Biotech Updates

Position Announcement: ISAAA Global Coordinator

The number of hungry people is growing globally, reaching 821 million in 2017 or one in every nine people, according to the United Nation's report on The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018.

Burkina Faso Farmers Call for Return of Bt Cotton

Cotton farming in Burkina Faso is in a fast slump two years after the suspension of Bt cotton. This was reported by Burkinabé farmers during the launch of the ISAAA report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2017 in Ouagadougou on September 11, 2018. Cotton has been the most important cash crop for Burkinabé farmers, with the country having been Africa's number one cotton producer for 7 consecutive years between 2008 and 2015. It is hardly a coincidence that Bt cotton was commercially cultivated in Burkina Faso during the same period.

How Plants Signal Danger Long Distances

A video shows how seconds after a hungry caterpillar severs a leaf from the rest of the plant, a blaze of fluorescent light washes over the other leaves, signaling that they should prepare for future attacks by the caterpillar or its kin.

Scientists Develop Modified CRISPR-Cas9 System for Tetraploid Potato

Potato's tetraploid genome requires a more powerful genome editing system. Scientist Hiroaki Kusano of Tokyo University of Science and colleagues apply the translational enhancer dMac3 to the Cas9 expression vector to increase the amount of Cas9 proteins produced inside potato cells.

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SCIENCE SPEAKS

ISAAA Inc. Launches Registration for the 8th Asian Short Course on Agribiotechnology, Biosafety Regulation, and Communication (ASCA8) (July 9, 2025)

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GM APPROVAL UPDATES

The Philippines approved the canola event LBFLFK for food, feed, and processing.
The Philippines approved the cotton event GFM cry1A for commercial cultivation.
Brazil approved the wheat event HB4 for commercial cultivation.
The Philippines approved the soybean event GMB 151 for food, feed, and processing.
The Philippines approved the eggplant event EE-1 for cultivation
The USA approved the canola event MON94100 for food and feed.

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Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.

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