Reading Time: 2 minutes A last-ditch attempt by EU governments to break a deadlock over relaxing regulations on gene-edited crops failed after countries including Poland rejected changes to the text that exempted patented seeds from the measure.
EU governments fail to agree on gene-editing rules despite patent exception
Gene editing race, illegal seed use in crosshairs at World Seed Congress
European Union pushes for alternative seed coatings in a bid to reduce microplastics
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canada is now green on global maps shown at the World Seed Congress in Rotterdam. There’s regulatory certainty for gene-edited crops after regulations were announced in April. That means Canada can play a part the rapid growth of innovation around the world.
World Seed Congress addresses global supply chain challenges
Reading Time: 3 minutes The World Seed Congress is on in Rotterdam, Netherlands with a discussion of the major issues facing the seed and crops sector. The major issues on the agenda include the challenges that the decline in free trade and globalization brings to major suppliers of seeds, the acceptance of gene editing and the technology involved in that process.
China approves first gene-edited wheat in step to open up GM tech to food crops
Reading Time: 2 minutes China has approved the safety of gene-edited wheat for the first time as Beijing cautiously moves forward with commercial growing of genetically modified food crops.
Gene-edited crops clear CFIA’s regulatory bar
Agency guidance puts gene editing on level of conventional breeding
Reading Time: 4 minutes Plants gene-edited for efficient use of water or nutrients or to better withstand pests or drought now won’t have to clear the same regulatory hurdles in Canada as any crops that are modified for herbicide tolerance or include foreign genes. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced updated guidance from the Canadian Food Inspection […] Read more
CropLife not driving CFIA policy, agency says
NFU calls for CFIA head's ouster over 'indication of improper collaboration'
Reading Time: 3 minutes The National Farmers Union and a clutch of other organizations have asked Canada’s federal ag minister to replace the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, citing questions about the provenance of regulatory proposals on gene-edited seed. CFIA officials, however, reject the NFU’s allegation that the metadata attached to the proposal document in question may […] Read more
Maryland man recovering after ‘breakthrough’ pig-heart transplant
Hog's genes edited to reduce rejection risk
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — A U.S. man with terminal heart disease was implanted with a genetically modified pig heart in a first-of-its-kind surgery, and three days later the patient is doing well, his doctors reported on Monday. The surgery, performed by a team at the University of Maryland Medicine, is among the first to demonstrate […] Read more
U.S. surgeons successfully test pig kidney transplant in human patient
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient’s immune system, a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human organs for transplant. The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City […] Read more
Regulations on gene-edited crops to be eased in England
Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — Britain’s farming and environment minister George Eustice announced Wednesday that regulations related to gene editing in agricultural research would be eased in England following a public consultation. Rules will now largely be aligned with conventional breeding methods for research and development into plants although scientists will still be required to notify […] Read more
France backs non-GMO regulation for crop gene-editing in EU
Reading Time: < 1 minute Paris | Reuters — France sees crops developed using gene-editing techniques as different to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and opposes a European Union court decision to put them under strict GMO regulations, the country’s agriculture minister said. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in 2018 that mutagenesis, among so-called new breeding techniques (NBT) based […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
