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Societal Impact Statement: The problem of genetically modified maize contamination in Mexico is the result of both planned and unplanned consequences of scientific and political choices. We show how a risk management strategy based on the modernist dichotomy between "modern" and "native" has failed to protect Mexican landraces and has marginalized other forms of knowledge that are urgently needed to understand and support the fluidity of Mexican biocultural landscapes. Farmers' seed systems are a fundamental source of crop resilience and evolution. They can constitute safe pathways for creating new maize varieties able to withstand climate and societal changes. Summary: In 2001, an alert on the contamination of Mexican maize landraces by genetically modified (GM) maize spurred new actions to conserve the world's biggest reservoir of maize genetic diversity. We analyze how the largest maize collection effort in Mexican history, and the definition of the conservation procedures employed in it, either involved or marginalized different approaches to this environmental problem.The article is grounded in the sociohistorical analysis of the controversy of GM maize contamination and brings together new historiographical perspectives on Mexican scientific and political interest in native maize. It also draws on ethnographic approaches, extended fieldwork, and analysis of data from Mexican government agencies.We show how different epistemological traditions have made the risk of GM maize contamination (in)visible and thereby generated normative choices. We illustrate how the GMO controversy brought the theme of native maize back onto the Mexican political and scientific agenda. The normativity that shaped the controversy in the 2000s influenced current knowledge and how the problem of GM maize introgression is still addressed today.The entanglements between biotechnology, native landraces, and farmers' practices are too dense to be "scientized" and kept separate to be made manageable as areas of purely technical "risk." The result is a geography of maize infused with all sorts of temporalities and materiality, which escapes the bounds of technoscientific framings. This intricate environment‐making process calls for new collaborations among epistemic cultures to tackle the possible consequences of GMOs for agrobiodiversity, seed systems, and their resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many writers in bioethics, science, and medicine contend that embryo selection is a morally better way of avoiding genetic disorders then gene editing, as the latter has risks that the former does not. We argue that one reason to use gene editing is that in many cases it would be better for the person who would develop from the edited embryo, so that not to have done it would have been worse for that person. By contrast, embryo selection is never better for the person who develops from the selected embryo. This reason to use gene editing has, however, been challenged on two grounds: first, that it makes no difference, morally, whether a bad effect is worse for someone, or a good effect better for someone; and, second, that beneficent gene editing would not be unequivocally better for the person who would develop from the edited embryo. We argue that both of these objections can be satisfactorily answered and thus that there is indeed a significant moral reason, at least in some cases, to use gene editing rather than embryo selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the production of hemoglobin using microorganisms is an actual and urgent problem for solving the needs of medicine and the food industry. Its microbiological synthesis using a precursor (heme) is one of the steps in obtaining this protein. The results of the studies on obtaining heme and heme-containing proteins from prokaryotic (Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum) and eukaryotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris) microorganisms were analyzed. It was demonstrated that the producers created on the basis of E. coli and C. glutamicum synthesized a free heme exogenously, while the yeasts P. pastoris and S. cerevisiae are the most efficient producers for the synthesis of both endo- and exogenous complex heme-containing proteins (hemoglobin and leghemoglobin). It was demonstrated that the creation of efficient producers of heme and hemoglobin is based on a change in the genetic material of microorganisms, and the stages of heme synthesis and points of possible modifications of this process were determined. Genetically modified yeast models (producers of heme-containing proteins) were characterized. Based on a summary of the analyzed data, it was determined that yeast cells are the most promising producers for further improvement and oversynthesis of heme-containing proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement The problem of genetically modified maize contamination in Mexico is the result of both planned and unplanned consequences of scientific and political choices. We show how a risk management strategy based on the modernist dichotomy between “modern” and “native” has failed to protect Mexican landraces and has marginalized other forms of knowledge that are urgently needed to understand and support the fluidity of Mexican biocultural landscapes. Farmers' seed systems are a fundamental source of crop resilience and evolution. They can constitute safe pathways for creating new maize varieties able to withstand climate and societal changes. Summary In 2001, an alert on the contamination of Mexican maize landraces by genetically modified (GM) maize spurred new actions to conserve the world's biggest reservoir of maize genetic diversity. We analyze how the largest maize collection effort in Mexican history, and the definition of the conservation procedures employed in it, either involved or marginalized different approaches to this environmental problem. The article is grounded in the sociohistorical analysis of the controversy of GM maize contamination and brings together new historiographical perspectives on Mexican scientific and political interest in native maize. It also draws on ethnographic approaches, extended fieldwork, and analysis of data from Mexican government agencies. We show how different epistemological traditions have made the risk of GM maize contamination (in)visible and thereby generated normative choices. We illustrate how the GMO controversy brought the theme of native maize back onto the Mexican political and scientific agenda. The normativity that shaped the controversy in the 2000s influenced current knowledge and how the problem of GM maize introgression is still addressed today. The entanglements between biotechnology, native landraces, and farmers' practices are too dense to be “scientized” and kept separate to be made manageable as areas of purely technical “risk.” The result is a geography of maize infused with all sorts of temporalities and materiality, which escapes the bounds of technoscientific framings. This intricate environment‐making process calls for new collaborations among epistemic cultures to tackle the possible consequences of GMOs for agrobiodiversity, seed systems, and their resilience.

