News

2023-07-04 |

Analysis statement of ENSSER on the European Commission’s leaked new GM proposal

This statement was sent to members of the European Parliament and competent authorities in several EU member states today.

The EU Commission’s proposal is scientifically unacceptable, removes the provisions of the precautionary principle and puts the public and environment at risk. Critical scientific expertise and its supporting scientific evidence was completely ignored. The proposal follows exclusively the guidance and assertions of the public and private biotechnology sector – and is therefore to be classified as one-sided. In the following, we briefly explain why this is so – with scientific reasoning and evidence. We focus on the Annex I only for now.

2023-07-03 |

Prevent patented GM seeds in Europe resulting from reform of EU GMO regulation

We are writing to express our concerns about a possible flood of patented seeds entering the EU market as a result of the Commission's far-reaching dismantling of the EU's GMO regulations. With its upcoming proposal on new genomic techniques (NGT), the Commission intends to exempt a vast majority of GM crops from the EU's GMO regulations. The vast majority of plants developed with new genomic techniques – if not all of them – are covered by patents. We are deeply concerned about the impact of these patents on farmers' rights to seeds, small- and medium-sized conventional and organic plant breeders, consumers, our food system, and cultivated plant diversity.

2023-06-20 |

CRISPRthripsis in plants

Gene scissors found to cause chaos in the genome of tomatoes

20 June 2023 / Recent scientific findings have revealed chromothripsis-like effects after the application of CRISPR/Cas in the genome of tomatoes. Chromothripsis refers to a phenomenon in which often several hundred genetic changes occur simultaneously in a 'catastrophic' event. Many sections of the genetic material can be swapped, twisted, recombined or even lost if this occurs.

It has been known for some time that ‘CRISPRthripsis’, which is another term for the above-described phenomenon, occurs in mammalian (and human) cells. This effect has now been also demonstrated in plants after gene scissor applications. The new study was already published during the peer-review process. The findings show that gene scissor applications cause unintended genetic alterations much more frequently than previously thought, affecting large parts of the genome.

2023-05-29 |

Australia: An application to field trial GM perennial ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass win!

An application to field trial GM perennial ryegrass as 'more nutritious' animal feed was withdrawn. GeneEthics had told the OGTR the trial could not be contained and more weeds would result. Grown as a pasture and lawn grass the plant is also an aggressive, invasive weed that would spread more widely. If approved, we expected more weedicides would be sprayed, adding to their $5 billion annual cost.

2023-05-27 |

Young Canadians are willing to pay more for organic food

A new survey conducted by Research Co. has found that young Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more likely to be willing to pay a premium for food that is organic or free-from genetically modified organisms (GMO).

Of the 1,000 people involved in the survey, 41 per cent said they would not pay a higher price for organic food. The proportion increases to 57 per cent among people aged 55 and over, but decreases to 41 per cent among those aged 35 to 54. Only about one-quarter (23 per cent) of younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 said they wouldn’t pay more for organic food, according to the survey.

The survey found similar results regarding non-GMO food, with 31 per cent of people expressing their unwillingness to pay a premium for free-from GMO food. The proportion is higher (38 per cent) among those aged 55 and over and similar (31 per cent) among those aged 35 to 54 and lower (22 per cent) for those aged 18 to 34.

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