Horizon scanning, monitoring and assessment: Fundamental in ensuring equity and precaution in synthetic biology development

TWN Briefing Note on synthetic biology for the UN Biodiversity Conference 2024 calls for equity and precaution […]

Deregulating New GMOs Will Not Increase Benefits or Safety

This article dispels four fictions that proponents of the deregulation of new GMOs use to forward their argument, and stresses that doing so will not increase benefit or safety. […]

Unintended off-target risks of open-air spraying of genome editing machinery in the wild

Study describes ‘open air’ genome editing (and gene silencing applications) as emerging environmental contaminants with potential important impacts on non-target organisms. […]

Diversified Farming Yields Strong Benefits for Farmers and Biodiversity

Drawing from data from 11 countries, this study found that implementing livestock diversification or soil conservation tended to create beneficial social and environmental outcomes, especially for biodiversity. […]

Mexico Delivers Robust Final Rebuttal Justifying Restrictions on US Corn

Mexico’s final rebuttal in its trade dispute with the US demonstrates that its GM corn restrictions are legal, do not significantly impact US corn exporters, and are fully justified by the evidence of risks to human health and the environment. […]

‘Black Box’ Biotechnology: Addressing the risks, hype, and inequities of the integration of AI with synthetic biology

This briefing addresses ‘generative’ artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which are now being applied to generate novel digital sequences for GMOs and proteins. […]

New Evidence Shows Unintended Changes from Gene Editing are Different from Random Mutations

Using a new method of data evaluation, this study shows that unintentional changes from the use of CRISPR/Cas ‘gene scissors’ are different from random mutations and could present risks. […]

Resilient, People-Centred Food Systems to Counter the Global Food Crisis

Establishing more ecologically sound food production systems such as agroecology, reducing reliance on long-distance food trade, and curbing corporate power in the food system will make food systems more resilient and less vulnerable to the broader polycrisis. […]

Agroecology and Organic Agriculture Boost Productivity and Profitability

This dossier demonstrates the potential of agroecology and organic agriculture to boost productivity and profitability while generating a range of other co-benefits. […]

Gene Drives Not a Viable Route to Conservation

As there are currently no adequate scientific means to assess the evolutionary impacts of gene drives over time and space and given the risk of irreparable harm, the environmental release of gene drives should not be viewed as viable for biodiversity conservation. […]