Europe
EU’s negative attitude toward GMOs shaped by 20 years of anti-biotech ‘fear-mongering,’ USDA finds
For more than two decades, European consumers have been exposed to consistent fear-mongering from anti-biotech groups, resulting in negative consumer ...
Why Brexit could jump start UK GMO, CRISPR research—once stifled by ‘dead hand’ of EU regulation
Britain is really good at biology. In physics and chemistry, or painting and music, we have often failed to match ...
EU Commission enlists climate-neutral crops and other sustainability tools to meet Green Deal goals
Under its Green Deal, the European Commission has presented a[n] .... action plan that prepares the ground for a sustainable ...
Bayer insect‐resistant, herbicide‐tolerant GMO corn poses no risk to human health or environment, EU food safety panel confirms
Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐014 .... from Monsanto Company the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food ...
Top European science council demands ‘radical’ GMO regulatory reform
A top European science council calling is demanding a “radical reform of the legal framework” that regulates genetically modified organisms ...
Viewpoint: Proposed EU fungicide ban would sabotage efforts to curb global food contamination
One of the biggest dangers to our food supply comes from mold through a process that’s all-too-natural. Mold thrives in ...
Europe considers accelerated GMO import approval process to facilitate mini US trade deal
Brussels is ready to offer to speed up the approval process for genetically modified organisms imported into the EU, as ...
EU Food safety officials reject activist group Testbiotech’s challenge of glyphosate-tolerant GMO soy approval
Following a request of the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed the scientific arguments raised by the ...
Viewpoint: Europe missed the GMO revolution. Sensible regulation could ensure they don’t miss out on CRISPR gene editing
The EU needs to take politics out of the GM approval process ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s paranoid fear of chemicals fueled by disinterest in learning
In a season of resolutions, a site like [European Scientist] has one hope: that the 2020s will be the decade ...
Viewpoint: If Europe wants to be ‘carbon neutral,’ it needs to embrace biotechnology—GMO and CRISPR crops included
“A revolution is taking place in the knowledge base for life sciences and biotechnology, opening up new applications in healthcare, ...
Viewpoint: French court ruling that already-approved mutagenized crops should be heavily restricted as GMOs reaffirms need to revamp Europe’s antiquated biotech regulations
This judgment raises serious and important questions ...
Transgenic GMOs will remain banned in Italy, agriculture minister says, but cisgenic gene editing could help sustain nation’s crop diversity
Italy’s agricultural minister Teresa Bellanova has expressed an interest in developing sustainable biotechnology, in the light of a milestone agreement ...
EU review of strict CRISPR crop rules dominated by biotech industry, anti-GMO groups allege
The EU is launching a consultation as part of an info-gathering exercise for a Commission study on “the status of ...
French court rules sweet grapefruit, barley, wheat and 2500 crops, developed by mutagenizing seeds with toxic chemicals or gamma rays yet often sold as organic, are GMO, must be labeled and cultivation banned
Mutagenesis is a process where new strains of food and products are created using chemicals and radiation in the lab ...
‘Maladapted’ EU regulation hinders non-toxic biopesticide development, despite growing farmer demand
Biological pesticides are rapidly gaining attention as a sustainable and viable environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. However, they are ...
Post-Brexit rules on glyphosate, neonicotinoid pesticides may reveal UK’s willingness to break from EU regulations
Post-Brexit regulation of controversial pesticides including glyphosate and neonicotinoids could be test cases for how far the U.K. is prepared ...
Leaked proposals suggest EU may assess CRISPR gene editing to ‘improve sustainability’ of food production
More leaked drafts of the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy reveal how the [European] Commission’s plan to make EU food ...
EU officials open to ‘science-based’ decision making on CRISPR crops, USDA’s Sonny Perdue says
When it comes to food, EU policymakers should make science-based decisions if they want to help European their farmers tackle ...
Post-Brexit UK will follow EU GMO, gene-edited crop rules, but long-term regulatory divergence still possible
On 1 February, responsibility for approving novel foods passes from the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) to the UK Food ...
EU Green Party aims to halve synthetic pesticide use by 2025, phase it out completely in 15 years
The EU’s European Green Deal drafters may have succeeded in dodging some of the most immediately contentious issues in the ...
European ‘Green Deal’ stripped of proposal to develop ‘innovative strategies,’ including gene editing
The Green Deal submitted [Dec. 11] left out two controversial passages to agriculture. The debate on genetic engineering and pesticide ...
‘Fine-tuned’ wheat varieties could boost Europe’s grain yields up to 90%, study suggests
European wheat harvests could be increased by more than 5 tonnes a hectare according to newly published research into the ...
Farm to Fork strategy: New EU Agriculture Commissioner wants to boost organic farming
The EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, highlighted the promotion of organic farming as a key aim for the new ...
Viewpoint: With Conservative sweep of the ‘Brexit election’, Boris Johnson poised to steer the UK out of ‘outdated’ EU GMO, CRISPR regulations
If the UK replaces the EU's overly cautious biotech rules with a pro-innovation scheme, it could become a true global ...
French seed firm strikes gene editing licensing deal, despite CRISPR’s uncertain future in EU
Despite the ongoing legal uncertainty over the future of new plant breeding innovation in Europe, US agricultural company Corteva Agriscience ...
‘Natural health’ and conspiracy sites exploit social media to fester opposition to GMO crops. Here’s a study about what can be done to stop it
The unsatisfactory answer to 'How do we control the spread of disinformation?" may be, "We don't know yet." ...
