The politics of progress Change frequently makes us uncomfortable. Some adjust easier than others do. Some embrace change, while others shun it. Generally, we tend to welcome changes that improve our daily lives, such as the newest version of a cell phone. Whereas, changes that require us to do things Read more…
GM Agriculture and Food Security: Fears and Facts Have you found yourself questioning something you’ve seen in the mainstream or social media about our food production? I suspect most of us have at some point been uncertain by what the media presents us with. I personally see ‘information’ that isn’t Read more…
Or, be sure to regulate the process, rather than the product In 2002, Europe establishing a new regulatory agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to resolve its regulation problems regarding GM crops and other food safety challenges. This new agency assesses the risk of the process used to create Read more…
Over the course of this week, September 10th-14th, Stuart has the great pleasure of being in the beautiful country of Australia with the opportunity to speak at various events. To kick off his week, he will be presenting on Sept 11th to officials from the Office of the Gene Technology Read more…
By Mitch Lyons, University of Saskatchewan Student The AquAdvantage salmon is a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon which can grow to market size in half the time of a regular Atlantic salmon. This salmon’s genome has been altered by the insertion of a promoter sequence of DNA that act like Read more…
By Graham Brookes, PG Economics Ltd, UK When Romania joined the European Union (EU) in 2007 and adopted EU policies, its farmers were no longer allowed to use GM herbicide tolerant (to the herbicide glyphosate) soybeans that many had been using since original authorisation in 1999. Ten years on, Read more…
How the EU implicitly encourages rejection of GM ag As a researcher, I have dedicated considerable time to the coexistence of GM, conventional and organic crops. It was actually funding for this issue that allowed me to start my graduate work in 1999. When I began my research, the European Read more…
United Nations Biodiversity Conference At what point does prevention and precaution trump science and innovation? Depending on who one asks, the responses would run the full gamut from never to always. My view is that as long as the identifiable risks can be adequately addressed, then one should proceed. Of Read more…
Of the four main genetically modified crops, cotton is one that northern climates have little to no experience with and therefore little knowledge about the impacts of GM cotton. In Western Canada, it is quite common to see the bright yellow fields of GM canola and it is becoming increasingly Read more…
Risk assessment of all novel foods and plants An important question that many of us may not have thought of is, how are new food products tested to be determined safe to be eaten by humans? Each year dozens of new plant varieties, novel foods or newly imported foods, are Read more…