Global Trends of Genome Editing Approaches

As the world continues to face challenges such as food security, climate change, and fatal diseases, scientists have turned to technological advancement to find ways to curb or eliminate them. One of these is genome editing, which has gained popularity over the last few years because of its precision and low cost. In a paper written by Masashi Tachikawa and Makiko Matsuo of the University of Tokyo in Japan, they examined how genome editing is regulated by different countries, and how these relate to the regulations of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They also highlighted that these regulations are trending towards a “middle ground,” wherein some countries consider genome editing products as GMOs but try to apply simplified regulations while some exclude them from the scope of regulations as non-GMOs but require confirmation.

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