GMO News

No basis for U.S. to dispute Mexico’s GM corn import ban

By Timothy Wise and Sharon Anglin Treat A high-level delegation from the Mexican government visited Washington in January to discuss a series of bilateral trade issues, one of them being U.S. government and biotech industry claims that Mexico’s intention to restrict imports of genetically modified corn in 2024 violates the new Agricultural Biotechnology provisions in […]

Company genetically engineers fruit flies to be “biofactories” for fake meat production

Future Fields’ EntoEngine insects have serious environmental and ethical downsides. Report by Claire Robinson; technical advice by Dr. Michael Antoniou The biotech company Future Fields has notified the Canadian authorities of its intention to commercialize EntoEngine, a genetically modified fly. The flies are engineered to produce foreign proteins—in this case, growth factors, which are cell signaling molecules […]

Move over synbio stevia; there are new GMO sweeteners in town

The stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana) features leaves that contain sweetness compounds known as rebaudiosides, or Rebs for short. Each Reb has a slightly different flavor profile. When extracted from the stevia leaf, they combine to create a sweetener that has a slightly bitter, and often unpopular, aftertaste. Various brands of synthetic biology (synbio) stevia have been […]

Lawsuit challenges narrow and unclear GMO food labeling rules

Center for Food Safety (CFS) and a coalition of food labeling nonprofits and retailers filed an appeal last week with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging a previous ruling that allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to continue using the misleading terminology “bioengineered” and avoid labeling the majority of genetically engineered (GMO) foods. In the lower court […]

California lawmakers try to halt approval of GM mosquitoes

California’s state legislature is vigorously swatting away approval of Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquito—approved for release in Tulare County by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but awaiting the OK from the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Based on unknown impacts such a move could unleash upon humans and other species, the lawmakers are pushing the Department to […]