Is the supposed safety advantage of GMO crops over conventional chemical pesticides a mirage? According to biotech lore, the Bt pesticides introduced into many GMO food crops are natural proteins whose toxic activity extends only to narrow groups of insect species. Therefore, says the industry, these pesticides can all be safely eaten, e.g. by humans.
Continue readingTag: DNA
The Meaning of Life (Part I)
by Jonathan Latham, PhD Many people date the DNA revolution to the discovery of its structure by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. But really it began thirty years before, conceived by the Rockefeller …
Continue readingGene Drives: A Scientific Case for a Complete and Perpetual Ban
by Jonathan Latham, PhD One of the central issues of our day is how to safely manage the outputs of industrial innovation. Novel products incorporating nanotechnology, biotechnology, rare metals, microwaves, novel chemicals, and more, enter …
Continue readingGenetics Is Giving Way to a New Science of Life
by Jonathan Latham, PhD Test your understanding of the living world with this simple question. What kind of large biomolecule is found in all living organisms? If your answer is “DNA”, you are incorrect. Many …
Continue readingGod’s Red Pencil? CRISPR and The Three Myths of Precise Genome Editing
by Jonathan Latham, PhD For the benefit of those parts of the world where public acceptance of biotechnology is incomplete, a public relations blitz is at full tilt. It concerns an emerging set of methods …
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