News

Patents and plant breeders’ rights (PBR) are two types of intellectual property right. Both have a major impact on both cultivated and wild biodiversity. Certain intellectual property rights (IPRs) affect cultivated biodiversity, agriculture, but also wild biodiversity, which provides genetic resources [1] such as stevia or the neem tree [2]. These are patents and, for plant crops, […]

With a notable acceleration from 2018 onwards, the biotech industry has financed part of the research community to obtain, under the guise of “scientific consensus”, a revision of the regulations applied to GMOs. This work has made it possible to give a blank cheque “according to science” to the European Commission’s recent proposal to deregulate […]

Oxitec is developing transgenic mosquitoes, while Google prefers mosquitoes inoculated with the wolbachia bacterium. Trials have already been carried out in several countries, with little long-term impact on the presence of malaria. University research into ways of reducing the mosquito population is legion. A new article announces that a genetic technology has just been developed […]

On July 5, 2023, the European Commission adopted a proposal to deregulate GMOs. In particular, it proposes to change the definition of a GMO. As a result, most current GMOs will no longer be considered as such. They will therefore be exempt from the (much-discussed) risk assessment, detection and traceability methods, labelling and post-marketing monitoring […]

GMOs are certainly plants… but not only. Many micro-organisms (bacteria, yeast) are used as factories for producing molecules. And many of these micro-organisms have been genetically modified to produce enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, etc. that they do not produce naturally, or to give them characteristics specific to industrial needs. In a series of articles, Inf’OGM […]

In its quest for the ultimate protection, the “life sciences” industry has invented ways of drafting its patents that are more or less legitimate and solid. Here we look at the main ones. Genetic sequences (of DNA or RNA [1]) are a succession of “letters” (or nucleic basis or nucleotides) whose translation produces a protein. The […]

On 20 May 2023, the new Austrian Patent Act came into force. It specifies the exclusions from patentability in the field of plants and animals. One of the aims of these changes is to guarantee a degree of independence for breeders from patent right holders. What will happen in fine?

After six years’ work, a research team at Washington State University has succeeded in genetically modifying pigs to turn them into surrogate sires. In other words, carrier fathers. These pigs obtained using the CRISPR/Cas9 molecular system have even been authorised for consumption on an experimental basis, without any prior health assessment. What hidden or overt […]

On 24 May, the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Conseil économique social et environnemental – CESE) issued an opinion on GMOs derived from so-called new techniques. Commissioned by the Prime Minister, the opinion was delivered within a very tight deadline. It recommends a legal regime close to that currently applicable to GMOs. But all […]