Aktuelles

EFSA: Confusion about risks associated with New GE plants

Opinion of the EU authority considered insufficient and misleading

25 November 2020 / Testbiotech is extremely critical of a recent European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) opinion on the risks associated with plants derived from new genetic engineering (New GE). It considers the EFSA report on CRISPR & Co is both inadequate and misleading on the protection of health and the environment.

Sars-CoV-2 vaccine could be approved shortly

How safe are RNA technologies?

24 November 2020 / Sars-CoV-2 vaccines based on mRNA technology could be approved very soon. It would be the first mRNA vaccine to be approved for use in humans.

In biology, mRNA is a molecule used by living cells to translate DNA into proteins. The new mRNA-based vaccine is based on this principle; mRNA molecules that can be translated into a viral surface protein are produced in the laboratory and then injected. The aim is that the cells produce specific proteins which can be used by the immune system as a template to build up immunity to the virus.

Mutagenic chain reaction cannot be sufficiently controlled

EFSA is disguising real risks of gene drive organisms

16 November 2020 / The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published the results of its public consultation on the risks of so-called gene drive organisms. Testbiotech accuses the authority of disguising the real dimension of the risks.

CRISPR: Gene scissors cause chaos in the genome

Experiments using human embryos end up with loss of whole chromosomes

11 November 2020 / A new publication has described experiments using CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors on human embryos. The aim of the experiments conducted in the US was to correct a mutated DNA sequence that causes a genetic disorder. This disorder can result in blindness (Retinitis pigmentosa). The gene scissors were supposed to cut the faulty gene sequence – and the expectation was that the fault in the genome would then be corrected via cell repair mechanisms. This aim was not accomplished. Instead, either large parts or the whole of chromosome 6, where the gene is located, were lost.