Food labels are the first source of information customers come across when sourcing a food product. Labels provide information about the ingredients, nutritional content, allergens, as well as the origin and advice on the food's processing and preservation conditions. This information allows the consumer to make informed food choices. Although food labels are provided to help consumers choose healthy foods, it is not established whether they know and understand the information to use to their advantage. The need to comprehend consumer knowledge, understand food labelling information, and whether it could influence consumer choices are vital to researchers, policymakers, and the food industry. The study investigated the knowledge and understanding of food labelling information among Klipgat consumers. In a cross-sectional community-based study with a structured questionnaire, 400 participants were conveniently interviewed on consumer knowledge, understanding of information, and utilization of labelling information. A chi-square for the association of variables compared differences in the districts, and p-value Key words: communities, food labelling information, labelling terminology, consumer label understanding, INTRODUCTION It is the right of the consumer to expect that food sourced and consumed will be safe, nutritious, and of high quality [1]. The primary means to ensure that [...]

The Kingdom of Eswatini is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. As Party, Eswatini has domesticated these agreements by passing the Biosafety Act, of 2012 to provide for the safe handling, transfer, and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) in the country. The Act regulates living modified organisms to be used for confined field trials, commercial release, import, export, and transit, and for food, feed, and processing. Guidance is provided for prospective applicants before any application is made to the Competent Authority. This framework also provides for the regulation of emerging technologies such as synthetic biology and genome editing. The regulatory framework for living modified organisms aims to provide an enabling environment for the precautionary use of modern biotechnology and its products in the country in order to safeguard biological diversity and human health.

ABSTRACTLabels are influential signals in the marketplace intended to inform and to eliminate buyer confusion. Despite this, food labels continue to be the subject of debate. None more so than non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) labels. This manuscript provides a timeline of the evolution of GMO labels beginning with the early history of the anti-GMO movement to the current National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard in the United States. Using media and market intelligence data collected through Buzzsumo™ and Mintel™, public discourse of GMOs is analyzed in relation to sociopolitical events and the number of new food products with anti-GMO labels, respectively. Policy document and publication data is collected with Overton™ to illustrate the policy landscape for the GMO topic and how it has changed over time. Analysis of the collective data illustrates that while social media and policy engagement around the topic of GMOs has diminished over time, the number of new products with a GMO-free designation continues to grow. While discourse peaked at one point, and has since declined, our results suggest that the legacy of an anti-GMO narrative remains firmly embedded in the social psyche, evidenced by the continuing rise of products with GMO-free designation. Campaigns for GMO food labels to satisfy consumers’ right to know were successful and the perceived need for this information now appears to be self-sustaining.

Flies, with their penchant for feeding on animal waste and rotting food, are unwelcome guests at any gathering. But their filthy food preferences could be put to good use for [...]

