Tag: gmo

USDA Says Genetically Modified Hemp Plant ‘May Be Safely Grown And Bred’ In The United States

A hemp plant genetically engineered to produce lower levels of the cannabinoids THC and cannabichromene (CBC) “may be safely grown and bred in the United States,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced.

The hemp plant was genetically modified and submitted for review by Growing Together Research, a biotechnology firm headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company announced earlier this year that it had achieved “the first known stable transformation and regeneration of multiple THC-free hemp cultivars” and in June announced it would work to increase THC production in cannabis plants.

“We reviewed the modified hemp plant to determine whether it posed an increased plant pest risk as compared to cultivated hemp,” USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in a notice last week. “APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp.”

It its request for the USDA review, Growing Together Research said the changes are intended to make the engineered plants free of THC and CBC and also boost resistance to the herbicide bialaphos. It says genes in the new hemp plants came from multiple donor organisms, including plants, bacteria, a virus and at least one artificial sequence.

The company said in the request that it believes the intended resistance to the herbicide “is not expected to result in any other material changes to metabolism, physiology or development of the plant.”

The APHIS review focused on whether the new hemp plant poses a “plant pest risk.” The process, according to the agency, “examines the plant pests and diseases that are known to be associated with a commodity, identifies those pests that are likely to remain on the commodity upon importation into the United States, and evaluates the mitigations that may be required to avoid, reduce, or eliminate the risk of pest introduction into the United States.”

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Genetically Modified Soil Microbes May Have ‘Irreversible Consequences’

A plan by major agrochemical companies to develop genetically engineered (GE) soil microbes, including bacteria and fungi, to act as pesticides and fertilizers is raising concerns about the unknown and potentially disastrous risks associated with the new organisms, according to a report published Tuesday by Friends of the Earth.

Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF are among the chemical giants known to be developing the microbes which, according to the report, are fundamentally different from the already controversial genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that have existed for decades.

GE microbes are living organisms that share their genetic material easily with other species and travel vast distances in the wind. And because they are microscopic, their numbers are vast.

“An application of GE bacteria could release approximately 3 trillion genetically modified organisms every half an acre — that’s about how many GE corn plants there are in the entire U.S.,” said Dana Perls, food and technology manager at Friends of the Earth, in a press release.

Introducing GE microbes into agriculture represents an “unprecedented open air genetic experiment,” the report says. “The scale of release is far larger, and the odds of containment are far smaller than for other GE crops.”

Scientists understand the role and function of less than 1 percent of the billions of existing species of microbes or “biologicals.”

Yet the race is on by biotech and agrochemical companies to develop, modify and patent new microbes to capture a share of the biologicals market, which is set to triple in value to $29.31 billion by 2029.

At least two GE microbes, Pivot Bio’s Proven and BASF’s Poncho Votivo seed treatments, are already being used by U.S. farmers on millions of acres of farmland.

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Human-Pig Hybrid Created in the Lab

In a remarkable—if likely controversial—feat, scientists announced that they have created the first successful human-animal hybrids. The project proves that human cells can be introduced into a non-human organism, survive, and even grow inside a host animal, in this case, pigs.

This biomedical advance has long been a dream and a quandary for scientists hoping to address a critical shortage of donor organs.

What if, rather than relying on a generous donor, you could grow a custom organ inside an animal instead?

That’s now one step closer to reality, an international team of researchers led by the Salk Institute reports in the journal Cell. The team created what’s known scientifically as a chimera: an organism that contains cells from two different species.

In the past, human-animal chimeras have been beyond reach. Such experiments are currently ineligible for public funding in the United States (so far, the Salk team has relied on private donors for the chimera project). Public opinion, too, has hampered the creation of organisms that are part human, part animal.

But for lead study author Jun Wu of the Salk Institute, we need only look to mythical chimeras—like the human-bird hybrids we know as angels—for a different perspective.

“In ancient civilisations, chimeras were associated with God,” he says, and our ancestors thought “the chimeric form can guard humans.” In a sense, that’s what the team hopes human-animal hybrids will one day do.

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Scientists create first genetically modified animal that can have offspring asexually

Developmental biologist Alexis Sperling became obsessed with something she saw in the lab when she was studying for her PhD. A praying mantis had young spontaneously, without having sex with a male. A virgin had had children.

This ability has never been observed in mammals, including of course humans, but in the rest of the animal world there are certain species capable of doing it. Many of the cases have been observed in zoos where the females had spent years alone without the possibility of mating.

In 2015, a team discovered one of the first cases of sexless reproduction in the wild: the smalltooth saw fish, which was on the brink of extinction. And just two years ago, at the San Diego Zoo, two females of the endangered California condor gave birth asexually, despite the fact that in this case there were breeding males available.

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EPA Authorizes Release of 2 Billion More GMO Mosquitoes as Reports of Malaria Surface in States That Already Released Them

GE mosquitoes created by biotechnology company Oxitec have been released in the U.S., even though the long-term effects could be disastrous.

Oxitec is using Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) mosquitoes for this real-world experiment, the species known to carry yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile and Mayaro, a dengue-like disease.

Oxitec genetically engineered the males to carry a “genetic kill switch,” such that when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, their offspring inherits the lethal gene and cannot survive or reproduce in the wild.

In the U.S., Oxitec is marketing the insects as Oxitec Friendly mosquitoes, trying to put a non-threatening name on a reckless project that could quickly backfire.

It may even be too late, as the GE mosquitoes have already been released in multiple locations.

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What are open-source seeds? Why are open-source seeds important?

Perhaps you have heard the term open-source. Maybe you heard about it within the context of software and technology as the open-source movement originated within the software development community as a means to encourage innovation and knowledge sharing. As such, the open-source concept is best-known within the technological paradigm. However, the essence of open-source can be applicable across practically all fields and sectors. 

