05/February/21

 

A researcher at Norway's Institute of Marine Research has reportedly committed GMO research misconduct, according to a news article published by the Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees. According to the article, Anna Wargelius killed and ate GMO CRISPR gene-edited salmon from the research project that she leads, claiming it was "safe" to do so. Her unnamed colleagues on the project also ate the salmon. There are strict rules for performing research with GMOs in Norway, as laid down in the country's Gene Technology Act. Eating GMO salmon from a research project before it has commercial approval is a violation of the law on several counts, according to a whistleblower scientist. GMWatch

 

 

Labiotech.eu, which calls itself "the leading digital media covering the European Biotech industry", has published an interesting and well researched article about GMO detection methods for gene-edited products and the difficulties in researching and applying them, given the lack of transparency on the part of GMO developers. John Fagan, cofounder of the Health Research Institute in the US, and lead author on a paper describing an open-source detection method for a gene-edited canola, is quoted as saying, “This is something I always say to my friends in the industry: if you were just open and transparent about what you’re doing, consumers would begin to trust your products and accept them. Instead of that, the strategy for so long has been just the opposite.” Labiotech.eu

 

 

In acquiring competitors both small and large, the six biggest agricultural biotech firms collapsed rapidly into the Big Three — Bayer, DuPont (now Corteva) and ChemChina. This wave of consolidation, which was met with little resistance from antitrust authorities, gave these corporations control of proprietary, multi-level systems of traits, seeds, agrochemicals and digital technology that limit farmers’ choices and lock them into limited cropping systems. [GMW: While this article, co-authored by the president of National Farmers Union in the USA doesn't explicitly mention gene editing, Corteva is the major gatekeeper of patents on CRISPR gene-editing technology. Thus far from being a tool for the democratisation of agriculture, as is often claimed, gene editing is a tool enabling further consolidation of the seeds market and near-monopolistic control by Corteva, followed by Bayer/Monsanto. For more information, see this article.] Modern Farmer