The White House has released the 2017 Update to the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology (2017 Update). The 2017 Update provides a comprehensive summary of the roles and responsibilities of the three principal regulatory agencies — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA),

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have recently released the largest-ever single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) dataset of genetic variations in poplar trees. It contains information useful to plant scientists, and researchers in the fields of biofuels, materials science, and secondary plant metabolism.

A two-day workshop on ethics in gene editing and research methodology was held at Bibliotheca Alexendrina, Alexandria, Egypt on January 4-5, 2017. About 60 scientists from different universities and research institutes were invited to attend the workshop.

Figure: Commissioner Mutelo (third from right) looks forward to a potential partnership between IRRI and the University of Namibia to train its MS and PhD agriculture students. Also in photo (from right): Consul William Co, consulate of the Republic of Namibia, Rector Mutelo; IRRI’s external relations head Corinta Guerta; IRRI partnerships office head Michelle Weldon; and Heritha Nankole Muyoba. 

Figure: Willis of BBSRC , which funds the Newton Fund Sustainable Rice Programme, encourages researchers to look at synergies between projects, identify any challenges, and find solutions together.

Soda tax in Mexico. Salt limits in South Africa. Plain tobacco packaging in Australia. National health insurance in Ghana. Mandatory motorcycle helmets in Vietnam. Health care in the United States of America.

More than 65% of the 1.7 billion people in South Asia live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Nearly, 70% of South Asians, which is one-fifth of the world’s population, consider rice as their staple food. With 41% arable land, the region produces more than 225 million tons of rice in different ecosystems, which can be categorized into three: irrigated, rainfed lowland, and upland.

The National Bureau on Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has conducted a gigantic field evaluation study of 19,460 wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Three wheat species, Triticum aestivum, T. durum, and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots during the 2011-2014 crop seasons,

Cuba could start planting biotech soybean and corn on more land by spring of 2017, according to Mario Estrada, director of the Center for Agricultural Research of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB). Estrada said that all tests required by Cuban regulatory bodies have been successfully completed.

Plant breeders have discovered the key genetic information determining leaf shape in cotton. Researchers from North Carolina State University (NC State) and colleagues from Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Cotton Incorporated describe how genomic and molecular tools were used to find the location of the DNA sequence that determines major leaf shapes in upland cotton