At the most basic level, open-source means that a technology or process is made freely available for modification and redistribution. It is common practice for one or more individuals or groups to work together to develop and refine the technology. Such distribution and organizational structures are in contrast to presently common economic models where a single entity works to create a product or process and retains exclusive ownership of the output (although the right to use the product or process can be sold). 

The characteristic of allowing participants to edit and change open-source products is also contrary to conventional production practices. In a sense, this suggests that open-source products belong not to one single entity or person but to the wider community that has contributed to the realization of that product. This organizational structure contrasts common economic standards where property rights are clearly defined (which helps to clarify the principal-agent dilemma). 

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EXECUTIVE ORDER LAYS FOUNDATION FOR LAB-CREATED FOODS

September 12, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an “Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe and Secure American Bioeconomy.”1

This executive order makes biotechnology a national priority across agencies and branches of government. As noted in this order, biotechnology will also be used to “improve” food security, sustainability, and agricultural innovation in the U.S.:

“The Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies as determined by the Secretary, shall submit a report assessing how to use biotechnology and biomanufacturing for food and agriculture innovation, including by improving sustainability and land conservation; increasing food quality and nutrition; increasing and protecting agricultural yields; protecting against plant and animal pests and diseases; and cultivating alternative food sources.”

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Chinese team behind extreme animal gene experiment says it may lead to super soldiers who survive nuclear fallout

A team of military medical scientists in China says it has inserted a gene from the microscopic water bear into human embryonic stem cells and significantly increased these cells’ resistance to radiation.

They said success in this unprecedented experiment could lead to super-tough soldiers who could survive nuclear fallout.

From water bear to super soldier

The water bear, also known as tardigrade or moss piglet, is an eight-legged animal smaller than 1 millimetre long and the hardiest creature on Earth. Over years of scientific testing, it has survived -200 degrees Celsius, more than anour hour in boiling water and after flying in space.

The water bear’s toughness comes in part from a gene that can generate shieldlike proteins to protect its cells against radiation and other environmental damage.

The Chinese team said it had found a way to introduce this gene into human DNA using CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing tool now available in most bio-labs.

In their laboratory experiment, nearly 90 per cent of the human embryonic cells carrying the water bear gene survived a lethal exposure to X-ray radiation, according to the team led by professor Yue Wen with the radiation biotechnology laboratory at the Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing.

There has been a growing interest in the study since Yue and his colleagues published their findings in the Chinese-language journal Military Medical Sciences in October, according to a Beijing-based life scientist.

“This is amazing, considering the big difference between the water bear and a human,” said the researcher who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the technology.

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The toxic world of GM crops

The biotech industry promised genetically engineered foods would reduce pesticide use, increase the nutritional content of food, boost farmers’ profits and feed the world by increasing yields.

In reality, GM crops have turned glyphosate into one of the most widely and recklessly used herbicides in history and monoculture has led to a loss of biodiversity.

GM crops have also failed to live up to expected increases in crop yields and, nutritionally, GMOs primarily provide cheap, unhealthy ingredients for ultra-processed ready meals, pre-packaged foods and fast-food restaurants.

More than 40,000 people in the US have filed lawsuits alleging exposure to Roundup is the cause of their cancer. Once a rare cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma is now the seventh most common cancer in US men and women.

The agricultural biotech industry continues to advance with a new suite of genetic engineering technologies known as gene editing, which includes techniques such as CRISPR as well as synthetic biology and gene drives.

Promises, promises, promises. The toxic world of genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”) and industrial agriculture is built on false promises. For nearly 30 years we have been listening to the propaganda of big biotech companies like Monsanto/Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont/Pioneer, BASF and others about how genetic engineering will transform farming and food production.

We’ve heard how it will reduce the environmental impact of farming by lowering pesticide use. We’ve been promised that it will increase the nutritional content of food. We’ve been told how it will boost farmers’ profits by increasing yields, and that those increased yields will help “feed the world.”

As the problem of man-made climate change has moved to the top of the global agenda, new promises have emerged about how GMOs will fight climate change and how genetic engineering will make plants more resilient to drought and flooding. The huckster promises keep on coming, but what has the biotech industry actually delivered over nearly three decades?

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“Mini Antlers” Grown On Mice Heads After Scientists Implant Deer Cells

Scientists have grown “mini-antlers” on mice by inserting deer genes into the mouse genome, according to a new paper. The results suggest that mammals that have lost the ability to regenerate organs may still contain some regenerative genes, and that it may be possible to harness the rapid growth of antlers in other applications. 

Growing at 2.75 centimeters (around 1 inch) per day, antlers are one of the fastest regenerating tissues in the animal kingdom and offer a perfect look at how mammals can regenerate cells on a regular basis. Antlers are especially interesting because mammals in general have lost the ability to regenerate organs and most other tissues, so a large appendage that regularly regrows offers unparalleled insight into how regenerative medicine for bones could work.  

In the pursuit of regenerative medicines, Chinese researcher Toa Qin and colleagues took a deep dive into the mechanics behind the antlers of Sika deer, which regrow every year before they are shed. In doing so, they created a regenerative “atlas” of Sika deer antlers, isolating multiple single cells and genes that are critical in the development of the antler tissue. 

Ten days before the antlers were shed, the researchers identified one type of stem cell that was highly active in the regeneration, and these remained with the antlers a short time after shedding. However, by day five post-shedding, a new subtype of stem cells had emerged. 

After identifying multiple stages of growth, the team took the stem cells with the most regrowth potential (which proved to be from shed antlers around five days old) and cultured them in a Petri dish before implanting them into the head of mice. 

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