Science Controversies
Ghana’s Christian leaders join GMO debate, with some vouching for the technology’s goodness
Christian leaders in Ghana have joined the debate on whether the country should adopt genetically modified (GM) crops, with some ...
FDA warns kratom sellers to stop making unproven claims about chronic pain, opioid addiction benefits
The Food and Drug Administration is still pressing down hard on kratom—the plant treatment that adherents say has helped them ...
Opposition to India’s biotech crop rules grows as pro-GMO protestors distribute illegal cotton to farmers
Some farmers in Haryana [on July 5] symbolically sowed Herbicide Tolerant (HT) Bt cotton seeds at a farm in Hisar ...
FDA regulatory dilemma: Are fecal transplants drugs, human tissue, or something new?
For the past several years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been trying to figure out how to regulate ...
‘The numbers’ tell us that anti-vaxxers may not be to blame for recent measles outbreaks
On June 5, the number of measles cases in the U.S. this year passed 1,000, a milestone the country last ...
Viewpoint: Biological terrorism isn’t as scary as you may think
As new biological techniques advance, there are justifiable concerns these technologies could be used to create manmade pandemics. These worries ...
Viewpoint: ‘Doctrinal’ objections to GMO crops shouldn’t trump science amid farmer protests in India
Agriculture is one sector that has been not just been completely bypassed by economic reforms but also by innovations in ...
Podcast: Talking CRISPR with controversial biohacker Josiah Zayner
Is biohacking a crime? Who came up with the latest CRISPR trick? And did Rage Against the Machine sell out? ...
Tanzania denies allegation it outlawed GMO crop research
A top researcher in [Tanzania] has said research on genetically modified organism (GMO) in the country is neither banned nor ...
Like it or not, the ‘Pandora’s box’ of gene-edited babies has been opened
Denis Rebrikov is the head of a genome-editing laboratory at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Russia’s largest ...
5 ways we could pay for expensive life-saving gene therapies
We have arrived at a special moment in health care. Innovative, life-changing gene therapies are here that will cure or ...
Low trust in government tech regulation fuels consumer doubt about GMOs, gene editing
Trust in governance is at an all-time low. Experts trace a first major decline in trust back to the 1970s, ...
US Stem Cell Clinic ordered to halt controversial treatment that blinded 4 patients
A federal judge issued an order [June 25] barring a Florida-based stem-cell company from performing an unapproved procedure that blinded ...
US patent office reopens Broad Institute—University of California CRISPR patent dispute
The U.S. patent office has declared an interference between a dozen key patents awarded to the Broad Institute on the ...
Can stress be measured through a single drop of blood?
[T]he holy grail of stress diagnostics would be a reliable biomarker; a biological measuring stick that would sum up all ...
Streamlining biotechnology regulations: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to lobby Trump for joint USDA-FDA CRISPR gene editing animal oversight
Arguing against regulations classifying livestock as drugs, the National Pork Producers Council wants the Food and Drug Administration to yield ...
Why the world needs a DNA-based ‘threat-detection network’ to counter the rapid spread of pathogens
Our ancestors were accustomed to spending their entire lives in walking distance of their birthplace, but our modern world is ...
Trump executive order streamlining biotech rules won’t speed CRISPR animal approvals, livestock industry says
The executive order that the Trump administration announced [in June 2019] to streamline the approval process for agricultural biotechnology has ...
Why Donald Trump and other politicians shouldn’t promise a cancer cure
President Trump made a new promise if voters grant him a second term: “We will come up with the cures ...
Pro-GMO group in India offers legal services to farmers arrested for planting illegal biotech cotton
Soon after the police in Buldhana arrested farmer Vasanta Muley .... for possessing [illegal] cotton seeds .... Shektari Sanghatana — ...
Controversial new drug meant to increase sexual desire in women is approved for sale
The Food and Drug Administration approved a controversial drug meant to increase women’s desire for sex, a treatment that has ...
Facing Ebola outbreak, Uganda approves 3 experimental treatments
Health authorities in Uganda have approved the use of three experimental treatments against Ebola in the country. The decision comes ...
Recently discovered Salmonella strain could render some infections ‘simply untreatable’
Scientists at North Carolina State University say they’ve discovered disease-causing Salmonella bacteria in the U.S. that can resist one of ...
These drugs could replace chemotherapy with fewer ‘disruptive side effects’
A class of drugs is emerging that can attack cancer cells in the body without damaging surrounding healthy ones. They ...
Growing criticism over stratospheric cost of spinal muscular atrophy-fighting drug Zolgensma ignores trade-off value
Novartis recently won FDA approval for Zolgensma, a new medicine that can potentially cure infants suffering from the otherwise fatal ...
Ghana considers new rules to enhance its GMO regime
Ghana’s parliament is considering new regulations that will help facilitate its safe adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The rules, ...
Biohacker Josiah Zayner meets with California regulators investigating him: ‘It was surreal’
A few weeks ago, the prominent biohacker Josiah Zayner took to Instagram to break some news: He had received a ...
