COP16: Hollowed-out assessment process for synthetic biology survives

CBD Parties have not explicitly continued the process for broad and regular horizon-scanning, monitoring and assessment of the most recent technological developments in synthetic biology, but assessment will continue, albeit in a different form. […]

Biosafety Protocol’s guidance on LMOs containing engineered gene drives welcomed despite evident flaws

Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety welcome voluntary guidance materials for assessing the risks of LMOs containing engineered gene drives, despite concerns that the materials are not precautionary enough and questions over potential conflicts of interest. […]

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. […]