Biosafety aspects of genome-editing techniques

This Biosafety Briefing examines the biosafety aspects of genome-editing techniques, including the CRISPR system. […]

TWN Briefings for UN Biodiversity Conference #1

Synthetic biology is transforming access to genetic resources. This paper explains the implications of genetic sequence data and calls on Parties to the CBD to take action to ensure that benefit-sharing is not undermined. […]

Protecting Peasant Seeds from Growing Corporate Capture

The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2016 warns that seeds and biodiversity are under threat as a result of increasing corporate capture and States’ neglect. […]

Glyphosate is Not Safe, Reveals New Review by Experts

This monograph documents the adverse human health and environmental impacts of glyphosate, whose use has gone up with the advent of glyphosate-tolerant GM crops, necessitating the call for a global phase-out of the world’s most widely used herbicide. […]

U.S. Entomologists Call on Seed Industry to Admit Failings of GM Herculex Corn

Six US entomologists have written an open letter to seed companies asking them to change their marketing claims and label language to reflect the widespread failure of Cry1F (Herculex I) trait in controlling the western bean cutworm. […]

How to Mainstream Agroecology

A journal paper discusses how wholesome food production methods such as agroecology can become mainstream instead of alternative by acquiring their own “thick legitimacy” to supplant that of industrial food systems. […]

2,4-D and Dicamba Found to Have Lethal and Sub-lethal Effects on Lady Beetles

As weeds develop resistance to glyphosate, GM crops resistant to the 2,4-D and dicamba are poised to enter the market. However, these herbicides and the formulations containing them can cause lethal and sublethal effects on beneficial insects. […]

Ensuring Adequate International Oversight of Synthetic Biology

This briefing paper outlines the 5 key actions that need to be taken by Parties to the CBD and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, in order to ensure that there is adequate international oversight of synthetic biology. […]

GM Delivers No Advantage in Crop Yields After 20 Years

A new analysis has found that GM crops in the US and Canada have shown no discernible advantage in yields nor led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides when measured against non-GM varieties in Western Europe. […]

Largest-Ever Study of GE Crops and Pesticide Use Finds Negative Environmental Impact in the U.S.

The largest-ever study on GE crops and pesticide use in the U.S. has found that adopters of GE glyphosate-tolerant soybean and maize have used increasingly more herbicides than non-adopters to deal with the proliferation of glyphosate-resistant weeds. […]