A study led by a team of researchers from German companies Nomad Bioscience and Icon Genetics reveals a new strategy to fight foodborne diseases. The new strategy involved genetically engineering plants to produce antimicrobial proteins, which can then be extracted and applied to contaminated meat and produce. The team engineered tobacco, beets, spinach, chicory, and lettuce, to produce proteins called colicins, which can kill deadly strains of E. coli.

Researchers from Ghent University in Belgium and Chaudhary Charan Singh University in India have published an article in Nature Biotechnology making a case for a return to science-based regulation of GM crops and a concerted effort to counter the misinformation widely promulgated by activists intent on demonizing GM crops. The researchers note the far-reaching repercussions that the moratorium on Bt Brinjal has had on the use of GM crops in India.

Farmers and the youth from South and North Rift Counties of Kenya have voiced their support for the Government's plan to lift the ban on GM food importation. Speaking at functions organized to sensitize them on issues concerning biotech crops in Kericho and Uasin Gishu Counties, farmers said that they supported the Deputy President who said that the Government will lift the ban in the coming weeks. They commended the Government, noting that it has invested heavily in modern biotechnology research.

A team of scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of California Riverside recently published a study in Nature Plants unlocking the secret to how rice seeds can survive under water. The study, which appears in the leading scientific journal Nature Plants, identified a gene that controls the availability of sugar to a growing seed, especially when under flooded conditions.

The Cornell Alliance for Science is hosting a panel of scientists ready to answer your GMO questions on September 10, 2015 at the Unitarian Church of Ithaca, 306 N. Aurora St, Ithaca, NY from 6-8:30 pm (EST).

South Korea President Park Geun-hye has called for efforts to make agriculture a key industry in the country by integrating information technology (IT) and biotechnology. The President said that in an era of open markets and aging society, Korea should seek opportunities in the rapidly-changing agricultural environment.

A study by the National Academy of Science, authored by geneticists from universities including Kansas State University, identified the fourth and final vernalization gene in wheat. These vernalization genes sense low climatic temperatures and determine when the wheat begins to flower. The other three vernalization genes had been identified in previous studies by Jorge Dubcovsky of the University of California Davis. The discovery of all four genes implies new methods of designing wheat varieties that can adapt to different environments.

NBA Chief Executive Officer CEO Dr. Willy Tonui during a public hearing forum said the exercise was important and in line with Kenya's biosafety law which requires public participation by way of comments in the review of such an application. He assured the public that NBA would follow the law and give its verdict in good time as the law requires.

FAO 7 September 2015, Durban/Rome - The world's forests continue to shrink as populations increase and forest land is converted to agriculture and other uses, but over the past 25 years the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 percent, FAO said in a report published today.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved Innate^TM potato (designated as Russet Burbank event W8), which has been genetically engineered for late blight resistance, low acrylamide potential, reduced black spot bruising, and lowered reducing sugars. Late blight is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and still threatens crops around the globe.