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- Would Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman Have Signed that GMO Letter? From what I have read about him, I am pretty sure that Richard Feynman would not have signed the recent letter in which a large percentage of our living Nobel laureates urged Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs)…
- The Absurdity of Claiming that “All GMOs are Safe” In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Mark Lynas recently wrote that “There is an equivalent level of scientific consensus on both issues…that climate change is real and genetically modified foods are safe.” But comparing the issues …
- Time To Talk “Conflicts of Interest” In Relation to GMOs Scientific conflicts of interest have been in the news a lot lately. For example, a federal judge recently ruled that various members of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee had conflicts of interest and…
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Category Archives: Biotechnology
We Need the Whole Truth to Regulate GMOs
The following is a piece I wrote which was published in the July 15, 2023 edition (online; July 16 in print) of The Davis Enterprise. A critical detail was omitted from Rich Rifkin’s Forum article published June 28 in The Davis Enterprise. … Continue reading
Edible Vaccines Against COVID-19? Another Case of Genetic Engineering Déjà vu
Recent reports indicate that plant scientists in Mexico and Canada are working to produce “edible” vaccines against COVID-19. But the idea that fruits or veggies could be genetically engineered (GE) to produce edible vaccines that could be easily shipped, stored … Continue reading
In Light of Big Mistakes Made by Developers of “Poster Child” GMO Products like Hornless Cattle and Golden Rice, FDA is Justified in Requiring Regulation
Earlier this month, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its analysis of what has been touted as the “Poster Child” of gene-edited animals: cattle genetically engineered (GE) to prevent them from developing horns. As mentioned in an … Continue reading
Gene Editing’s Extra DNA Problem: Déjà Vu All Over Again
UC Davis researcher Alison Van Eenennaam described the experience of learning that the “poster animals for the gene-editing revolution” do not, after all, comprise the “same outcome [that] could be achieved by breeding in the farmyard,” like she and her collaborators … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
Tagged ag biotech, Agrobacterium, Alison Van Eenennaam, antibiotic resistance, Calgene, CRISPR, FDA, Flavr Savr tomato, Genetic Engineering, genetically engineered food, GMO, Meat, Nature Biotechnology, Plant Cell, Recombinetics, Regulation of GMOs, Science, Technology, UC Davis, unintended changes in GE crops, unintended effects, USDA
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U.S. Grain Industry Believes USDA APHIS’s “New Proposed Rule [for regulating GMOs] Is Fundamentally Flawed”
I’ve got to give credit to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for persistence. USDA APHIS has proposed new rules for regulating genetically engineered (GE) crop plants (AKA genetically modified organisms: GMOs) … Continue reading
Disappointment in the First 25 Years of GMO Foods
The world’s first, commercially available GMO (genetically modified organism) created for human or animal food was first sold in U.S. grocery stores twenty-five years ago today. I can still remember the excitement my colleagues and I at Calgene, Inc. felt as … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
Tagged children, China, FDA, Genetic Engineering, GMO, Monsanto, New York Times, Reuters, rice, Roundup, Science, sustainability, Technology, transparency, USDA, vitamin A
1 Comment
UC Professors Weigh in on Glyphosate (AKA Roundup) and Carcinogenicity
Glyphosate, the “most widely used herbicide in the world,” is in the news a lot lately, largely because the first of thousands of lawsuits, filed by folks who used Monsanto’s Roundup (or other glyphosate-based herbicide products) for decades–who assumed it was … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
Tagged conflicts of interest, EPA, Genetic Engineering, glyphosate, Monsanto, Roundup, Science, WHO, World Health Organization
2 Comments
“Modified” the Film: Upcoming Screenings
A new film dubbed “A Food Lover’s Journey Into GMOs” was released recently and I highly recommend it…both as an interesting, beautiful and poignant story of its own and also as a means toward filling in gaps in the GMO … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
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New Salk Institute Study Reveals More Detailed Picture of “Scrambled Nature” of Gene Insertions in GMOs
Plant molecular biologists have known for decades that the techniques they use to genetically engineer plants are error prone and can result in GMOs with unintended: mutations in host plant genes, insertion of vector backbone DNA sequences, small duplications or … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
Tagged Agrobacterium, FDA, Genetic Engineering, insertional mutations, Monsanto, mutagenic process, NK603 corn, Regulation of GMOs, Science, Technology
1 Comment
Golden Rice: Of Good Intentions, Insertional Mutants, Human Error, and the Need for Better Regulation of GMOs
After learning that the genetically engineered (GE) Golden Rice “event” being bred into varieties of rice favored by Indian farmers turned out to have a mutation—a mutation created as a result of the genetic engineering process itself (you can check … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology
Tagged ag biotech, agricultural biotechnology, Agrobacterium, beta-carotene, children, China, Gates Foundation, Genetic Engineering, genetically engineered food, GMOs, golden rice, Gordon Conway, insertional mutations, Monsanto, NK603 corn, rice, Science, Syngenta, Technology, Vandana Shiva, vitamin A, Zeneca
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