Biotech Updates

Around 160 participants composed of farmers, members, and officials of selected municipalities in Camarines Sur, and representatives from the academe and non-government organizations were informed on the science of biotechnology, food and environmental safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, biotech products in the pipeline, and the existing biosafety regulatory guidelines in the Philippines during the Biotechnology 101 and Joint Department Circular (JDC) Public Briefing held at Villa Caceres Hotel in Naga City, Camarines Sur on September 26, 2018.

UBIC Initiates Efforts to Integrate Biosciences into Uganda's Education System

Uganda Biosciences Information Center (UBIC) is conducting a series of teachers' training workshops this year to create and increase countrywide appreciation of integration of biosciences in the country's formal education system.

ITIF Files Petition to Ban Non-GMO Labels

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a science and technology think tank, filed a Citizen Petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prohibit the use of non-GMO labels. The group claims that the non-GMO label "deceives consumers through false and misleading claims about foods, food ingredients and their health and safety characteristics." ITIF Senior Fellow Val Giddings also said that such labels, initiated by the Non-GMO Project, is an act of misbranding under the law, thus they are calling on the FDA to act against the confusion spread by these false claims.

International Team of Biologists Create New Tomato Using Genome Editing

For the first time ever, an international team of scientists from Brazil, the United States, and Germany has created a new crop from a wild plant within a single generation using the modern genome editing process CRISPR-Cas9.