Science Controversies
China issues safety approvals for herbicide-tolerant, insect-resistant corn and soybean, paving the way for local GMO crop cultivation
China’s agriculture ministry issued biosafety certificates on [Jan. 21] for domestically grown, genetically modified (GM) corn and soybean traits, moving ...
Nigeria’s biotech regulator urges farmers to embrace GMO Bt insect-resistant cotton and cowpea to grow nation’s economy
The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), on [Jan. 20], urged Nigerian farmers to embrace Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and technology-driven ...
Cancer and heart disease contagious? It’s possible, through the microbiome, researchers argue
It’s a science lesson you probably learned in grade school: You can only catch certain illnesses, like the flu, from ...
GMO, gene-edited crops face uncertain future in UK despite post-Brexit hopes for relaxed biotech rules
Growing and selling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is permitted in the UK but GMO products are subject to a lengthy ...
Tractors block German roads as farmers ‘vent frustration’ over strict and ‘unnecessary’ limits on pesticides
Several hundred tractors blockaded roads across Germany on [Jan. 17] as farmers vented their frustration over environmental regulations. The vehicles ...
This year’s flu season may be just as bad as last year’s—and we still don’t have a universal vaccine
With the deadly 2017-2018 flu season still fresh in public health officials’ minds, this year’s outbreak is shaping up to be ...
Scientists and farmers dispute ag minister’s claim that Ghana doesn’t need GMOs
Scientists and farmers warn that Ghana’s agricultural sector will struggle if the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO) is delayed ...
Burkina Faso ‘farmer of the year’ calls for return of Bt cotton
Wiledio Naboho, the 2019 Alliance for Science Farmer of the Year, is mounting fresh pressure on the Burkina Faso government ...
Activist groups Greenpeace, PETA added to UK counter-terror list
A counter-terrorism police document distributed to medical staff and teachers as part of anti-extremism briefings included Greenpeace, Peta and other ...
US-China deal reduces trade barriers for GMO crops, says USDA’s Sonny Perdue
U.S. Secretary Perdue issued the following statement after President Donald J. Trump signed the historic Phase One Trade Agreement between ...
Viewpoint: Historical opposition to tractors in farming mirrors modern campaign against GMO crops
[T]ractors made farm work more efficient and lowered food prices, but they also drove many farmers out of business. Farms ...
Oil from CRISPR-edited Camelina plants could be fast-tracked for commercialization following USDA approval
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. [Jan. 16] announced that it has submitted an “Am I Regulated?” letter to USDA-APHIS’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services ...
Why infected patients should be put on multidrug cocktails to head off antibiotic tolerance and resistance
Infectious bacteria that are down but not quite dead yet may be more dangerous than previously thought. Even as one ...
Viewpoint: ‘Archaic’ FDA regulation hinders animal gene-editing innovation
Around the world, countries are experimenting, implementing, and – importantly – properly regulating gene editing in livestock. China has been ...
Gene therapy era: A look at current treatments and what’s next for cancers and genetic disorders
At least nine gene therapies have been approved for certain kinds of cancer, some viral infections and a few inherited ...
EPA rejects New York Times’ allegation that agriculture, chemical industries ‘control’ environmental regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency unloaded [Jan. 14] on the New York Times, accusing the newspaper of “extreme bias” for running ...
We have the power to wipe out mosquitoes and malaria—but is that a good idea?
Gene drives have yet to be tested outside the lab, and even the most developed project to date — the ...
Quest to understand sense of touch could lead to new treatments for chronic pain
If she wasn’t looking at her limbs, the girl didn’t seem to have any clue where they were. She lacked ...
India moves to restrict cultivation of illegal but easily acquired GMO herbicide-tolerant, insect-resistant cotton
Amid reports of cultivation of [an] unapproved variety of transgenic HTBt [herbicide-tolerant, insect-resistant] cotton seeds, the Union environment ministry has ...
Psychedelics have ‘extraordinarily potent’ anti-inflammatory power. Is there a place for them in mainstream medicine?
Research on psychedelics, which have been profoundly stigmatized, highly restricted, and tragically undeveloped for more than half a century, is ...
Judge rebuffs lawsuit challenging FDA authority to regulate AquAdvantage GMO salmon as a drug
Remember the GMO salmon? It was created by a company called AquaBounty back in 1989 and approved by the Food ...
Fetal tissue research restrictions disrupting studies into major diseases, including AIDS, Down syndrome, diabetes
A recent Trump administration decision to limit funding of research that uses fetal tissue is already disrupting research into major ...
Some patients in vegetative states have functioning minds. Keeping them alive may amount to ‘torture’
[Researchers] have convincingly demonstrated that a subset of individuals in persistent vegetative states have meaningfully functioning minds — even as ...
Terminally ill cancer patients donating their bodies for research on how tumors spread
It sounds macabre, but it’s important research. [Andrew] Rowan is one of a team of experts working on a new ...
Meet the farmer who sold more than $140 million in ‘fake’ organic products over a decade
Like all the best con artists, Randy Constant was a charmer, hard not to like. Big hearted. Good listener. You’d ...
‘We need it now’: Why precision medicine isn’t doing enough for children with cancer
Precision medicine, the concept of giving the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, is flourishing in ...
Nigeria gears up for two GMO crops in the 2020 planting season
Nigeria made significant progress in agricultural biotechnology in 2019, approving two genetically modified (GM) crops — pest-resistant Bt cotton and ...
