David Vaux, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
A controversial 2012 paper on the effects of genetically modified (GM) maize and the herbicide glyphosate on tumour growth in rats – a paper later retracted by the journal – has been republished, with…
Field testing genetically modified crops is a necessary step of the process, but who makes sure it’s all safe?
Andreas Beer/Flickr
In this second instalment of GM in Australia – a series looking at the facts, ethics, regulations and research into genetically modified crops – David Tribe walks us through the bodies responsible for…
Carp have spread throughout Australia’s waterways - but CSIRO is hoping to bring a new genetic weapon to bear on them.
Kletr/Sutterstcok.com
A genetic modification that creates male-only populations could give us a new weapon against invasive fish such as carp that plague our waterways. “Daughterless technology”, which works by removing females…
Cotton has become a controversial crop in India.
captrosha
Arguments surrounding the use of genetically modified crops and whether they are the solution to the world’s problems of food supply and public health are no nearer to resolution than when GM was introduced…
Once again, genetically modified crops are in the news for all the wrong reasons. In Western Australia’s Supreme Court, organic farmer Steve Marsh is suing his neighbour and fellow farmer Michael Baxter…
“No” doesn’t really cover the nuances of the GM debate.
Darko Vojinovic/AP
In the polarised and fractious debate over the use of genetic modification in agriculture, few issues have raised hackles as much as the proposed use of genetic use restriction techniques (GURT), more…
Leading biologists argue the world must embrace GM plants.
Will de Freitas
Today’s wars are not about food, but not too far in the future they could be. The number of people dying of starvation has been falling for decades, but the decline in the numbers of hungry people is slowing…
Researchers hoping to produce modified chickens hatched with in-built resistance to bird flu will conduct trials on live hens later this year, an Australian scientist said on Tuesday. CSIRO research scientist…
Science is a battleground with areas that are bitterly contested by special interests that sometime stoop to trickery.
JD Hancock
Well-established science is highly reliable and serves us well. Modern medicine, the airline industry, and the internet all show what science can achieve in terms of healthier, more interesting and wealthier…
The French paper linking GM corn and cancer in rats should have been rejected on a number of grounds.
Vermario
Ashley Ng, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini caused quite a stir last week when he claimed he’d shown cancer in rats increased when they were fed genetically modified corn and/or water spiked with the herbicide…
Genetic modification for treating illness may be obligatory; the real question is where we draw the line.
Fufue
Leafing through the popular press it’s easy to see that the baby industry is big business: designer labels in size 000; prams that deftly allow running parents to take baby along and pick up a single origin…
Genetically modified crops have allowed pesticide spraying to be reduced by almost half a million kilograms in the last 15 years.
Eric Constantineau
Recent news reports claim one in ten Australians believe the world will end on December 21, 2012, based largely on internet gossip about the meaning of ancient stone carvings from the Mayans of Central…
Aedes aegypti causes about 100 million cases of dengue fever worldwide every year.
Stephen Doggett/Medical Entymology
Mosquito-borne diseases remain one of the greatest global threats to human health. Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes hold great potential to reduce the burden of disease but as research moves from the…
Up to one million Africa children die of malaria every year.
US Army Africa
Julie Healer, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
The great burden of death and disease caused by the malaria parasite often goes unnoticed in the developed world. But it’s the leading cause of death in children under five years old in many sub-Sahara…
For the first time, scientists have been able to fix a genetic liver defect in tests on mice using stem cells created from human skin, marking a potential major breakthrough in the repair of genetic disorders…
Feeding the world’s poor may not really be the main concern of companies that take out gene patents on crops.
AAP
Michael Gilbert’s article starts with a title that poses a question - Will patenting crops help feed the hungry? Fair enough, except he then proceeds to provide an answer, which as the posted comments…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford