Risks and Governance Challenges of Gene Drive Organisms

Gene drive organisms are characterized by a significant depth of intervention. Therefore, there is a need to broaden the social and political debate over them rather than considering them as an incremental innovation of first-generation GMOs. […]

Stopping the Transgene-Facilitated Herbicide Treadmill

The US experience with GM dicamba-resistant crops should serve as a cautionary tale when evaluating the next agrotechnology for weeds and makes a good case for adopting diversified cropping systems instead. […]

Mexico Defends Its Restrictions on US GM Corn with Science

Mexico has presented hundreds of academic studies that show cause for concern about human health and the threat to native corn diversity, in defense of its restrictions on GM corn from the US. […]

CBD: Discussions on Multidisciplinary Assessments of Synthetic Biology Falter

Discussions on synthetic biology at the CBD have hit major roadblocks, with the continuation of the process for broad and regular horizon scanning, monitoring and assessment of synthetic biology in jeopardy. […]

Improving Traceability to Prevent Unauthorised GMOs in the EU

As traceability can complement detection and identification strategies, improvements to the existing traceability strategy for GMOs in the EU are investigated in this study. […]

Ensuring good governance of synthetic biology at SBSTTA-26

As Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity gather in Nairobi for the Twenty-sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice from 13-18 May 2024, the issue of synthetic biology is high on the agenda. […]

TWN Briefing Note on Risk Assessment for SBSTTA-26

Key recommendations for SBSTTA-26 on risk assessment on living modified organisms containing engineered gene drives. […]

French Health and Food Safety Agency Recommends Pre-Market Assessment of New GM Plants

The French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) calls for new GM plants to be assessed for health and environmental risks on a case-by-case basis before being placing on the market. […]

US Federal Court Rescinds EPA’s Approval of Dicamba Herbicide

A US federal court recently rescinded the U.S. EPA 2020 approval of the highly volatile herbicide dicamba for use on certain GM crops. […]

TWN Briefing Note on Synthetic Biology for SBSTTA-26, May 2024

Key recommendations for SBSTTA-26 on synthetic biology […]