The grand chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Luxembourg. (Curia.europa.eu)

GMO rules cover plant gene editing technique, top EU court says

Brussels | Reuters — Crops obtained by plant breeding technique mutagenesis should fall under laws restricting the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Europe’s highest court said on Wednesday, in a victory for environmental campaigners. The biotech industry had argued that much of mutagenesis, or gene editing, is effectively little different to the mutagenesis that […] Read more


(Limagrain.com)

Limagrain says GMO protests could force R+D relocation

Paris | Reuters — Limagrain, the world’s fourth-largest seed maker, will consider moving its research activities out of France if field trials in its home market continue to be sabotaged by opponents of genetically modified crops. The French co-operative group was targeted last month by protestors who invaded test fields southeast of Paris and scattered […] Read more

Apomixis 101

Apomixis could be called the Holy Grail of plant breeding. According to Rob Duncan, a canola breeder at the University of Manitoba, scientists have been working on it since the 1840s. Even Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, caught the apomixis bug, analyzing the apomictic properties of hawkweed species in the 1860s. What is […] Read more