Articles in Nature Biotechnology
BASF moves GM crop research to US
BASF Plant Science is relocating from its European headquarters to the US, a move prompted by the European public’s hostility to genetically modified (GM) crops, its president Peter Eckes said. The German company is also …
Monsanto to face biopiracy charges in India
An Indian government agency has agreed to sue the developers of genetically modified (GM) eggplant for violating India’s Biological Diversity Act of 2002. India’s National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is alleging that the developers of India’s …
Transatlantic PML
The European Medicine Agency and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published in September the proceedings of a joint workshop held to address questions related to progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare and sometimes fatal …
E. coli crisis opens door for Alexion drug trial
This story was the lead news story in the August Nature Biotechnology: [html] [pdf].
This spring’s outbreak of a virulent form of Escherichia coli in Germany and France provoked a rapid response from public health authorities …
New self-reporting for GM crops
My latest news item for Nature Biotechnology is about how the government agency which regulates new genetically-modified crops is out-sourcing some of its work. [html] [pdf]
Companies seeking approval for new biotech crops can now …
Monsanto dips into algae
Monsanto acquired a stake in Sapphire Energy, a San Diego–based algae fuel company known for its prominent backers, including Bill Gates’s firm Cascade Investment, in Kirkland, Washington, and the Wellcome Trust, in …
Sugar beets still in the game
Seed producers will be allowed to plant biotech sugar beets again following a September decision from the United States Department of Agriculture’s crop approval arm to allow planting under interim guidelines. The …
Brazil bans Bayer
A judge has prohibited Bayer Cropscience from marketing Liberty Link corn, a genetically modified crop resistant to Ignite and Liberty herbicides, in Brazil. If the Leverkusen, Germany–based company fails to suspend marketing, …
EC woos SMEs
The European Commission (EC) is inviting biotech firms to apply for research grants, if partnered with academia. For the first time, a quarter of the biotech-specific grants will require the participation of …
African GM safety drill
The African Union has set up a school to educate and train future regulators in genetically modified (GM) crop biosafety. The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) was officially launched in April in Ouagadougou, Burkina …
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