Grant Jacobs • May 30, 2014 •
(Scientists will want to skip straight to part two, which looks at the court ruling. Part three adds further thoughts and introduces a perspective article on GMOs) Last week a legal decision in New Zealand overturned a previous opinion that using gene editing to create variants would not create genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).[1] At the centre … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 13, 2011 •
Taking my cue from Peter Griffin’s series of crazy science letters, this appeared in the Otago Daily Times, 12th April 2011 penned by R. Williams of Maryhill, titled GM Milk. I’ll leave readers to their own judgements… … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 13, 2011 •
Three recent articles on scienceblogs.com feature a New Zealand connection, spanning genetic engineering, Middle Earth and an anti-vaccine campaigner. If you’re a New Zealander, or have an interest in genetic engineering, you might find Professor Ronald’s account of her visit to New Zealand to learn more about pastoral and crop research here and … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 04, 2010 •
By Jack Heinemann The world has just met in Nagoya Japan (11-15 October 2010) for negotiations on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, an international treaty which also binds New Zealand. The Biosafety Protocol regulates the transboundary movement of Living genetically engineered/Modified Organisms (in treaty language, LMOs)[1]. This cumbersome language means LMOs that are shipped across … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 15, 2010 •
By Prof. Jack Heinemann* Dr. Nina Federoff, the science advisor to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, voiced more blatantly in New Zealand what many other advocates of large-scale plantings of genetically engineered (GE/GM) plants sought to imply for years: ’There’s almost no food that isn’t genetically modified. Genetic modification is the basis of all evolution.’ This stance … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Dec 15, 2009 •
[caption id="attachment_818" align="alignright" width="341" caption="(Source: wikipedia.)"][/caption] Some say that genetically modified plants are a concern because they're genetically modified organisms (GMOs), that "natural" plants are safer. Yet what most people call "natural" foods are rare mutants that have been selected or have been artificially bred (or often both). They have much more dramatic … Read More