Science Controversies
5,000 farmers to plant illegal GMO cotton, eggplant in protest of India’s biotech crop rules
As many as 5,000 people are expected to come together in Maharashtra’s Akola district [June 10] for what will be ...
Ethical ‘quagmire’: How one ALS patient got in line for a therapy never tested in humans
The FDA gave Jaci Hermstad, a 25-year old Iowan who is dying from a rare form of ALS, an early ...
EU health commissioner: Anti-vaccine, glyphosate ‘conspiracy theories’ threaten Europe with ‘new middle ages’
Europe’s Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis on [June 7] warned that conspiracy theories were winning the argument against science in Europe ...
Trump administration halts US funding for fetal tissue research, threatening work on AIDS, cancer and other diseases
The Trump administration on Wednesday [June 5] ended funding of medical research by government scientists using fetal tissue and canceled ...
Terminally ill California man is first to undergo cryonic preservation after assisted death
A terminally ill patient who opted for assisted death has undergone cryonic preservation at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. This ...
Many shoppers won’t use QR codes to access GMO food label information, study suggests
In 2016, thanks in part to consumer demand, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, a federal mandate requiring ...
Some powerful new cancer drugs trigger diabetes for unknown reasons
The first two rounds of treatment went off without a hitch. But last November, after receiving a third dose of ...
Viewpoint: Outrage over $2 million price tag for new gene therapy is perplexing and disappointing
As someone who has lived with spinal muscular atrophy for all 30 years of my life, I was perplexed and ...
Stem cell therapy helps mice regain their sense of smell. Will it work in humans?
Smells, like the tangy scent of the ocean or the acrid odor of smoke, are powerful cues that shape our ...
Cancer patients should get quicker access to unapproved drugs through FDA ‘concierge service’
The Food and Drug Administration plans to provide “concierge service” to doctors seeking access to unapproved drugs for cancer patients ...
These dietary supplements could slow your aging. But they might also increase your cancer risk.
As the world’s aging population grows rapidly, so has its appetite for health tips, tricks and products that could help ...
Congress renews ban on editing human embryos, despite calls from scientists touting research benefits
A House committee on Tuesday [June 4] restored to pending legislation a ban on altering the genomes of human embryos ...
Attacking cancer tumors with next generation CAR-T cell therapies
In 2017, the first immuno-oncology cell therapies, known as chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CAR T, were approved by the ...
In bid for US support, French candidate to head UN agricultural agency says she’s not necessarily opposed to GMO or gene-edited crops
Europe’s candidate to run the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which guides policymakers around the world, has promised the ...
‘Immune amnesia’: Why measles makes you more vulnerable to infections that cause pneumonia, ear infections, diarrhea
The most iconic thing about measles is the rash — red, livid splotches that make infection painfully visible. But that ...
Viewpoint: Bayer shouldn’t have apologized for Monsanto effort to gather data on pesticide regulators, journalists
Senior PR industry figures have questioned Bayer's handling of its stakeholder mapping crisis, focusing their concern on the high-profile suspension of ...
Some ‘quite effective’ US Civil War ‘folk’ medicines could lead to modern treatments
With conventional medicines in short supply during the Civil War, the Confederacy turned to plant-based alternatives in desperation. New research ...
10-minute cancer test? Researcher explains breakthrough discovery
Matt Trau, a professor of chemistry at the University of Queensland, stunned the science world back in December [2018] when ...
Post Brexit UK ag biotech policy: USDA official calls European approach to GMOs and food safety ‘old-fashioned, based on traditions and not modern science’
Addressing The Scottish Farmer, amongst other UK journalists at a food show in Chicago, Foreign Agricultural Service administrator Ken Isley ...
Your own fruit fly ‘avatars’ could boost precision medicine treatments
Personalized cancer medicine involves looking at an individual’s genome and cancer growth to help find more effective ways of screening ...
Scientific challenges to CRISPR crops ‘largely settled,’ though political, social concerns remain
Soon, soybeans will be bred to yield oil without dangerous trans fats. Lettuce will be grown to handle warmer, drier ...
Google’s AI beats human doctors at diagnosing lung cancer in study
One of lung cancer’s most lethal attributes is its ability to trick radiologists. Some nodules appear threatening but turn out ...
FDA cracking down on unregulated dietary supplements, which it contends are almost all ineffective
The FDA recently announced that it plans to increase its oversight of the multi-billion dollar supplement industry. This would include ...
Monsanto PR firm FleishmanHillard defends effort to gather data on EU pesticide regulators, journalists
FleishmanHillard president and CEO John Saunders defended his agency’s work for Monsanto, which included compiling lists about stakeholders, in a ...
Viewpoint: India should stop bowing to ‘mindless opposition’ and approve GMO Bt eggplant
A couple of decades ago, some of our brightest gene scientists in India took the genes of a commonly found ...
A single ‘live’ vaccine could fortify immune systems against measles and other diseases
Maria was eligible to participate in a clinical trial to test whether an extra dose of measles vaccine prevented not ...
A ‘wake-up call for women’: Low-fat diet rich in fruit and vegetables reduces breast cancer risk, study says
Women who followed a lower-fat diet rich in fruits, vegetables and grains had a lower risk of dying of breast ...
