Regulation & Bioethics
How DARPA wants to create spies from genetically modified sea life
The US military wants to enlist fish and other sea life to help it track enemy submarines at sea. The ...
Sri Lanka lifts ban on glyphosate herbicide after farmers protest
In its first reform act after the humiliating defeat it suffered in the local bodies elections held on February 10, ...
Will Australia free CRISPR gene-edited crops from government regulation?
Gene editing technology – CRISPR is the best-known example – would be freed from government regulation under a proposal by ...
Viewpoint: Forcing Monsanto out of India could have serious consequences for cotton farmers
[T]hose who advocate swadeshi tend to forget that the Bt seeds patented by Monsanto were responsible for doubling the yield of cotton ...
Dystopian ‘Black Mirror’ scenarios predict dark future for artificial intelligence
[A] new report by more than 20 researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, OpenAI, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that ...
Farmers, environmental advocacy groups disagree on neonicotinoids’ impact on bees
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group is among the organizations lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the pesticides, known ...
Gene drives and eliminating invasive pests without bloodshed
[Researcher Karl Campbell is] using a fiercely potent poison for the complete obliteration of rats on a 70-square-mile Galapagos island ...
Argentine farmers reverse course, agree to pay royalties for GMO seeds
Argentine farmers have agreed to pay perpetual royalties when they replant genetically modified seeds made by companies like Monsanto Co, ...
Viewpoint: Alternative medicine strikes again—and why cancer treatment should be left to professionals
Every doctor who treats cancer patients can tell you stories of patients who present with cancers too advanced to treat ...
Farmers, ag companies launch court challenge of California’s Prop 65 listing of glyphosate
On [Feb. 20], a national agricultural coalition presented arguments for a preliminary injunction before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern ...
Growing human organs in sheep could help solve transplant shortage
Growing human organs inside other animals has taken another step away from science-fiction, with researchers announcing they have grown sheep ...
Viewpoint: Total ban on ‘bee-harming’ neonicotinoid insecticides is not the best path forward
Calls to ban ‘bee-harming pesticides’ heightened last year following the release of new field studies on the effects of neonicotinoids, ...
Viewpoint: Anti-science activists beware—Uganda’s president knows GMO crops are good for farmers
We came to learn about a month ago that [Ugandan] President [Yoweri] Museveni had referred the Biotechnology and Bio-safety Bill ...
Africa could become a world agricultural leader in CRISPR and other new breeding techniques (NBTs)
It is 8:30 East African Standard Time. I disembark from a van filled with science journalists from Kampala, Uganda and ...
Why don’t more women pursue STEM fields? There’s no easy answer
Many academics in the modern world seem obsessed with the sex difference in engagement with science, technology, mathematics, and engineering ...
Viewpoint: Science-based biotech regulations could unlock a new agricultural revolution
The discovery of DNA and new developments in information and nanotechnology provide the foundation for a new agricultural revolution that ...
‘Natural’ food label heads to court
In recent years, one bright spot in an otherwise lackluster market for packaged foods, beverages and consumer products has been ...
Zika-fighting GM mosquito program in Cayman Islands delayed over costs, safety concerns
A multimillion dollar plan for the islandwide rollout of Cayman’s genetically modified mosquito program has been significantly scaled back amid ...
Farmers in Quebec, Canada will now have to get permission to use neonicotinoid insecticides on crops
Quebec is introducing new restrictions on pesticides considered harmful to honeybees. Under the changes, farmers will have to get permission from a certified ...
Anti-GMO group Moms Across America attacks food brands over trace parts per billion of glyphosate
[G]lyphosate [is] in the spotlight again as anti-GMO activist group Moms Across America released test results suggesting trace levels of ...
Australia, New Zealand weigh whether foods created with New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) to be regulated as GMOs
New Zealand's food standards watchdog is reviewing how rules might apply to a new generation of products that can be ...
Viewpoint: How European activists lobby for a glyphosate ban despite findings of its safety
In January, the European Parliament announced that it will set up a Special Committee on the Union’s authorization procedure for ...
Uganda’s president assessing GMO crops’ potential versus activists’ concerns
Scientists in Uganda had hoped it was the dawn of a new era in food security for a drought-prone region ...
Former organic farmer and USDA inspector: Time for National Organic Program to allow GMO crops
Editor's note: Mischa Popoff is a former USDA organic inspector and farmer Organic activists would like you to believe their ...
Proposed California ballot initiative ignores scientific consensus on GMOs, vaccine safety
A proposed ballot initiative takes Golden State wackiness to the next level. ... This fall, Californians may have the opportunity ...
Sri Lanka’s tea industry calls on government to lift ‘arbitrary’ ban on glyphosate herbicide
In a strongly-worded statement, Sri Lanka’s tea industry stakeholders, including state-run Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda, called ...
Should doctors heed ‘do not resuscitate’ tattoos?
Doctors at a Florida hospital’s emergency department were startled in May [2017] to discover the words “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” tattooed on an ...