Overlooking respondents' attribute attendance in choice experiments affects coefficient estimates, model fit, performance measures, and welfare estimates. How best to identify and account for individual attribute processing strategies is still unclear. Query theory suggests that preferences are subject to the processes and dynamics associated with retrieval from memory. We apply Query theory to the study of attendance to attributes to approximate the thoughts generated by individuals while they make choices in a choice experiment. Our results demonstrate that the stated and query approaches improve model fit and performance. The query approach has distinct advantages but also important limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the rate of biomass gain is one of the most important areas in the breeding of woody plants. However, the application of classical breeding approaches to woody plants is significantly limited due to the long breeding cycles of many species. The development of genetic engineering and genome editing technologies has made it possible to improve tree traits in a relatively short time. Genes for the biosynthesis of phytohormones are often the target of genetic manipulations aimed at accelerating plant growth. Gibberellin 20-oxidase is a key enzyme responsible for the active production of gibberellins in plants and is, therefore, a preferred target for genetic manipulation to increase growth rate. This paper presents an original study on the production of Populus×berolinensis K. Koch, transformed by gene encoding gibberellin 20-oxidase from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. (AtGA20ox1), and the initial evaluation of the phenotypic effects of the transformation. The main phenotypic manifestations of the transformation were a pronounced elongation of the stem due to an increase in the size of the internodes, a slight thinning of the stem, as well as lengthening and narrowing of the leaves. Our results showed that AtGA20ox1 gene overexpression in Berlin poplar leads to an acceleration of its growth by at least three times under in vitro conditions compared to control values. The negative effects of transformation, expressed in weak rooting or a high frequency of apical necrosis and observed in some transgenic strains at the initial stages of selection, do not appear in the three final selected strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgenic ornamental fish that fluoresce are becoming popular in the aquarium trade worldwide. Some transgenic zebrafish (TZF) records in natural water bodies have been published, but there are no data on their biological attributes in the new areas. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution, trophic ecology, and reproductive condition of the non-native TZF in headwater creeks located in the largest Brazilian ornamental aquaculture center. Insect fragments – identified as chitinous material in the 'false stomach'- and aquatic insects were the most consumed item. TZF adults were found in breeding conditions during almost all sampling periods. The Gonadosomatic Index of females and males showed peaks during the rainy season and matched with the rising water levels. Breeding females and males were found at small body sizes, indicating early maturation, and these transgenic females produced a moderate amount of small oocytes. Sex-ratio assessment showed that females and males had the same frequencies in one site, while females were significantly more frequent than males at another location. Management recommendations, such as utilization of best management practices (e.g. screens on outlets), not using unapproved genetically modified organisms in aquaculture, and awareness with fish farmers about transgenic animals, are suggested to avoid new introductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the risk assessment (RA) requirements for genetically modified (GM) plants, according to Regulation (EU) No 503/2013 and the EFSA guidance on the RA of food and feed from GM plants (EFSA GMO Panel 2011), applicants need to perform a molecular characterisation of the DNA sequences inserted in the GM plant genome. This Technical Note to the applicants puts together requirements and recommendations for the quality assessment of the methodology, analysis and reporting when DNA sequencing is used for the molecular characterisation of GM plants. In particular, it applies to the use of Sanger sequencing and next‐generation sequencing for the characterisation of the inserted genetic material and its flanking regions at each insertion site, the determination of the copy number of all detectable inserts and the analysis of the genetic stability of the inserts. This updated document replaces the EFSA 2018 Technical Note and reflects the current knowledge in scientific‐technical methods for generating and verifying, in a standardised manner, DNA sequencing data in the context of RA of GM plants. It does not take into consideration the verification and validation of the detection method which remains under the remit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun can be read as a novel integrating a robotic narrator and narrative unreliability. By unfolding Klara's strategy to present a false self-portrait as a successful Artificial Friend, I analyze how Klara fails to fully suppress her desire to be assimilated into human society. The essay further discusses the blurred border between humans and automatons in Ishiguro's works, as well as the necessity to empathize with a complicated nonhuman subjectivity. KEYWORDS: Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, subjectivity, unreliable narrator, AI, KAZUO ISHIGURO'S LATEST NOVEL, Klara and the Sun (2021), is considered another successful attempt by the author to address real-life events through his fictions. As an Artificial Friend (AF) designed [...]

The potato (Solarium tuberosum) is the fourth most cultivated and consumed crop worldwide. The swelled stolonic region of the plant is economically important due to its considerable quantities of carbohydrates plus modest quantities of minerals and vitamins. Tuber formation is governed by various external and internal factors including light, oxygen concentration, photosynthate availability, phytochromes, transcription factors, and metabolite availability. This review updates and expands upon our current knowledge regarding the involvement of these variables in the tuberization process. Tuber formation starts at the onset of the supportive season under optimal light conditions where phytochromes in leaves sense the signal. The transmittance of the signal results in photosynthate accumulation, phloem loading with sucrose, phloem transport and unloading at the stolonic region, sucrose entry into the tuber cell, and conversion of sucrose to starch, all under the direction of regulatory enzymes. Several genes are associated with tuberization and regulated either positively or negatively. During the course of these cellular micro-reactions, a very fine stolonic tip will ultimately be transformed into a fully matured potato tuber. Tuber formation can be increased by genetic modifications, that further improve tuber yield and quality. Keywords Gene * Light * Oxygen * Phytochromes * Starch, Introduction The potato tuber functions as a reservoir for a variety of macromolecules, in particular starches and proteins. Potato tuberization (TB) is a complex developmental process involving the coordination of [...]

