Science Controversies
Scotland and Wales reject UK’s crop gene editing regulatory liberalization plans while anti-GMO groups demand labeling
Fury erupted [May 25] over Government plans to allow gene-edited foods to be sold unlabelled in British supermarkets — as ...
No plans for UK to label gene edited foods once agricultural biotechnology reform legislation passes
Shoppers will be unable to tell if they are eating 'gene-edited' foods as part of new government plans to speed ...
HeLa cells controversy: Court poised to consider whether Henrietta Lacks’ family lawsuit claiming her cells were stolen 70 years ago can continue
A federal judge will decide whether the family of Henrietta Lacks has enough legal standing to continue their lawsuit against ...
Viewpoint: Germany’s anti-GMO ‘Slow Food’ activist group invokes ‘precautionary principle’, demands labeling to block crop gene editing deregulation
A strong lobby of some corporations, technological and scientific associations is committed to exempting new genetic engineering processes from regulation ...
British Parliament begins debate on agricultural technology innovation bill. Here’s why that’s important to science, health and food security
Legislation to cut red tape and support the development of innovative tech to grow more resistant, more nutritious, and more ...
Canada poised to encourage gene-edited crops as Health Canada updates plant breeding regulations
Health Canada has finalized a decision that should pave the way for crop breeding innovation in Canada. After years of ...
CRISPR gene-edited tomatoes — with as much provitamin D as two eggs — could soon be sold in Britain
Scientists have created genetically edited tomatoes, each containing as much provitamin D3 – the precursor to vitamin D – as ...
Genetic differences key to why sub-Saharan Africans have lower rates of COVID infections and fewer severe cases than other population groups
Why did COVID-19 impact certain populations more than others? That mystery is slowly coming into focus. For the first time, ...
Is monkeypox the next global viral scourge?
Monkeypox, a disease that rarely shows up outside a belt of countries across Central and West Africa, has exploded into ...
GMO wheat developed in research labs could stem rust pathogens that destroy crops across Africa
Researchers have identified stem rust resistance in the wild cereal plant Aegilops sharonensis and successfully transferred the resistance gene into bread ...
‘Prioritize science and innovation to revamp agrifood systems’: New head of UN Food and Agricultural Organization urges global commitment to new breeding techniques
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Qu Dongyu, has made an urgent call for the ...
‘Unfounded claims over unnatural ‘Frankenfoods’ have led to the vilification of an entire technology’: The Observer editorial urges UK adoption of gene editing and GMOs
[Recently,] the government outlined details of its long-overdue legislation for easing restrictions on gene-editing farm animals and plants. Current regulations, ...
Could Paxlovid help treat long COVID?
In the two years since she caught the coronavirus, 38-year-old Jessica McGovern has cycled through “well over 100 drugs, supplements, ...
Anti-aging process can reduce biological age of skin cells — but there’s a deadly hitch
Fifteen years ago, scientists made a stirring discovery when they demonstrated that they could reverse the process of aging in ...
Viewpoint: Gene-editing your way to the ‘perfect baby’ — Pre-implantation embryo screening (PES) sparks ethical conversation
The perennial debate on human enhancement was recently reignited with a new controversy over the use of pre-implantation screening of ...
GMO wheat: Australia and New Zealand join Argentina and Brazil in approving for consumption, while US remains laggard
Food regulators approved a genetically modified wheat variety for human consumption in Australia and New Zealand, a victory in the ...
FDA ban on sperm donations by gay and bisexual men is loosening
After years of public criticism, the Food and Drug Administration in 2020 relaxed its rules regarding blood donation by men ...
4,000 US children are born each year with mitochondrial disease. Why are there still blocks on replacement therapy?
Australia has become the second country in the world to explicitly authorize and regulate mitochondrial replacement therapies, offering hope to ...
UK to relax animal and crop gene editing regulations, further distancing itself from EU rules post-Brexit
New legislation will be put in place to cut unnecessary red tape for gene editing, helping our farmers to grow ...
COVID human trials controversy: Were the potentially deadly risks worth the benefits?
In February 2021, scientists at Imperial College London gained approval to conduct an [human challenge trial, or] HCT of COVID-19 ...
Bad sleep: How much rest do we need to prevent cognitive decline and dementia?
Most of us struggle to think well after a poor night’s sleep – feeling foggy and failing to perform at ...
Eggs can be harvested from trans men’s ovaries even after hormone replacement therapy, helping them have biological children
Ovaries contain hundreds of thousands of underdeveloped eggs, held in a kind of suspended animation. Each month, one matures and ...
If the EU breaks from past blanket opposition to agri-biotechnology, what might the legal framework look like?
Throughout the EU, GMOs may only be placed on the field as seed or on the market as food or ...
Natural COVID immunity? Some people are exposed to SARS-CoV-2 but never get sick
More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, most Americans have some immunity against the virus — either by vaccination ...
China rolls out legal protections on the genetic data of its citizens–with troubling exceptions, say ethics experts
The Chinese government has identified genetic data as a national strategic resource and is strengthening state control over the country's ...
Viewpoint: Ukrainian war fallout — German Green Party must get over rejection of GMOs and gene edited crops
In the face of the war against Ukraine, the leadership of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party has said goodbye to ...
CRISPR mosquitoes target malaria: 240 million annual cases could be reduced dramatically by using gene editing and gene drives to control disease-carrying insects
The high number of malaria cases continues to be registered even though several efforts have been put in place towards ...
