GMO News

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 […]

New testing method for GMO crops developed

Researchers from North Carolina State University in Raleigh have presented a new method to determine whether safety testing of genetically modified crops is needed. Published in Science in September, the article reported that “genomics could be used to scan new crop varieties for unexpected DNA changes,” similar to the way biomedical sciences scan human genomes […]

India’s Supreme Court halts release of GM mustard pending further investigation

In early November, the Supreme Court of India put a stay on a GEAC decision of October 18 that was used by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on October 25 to allow environmental release of GM mustard in five states. The herbicide-tolerant mustard won’t be released, pending further consideration on November 10. Ms. Aruna […]

Gene editing is not “precision breeding”, international scientists declare

International scientists and policy experts have presented a statement opposing the use of the term “precision breeding” to describe gene or genome editing. Led by Dr. Michael Antoniou, the statement is a response to the UK’s draft Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which would remove or weaken regulatory controls for gene-editing technology. “Precision breeding” is […]

Gene edited purple tomato hyped in the media while non-GMO purple tomatoes have been available for many years

A new genetically modified tomato manufactured by Norfolk Plant Sciences is “unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to a conventional tomato,” USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported in its first Regulatory Status Review of a GM plant under the SECURE rule. The deep purple tomatoes may thus be legally […]