Derivatives of biotech or genetically modified (GM) crops are widely used for food, feed, or environmental release. In the present study, 31 samples of food and feed products of corn, soybean, and rice, randomly selected from the local market of Kuwait, were screened for the presence of potential genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Conventional (qualitative) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was used to amplify the sequences of the GMO regulatory elements, the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (p35S), and the Agrobacterium nopaline synthase terminator (Tnos). Obtained results demonstrated the presence of GMO sequences in 6 out of 21, 1 out of 5, and 2 out of 5 products derived from corn, soybean, and rice, respectively. The study also reports the detection of GMOs in corn-derived animal feed products for the first time. To date, Kuwait has no routine certified system to regulate the import of biotech crops. This study highlights the need to establish legislation on GMOs and to develop a reliable regulation and labeling system for imported biotech crops and their derivatives in Kuwait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes modern legal problems of the production of agricultural raw materials for baby food in Ukraine, taking into account the latest legislative changes in the field of baby food production, organic agricultural production, state control over the use of genetically modified organisms in the manufacture of food products. It has been established that the improvement of the legislation in the field of child nutrition should be carried out by making amendments and additions to the Law of Ukraine «On Child Nutrition» in order to bring its prescriptions into line with EU requirements, and not to cancel the specified special Law. Given the specifics of baby food and the importance of guaranteeing its quality and safety, replacing a separate special law with one article in the Law of Ukraine «On Basic Principles and Requirements for the Safety and Quality of Food Products» is hardly expedient. Taking into account the specific legal nature of a personal peasant economy, the author proves that persons who run such an economy can produce raw materials for baby food products, subject to compliance with legal requirements for the quality and safety of such raw materials. Based on the latest legislative changes in the field of legal provision of biosafety of Ukraine, the article proposes to legislate the possibility and necessity of using organic agricultural products as raw materials for baby food before creating an effective system of state control in the field of use and circulation of genetically modified organisms. In order to ensure the constitutional right of the child to sufficient, high-quality and safe nutrition, the author considers it expedient to conduct in-depth scientific research on these issues and make appropriate scientific conclusions and recommendations on improving the current legislation in this area, taking into account the requirements of EU legislation on the adaptation of the national agricultural, food, environmental and other legislation regarding the production of agricultural products for baby food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are widely used in agriculture, medicine and industry. Their genetic material has been artificially modified to improve certain characteristics or add new functions. Although GMOs have been used for decades in agriculture and biotechnology, their potential to impact the environment and human health has raised concerns among the public and the scientific community. This necessitates the need for an objective and scientifically based assessment of exposure to GMOs to ensure their safe use. Exposure assessment of GMOs is important for understanding their interaction with the environment and human health. This process is carried out before GMOs are released into the environment or before they are placed on the market, in order to assess the potential risks and benefits. This article reviews the main aspects of GMO exposure assessment and the methods used for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As part of the risk assessment (RA) requirements for genetically modified (GM) plants, according to Regulation (EU) No 503/2013 and the EFSA guidance on the RA of food and feed from GM plants (EFSA GMO Panel 2011), applicants need to perform a molecular characterisation of the DNA sequences inserted in the GM plant genome. This Technical Note to the applicants puts together requirements and recommendations for the quality assessment of the methodology, analysis and reporting when DNA sequencing is used for the molecular characterisation of GM plants. In particular, it applies to the use of Sanger sequencing and next‐generation sequencing for the characterisation of the inserted genetic material and its flanking regions at each insertion site, the determination of the copy number of all detectable inserts and the analysis of the genetic stability of the inserts. This updated document replaces the EFSA 2018 Technical Note and reflects the current knowledge in scientific‐technical methods for generating and verifying, in a standardised manner, DNA sequencing data in the context of RA of GM plants. It does not take into consideration the verification and validation of the detection method which remains under the remit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC).