Germany’s agriculture ministry has come out against deregulating new genomic techniques and could tip the scale on the matter within the Berlin government, in a departure from its previous non-committal stance. The European Commission is expected to table a proposal for loosening EU rules on gene editing, more specifically, new genomic techniques (NGTs), in June this year. Germany could be a key player in determining how such a proposal will go down with member states. The country’s Greens-led agriculture ministry has now put its cards on the table and came out against deregulating NGTs after minister Cem Özdemir had so far refused to take a stance on the matter. Green environment minister Steffi Lemke is also against deregulation. Euractiv.com

 

 

The Target Malaria consortium has for several years been planning to conduct field trials using genetically engineered mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. The aim is to transfer an artificial gene construct, the "X-shredder", into wild populations of the mosquitoes. This gene construct is meant to reduce the number of female offspring, and thus bring about a decline in the population of mosquitoes known to transmit malaria. However, as recent research shows, the planned releases are based on flawed data and incorrect assumptions. After results from caged trials seemed promising, the consortium announced plans for releases. But in 2022, it became known that the plans were based on incorrect assumptions: After analysis, the Target Malaria experts had to conclude that the artificial genes were integrated into a different chromosome than the one they had previously assumed. The actual site of insertion may also need to be examined more closely, as this genomic region can have implications for the overall stability of the genome. The "X-shredder" is intended to be a test case for the follow-up release of so-called ‘gene drive’ mosquitoes, which inherit gene constructs that can spread much faster in natural mosquito populations by overriding the natural mechanism of heredity. Testbiotech is calling for planned releases of the "X-shredder" and gene drives meant to spread within the mosquito populations to be stopped. Testbiotech

 

 

On March 16, The Atlantic published an article titled “The strongest evidence yet that an animal started the pandemic”, which stated, "A new analysis of genetic samples from China appears to link the pandemic’s origin to raccoon dogs". Similar stories in other influential publications soon followed. Now a group of experts has signed a press statement saying, "We believe these news reports are deeply misleading and should be corrected. We also believe the reports reflect yet another example of a small group of researchers exaggerating their findings and misleading the public with false certainty about the origins of COVID-19." Biosafety Now

 

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