Synthetic Biology, talks are involving GMOs
For the past fifteen years, governments have been discussing “synthetic biology” on an international level. If to date, an “operational” definition exists, the outlines of this field remain hard to draw. Are talks of “synthetic biology” simply a change of semantics, or a genuinely new frontier of the biotechnology field? For the moment, examples of organisms or molecules obtained by synthetic biology are accumulating: unnatural proteins, GMO plants, GMO bacteria, recreated viruses, modification of living organisms directly in the environment, GMO insects, xenobacteria…
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DSI: dematerialised biopiracy
France – An advisory body leaves the door open to GMO deregulation
Industry influences scientific articles and expertise
A french expert committee transparent on the limits of its own expertise
EPO : new GMOs can be differentiated
According to companies, GMO products of genetic modification techniques are patentable because they are considered “inventions”. But to obtain these patents, the European Patent Office (EPO) require from the applicants to be clear about the techniques used for obtaining the organisms or genetic sequences covered by their patent. This obligation shows that, for the EPO, it is possible to differentiate, e.g. between GMOs obtained by patentable mutagenesis techniques on the one hand, and GMOs obtained by other techniques or any other organisms present in nature, on the other hand.