EU animal feed import demands pressures crop producing nations European based environmental organizations were some of the first organizations to publicly advocate against the commercial introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops over 20 years ago. Since this time, these environmental groups have intensively lobbied to have GM crop production banned Read more…
Kicking off the new academic year As summer slides into fall, the hallways once again filled with excitement and enthusiast chatter of returning students. While the excitement is more likely a result of friends reuniting and reminiscing rather than the commencement of new classes, it’s still a welcome sound. Although Read more…
From June 4-7, 130 people from academia (including myself), government and industry, convened in Ravello, Italy, to share, listen and discuss the latest research on the bioeconomy and biotechnology at the ICABR conference. With over 60 paper presentations, 3 keynote speaker presentations, and multiple plenary and panel discussions far more Read more…
Greenpeace forced to pay over $250,000 Greenpeace was founded in Canada in 1971, with an objective of using science to support and advance environmental causes and policies. Greenpeace Canada states their value is to use “non-violent creative action to pave the way towards a greener, more peaceful world, and to Read more…
Safe foods and technologies no longer reaching some markets Risk is an odd thing in modern societies. Most of us prefer to avoid risk, yet we all do risky things every day. We drive, we smoke, we drink, we buy lotto tickets. So, why is it that our practices don’t Read more…
Numerous other consumer benefits expected Over the past three years, my research team has been surveying an international panel of experts about genome editing. This panel of experts consists of over 700 experts from around the world which include plant breeders, regulators and corporate regulatory officials. Since we began, we Read more…
Establishing DivSeek to drive innovation collaborations Problems with the provision of food are an annual occurrence, at multiple locations across the globe. On any given day, it’s estimated that 800 million individuals are food insecure. Fortunately, many scientists have been working hard to find new ways of increasing food security, Read more…
Genomic editting is being regulated worldwide, so how will Canada create policies for this innovative technology? Canada’s Ag. wants to see regulation make it this science competitive for numerous reasons….
Exploring when regulatory oversight is no longer required In Canada, new plant varieties are regulated based on the final product, not the process used to create the variety. For example, a herbicide-tolerant canola variety is regulated based on the traits that make the new variety novel, not the breeding process Read more…
Being indoors doesn’t mean you’re safe from air pollution. Canadian’s spending 90% of their time indoor, which means indoor air quality should be a growing concern for us Canadian. Being indoors so much exposes ourselves to volatile organic carcinogens (VOCs) like chloroform and benzene, which can have negative effects on our health. Research has recently genetically modified an ivy plant to help reduce such VOC exposure, yet its a long way from being your future houseplant.