GMO News

GMO awareness leads to increased demand for non-GMO products

Six years ago, the state of Vermont passed what turned out to be a short-lived law mandating disclosure of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, on all food products. That law’s effect? A collective shrug of the shoulders. That doesn’t mean people don’t care about whether GMO ingredients are in their food, according to new Cornell […]

Who trusts and distrusts gene-edited foods? New study gauges public acceptance

Through CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies, researchers and developers are poised to bring dozens—if not hundreds—of new products to grocery stores with claims of benefits: mushrooms with longer shelf lives, drought-resistant corn and bananas impervious to a fungus threatening the global supply. A few, including a soybean variety that produces a supposedly healthier cooking oil, […]

Gene editing hamsters induced the opposite effect from predictions—creating enraged “bullies”

Gene editing can turn your beloved hamster from a Dr. Jekyll to a Mr./Mrs. Hyde. That alone shows the potency of the genetic manipulation tool—but even scarier is that the researchers who used it on hamsters had strongly expected the opposite result. University of Georgia scientists used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to remove a […]

Gene editing proposal: Modify hens to kill male chicks before they hatch

Israeli scientists have presented a concept patent to use CRISP/Cas gene editing technology to produce modified chickens disallowing male offspring to hatch. The proposal is being touted as “more humane” because young male chicks from laying hens are currently slaughtered in the egg and chicken meat industries—being unsuitable for either industry. Dr. Michael Antoniou and […]

GMO contamination found in native corn varieties in Brazil

In Brazil, one of the largest producers of GM crops worldwide, GMO monocultures account for about 123.5 million acres. Small-scale growers, indigenous people, and traditional communities are responsible for conserving local genetic resources. A recent study highlighted the coexistence of these two agricultural models, looking at transgenic flow detection in corn (maize) landraces (local cultivars). […]