bogged down in the latest race and IQ controversy because I don’t have that much time, and the core readership here is probably not going to get any new information from me, since this is not an area of hot novel research. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world isn’t talking, and I think perhaps it might be useful for people if I stepped a bit into this discussion between Andrew Sullivan and Ta-Nehisi Coates specifically. My primary concern is that here we have two literary intellectuals arguing about a complex topic which spans the humanities and the sciences. Ta-Nehisi, as one who studies history, feels confident that he can dismiss the utility of racial population structure categorization because as he says, “no coherent, fixed definition of race actually exists.” I am actually more of a history guy than a math guy, not because I love history more than math, but because I am not very good at math. And I’ve even read books such as The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race and The History of White People (as well as biographies of older racial theorists, such as Madison Grant). So I am not entirely ignorant of Ta-Nehisi’s bailiwick, but, I think it would be prudent for the hoarders of old texts to become a touch more familiar within the crisp formalities of the natural sciences.

View the full story here: Why race as a biological construct matters

Anti-biotech ETC group launches fight over Kickstarter synthetic biology project

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The following is an excerpt of a longer story.

If the biohackers can have a Kickstarter campaign to release their glowtesque synthetic biology plants, then maybe a few sensible folks could mount their own Kickstarter initiative to stuff the genetically engineered genie back in the bottle – or at least ensure it never makes it out of the glowing plant lab. Enter the counter-Kickstarter campaign – the Kickstopper.

ETC Group is now working to set up our own Kickstopper campaign. We will be applying to Kickstarter to mount a publishing project whose aim is to prevent those Synthetic Biology seeds from being mailed around the US.

View the full article here: Kickstopper! Putting a Stop to Synthetic Biology Pollution

Genetics continues to garner attention as conservation tool

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Genetics continues to be a buzzword in conservation. In the last week alone we’ve seen headlines touting the sequencing of the scarlet macaw genome, that efforts to breed New Zealand’s utterly unique kiwi have failed to improve genetic diversity in the species, and that the Indian tiger population may be doomed by a genetic bottleneck — the lingering effect of the British Raj’s penchant for hunting these largest of big cats.

One of the biggest risks to species on the brink of extinction is the loss of genetic diversity that comes with drastically reduced population sizes. Even if it were possible to easily and effectively clone endangered species like the tiger, the animals created would all share whatever strengths and flaws the original progenitor possessed: in other words, it would be extremely difficult to create a robust wild population able to endure the slings and arrows of real-world existence through simple cloning.

That said, the study of genetics continues to offer novel insight into just what sort of variation does exist within species of conservation interest, and may help guide conservation efforts without being a cure-all.

Additional Resources:

 

Voices come out in defense of Monsanto

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Everyone’s favorite company to hate, agribusiness giant Monsanto, has gotten a surprising amount of positive press this week.

We here at the GLP are fans of nuance, as a rule, so it’s no surprise that the first story of note is our own Jon Entine’s analysis of the Supreme Court ruling in Bowman v. Monsanto. He argues that Bowman, the Indiana farmer who tried to circumvent Monsanto’s patents, was rightfully ruled against: It’s not a case of being pro-Monsanto, but rather an argument in favor of the importance of our patent system and laws.

Ross Pomeroy at RealClearScience went as far as to write a piece titled “Monsanto: More Saint than Sinner.” Lest you think he’s guilty of ignoring the company’s spotty record, he acknowledges the company’s (serious) misconduct while shining a light on some of the real and massive positive impacts it has had, such as the development of nutritionally-enhanced “golden rice” which may help prevent blindness. As Pomeroy notes:

Monsanto’s noble efforts have garnered the adoration of numerous, notable do-gooders, including philanthropist Bill Gates and agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner whose dwarf wheat revolutionized agriculture, saving an estimated one billion lives from starvation. Before he died in 2009, Borlaug extolled Monsanto’s use of genetic modification, believing science to be the best hope for feeding a growing world population.

Finally, Monsanto tried to defend itself in a piece at Bloomberg. In the article, Monsanto’s chief executive officer laments the unnecessary and “sad” binary that’s come to dominate the public discussion of agricultural biotech. “So you get conventional agriculture or broad scale or however you define it, and organic. I think we’re going to look back on this period and say, ‘How on earth did that ever become the fight that it became?’”

It will be interesting to see whether any of these stories — all reasonable, none industry PR fluff — make a dent in Monsanto’s reputation or the shockwaves of distrust it has sent through the entire public discussion of agricultural biotech.

Vermont: Legislature wants Monsanto to label its GMOs

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The following is an edited excerpt.

Monsanto, the often vilified agribusiness corporate giant, is back in the news. First, the Supreme Court upheld its ownership over its patented gene products, even as that product reproduces. But the Vermont legislature is trying another tact with a bill that would require Monsanto foods (exempting animal products) containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labeled as such.

Read the original article in its entirety here: Vermont wants Monsanto to label its GMOs