A law permitting the collection and storage of DNA samples from those convicted of or arrested for violent crimes may infringe on their human rights, the nation’s top human rights watchdog said Tuesday. “The commission ruled that the law on the use and preservation of personal gene... [More]

We stand united in opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision to once again allow unlimited, nationwide commercial planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers. Last spring more tha... [More]

The Agriculture Department is allowing widespread planting of genetically modified alfalfa, attempting to bring to a close a lengthy legal and regulatory process in which organic producers attempted to curtail the use of the modified crop. The decision announced Thursday is a blow to the ... [More]

If reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis give you the heebie-jeebies, Booster Shots is sorry to inform you that things are about to get a lot more complicated. In just the past month, researchers have made great strides in their ability t... [More]

Genetically engineered pork may one day become a part of your local grocer's food list. But who's to decide whether or not this product should be on the shelves? It's a question before officials in both Canada and the U.S., thanks to Canadian researchers who have developed a genetically modif... [More]

This week, an ethics board convened by U.S. President Barack Obama reached some conclusions about the ethics of this year's landmark experiment in synthetic biology, in which researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, inserted a synthetic genome into a bacterium, raisin... [More]

Experts in the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month — a year after their initial release. The trial of the OX513A strain of the de... [More]

High in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa grows a bristly shrub that embodies the tug-of-war taking place between industrialized and developing nations over the value of genetic resources—the genes found in plant, animal or microbial cells used for research as well as in commercial... [More]

When the map of the human genome was presented to the world in 2001, psychiatrists had high hopes for it. Itemising all our genes would surely provide molecular evidence that the main cause of mental illness was genetic – something psychiatrists had long believed. Drug companies were wet... [More]

Scientists have successfully created a small part of the DNA needed to build a mouse from scratch. It's just a step on on the long road to synthetic life, but in the short term their breakthrough could prevent genetic disease. Previously the researchers, at the Venter Institute, synthesized a... [More]