[Source: Research & Innovation] 
Diversity is a sign of a healthy, democratic society, but ensuring that minorities are integrated into society is a challenge for policymakers. The EU-funded INTEGRIM programme has built a solid research foundation to develop evidence-based policies for social cohesion as people migrate and mix across Europe.
Food labels are a hot topic right now. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working on a new version of the Nutrition Facts Label. There is much discussion about the definition (and use) of the word “natural” on food labels. More and more companies are choosing to put third party certification labels on their product. And of course, there have been many stories written by mainstream media, government sources, and on blogs and websites about how to read food labels.
But the question remains – what’s important, and why are those things important? From labeling soy or almond milk as milk (or not) or labeling plant-based or cell-cultured meat as meat (or not), facts matter, and knowing what these things mean is important. It’s not so much how to read a label as it is making sure that what’s on a label is accurate, relevant, and helpful to consumers.
In a new guest column in The Hill, a newspaper covering Washington, D.C. political issues, GMO Answers Expert Kent Bradford asks these important questions, and explain why the answers to these questions are so important.
For example, it is not legal to label plant products as being “cholesterol free,” because plants don’t produce cholesterol. All plant products are cholesterol free, so it is misleading to label some of them that way, as it implies that other plant products not labeled as cholesterol free might contain the compound. At a minimum, advertising a plant product as being cholesterol free implies that some plant products do contain cholesterol, which is false.
At the forefront of this debate is the issue of labeling GMOs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be finalizing rules about a new disclosure law for GMOs, or bioengineered foods, as they are called in the law. Bradford raises the important questions of what effect will this have on consumers, on food companies, and on those who have built their brand on telling people that GMOs are unsafe. He raises the question, once GMOs are labeled, what will be the point of the Non-GMO Project? He notes:
However, this project has gotten out of control, as nearly 50,000 products now bear the Non-GMO Project label, including kitty litter, salt, and other products that are not even alive. Clearly, table salt is not an “organism,” so labeling it as a potential GMO is false and misleading.
If this sounds like a violation of FDA’s consumer protection rules, you are right.
A new petition from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) points this out as well. Their petition is calling on the FDA commissioner to issue a regulation prohibiting the use of the term “Non-GMO” on consumer foods and goods and requiring distributors to omit any “Non-GMO” term or claims on their labeling. Which brings us back to the concept of what is helpful and accurate (and not misleading) information for consumers.
What will be the outcome be of all of these developments? It remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – the discussion about GMOs is not over, and GMO Answers will continue to answer people’s questions about them.
Click Therapeutics has appointed Randall Kaye to serve as its chief medical officer. Kaye comes to Click from SSI Strategy, where he was chief scientific officer. New York-based Click also appointed Austin Speier to serve as chief strategy officer. Speier was previously vice president of emerging technologies at Precision for Medicine. Click is developing software that could be used to treat medical conditions such as depression, insomnia, acute coronary syndrome, and chronic pain. In July, Click raised $17 million in financing led by Sanofi Ventures.
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[Source: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ageing/innovation/index_en.htm] Identifier: REC-AG-2018Pillar: REC Programme 2014-2020Opening Date: Deadline: Tue, 9 Oct 2018 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)Modification Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2018Latest information: Questions and answers document has been added under Topic conditions and documents – Additional documents.
By year’s end San Diego’s Senomyx will be part of Firmenich, a privately held Swiss fragrance and flavor company.
Senomyx (NASDAQ: SNMX), a biotech that makes flavor enhancers, launched nearly 20 years ago and went public in 2004 at $6 per share. But since then its stock price has fallen significantly, dropping below $1 per share multiple times in the past two years, which nearly got the listing booted from the Nasdaq exchange.
Through a U.S. subsidiary, Firmenich-which reported about $3.3 billion in sales in 2017-said Thursday it had had agreed to buy Senomyx for $1.50 per share, or… Read more »
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[Source: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ageing/innovation/index_en.htm] Identifier: H2020-SC1-BHC-2018-2020Pillar: Societal ChallengesOpening Date: Deadline: Tue, 4 Sep 2018 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)Modification Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2018Latest information: The submission of proposals to call H2020-SC1-2019-Two-Stage-RTD (first stage – outline proposals) closed on 02 October 2018. A total of 530 proposals were submitted. The number of received proposals per topic is as follows:
– Topic SC1-BHC-01-2019 (RIA): 128 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-02-2019 (RIA): 50 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-14-2019 (RIA): 51 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-19-2019 (RIA): 93 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-22-2019 (RIA): 130 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-25-2019 (IA): 42 proposals
– Topic SC1-BHC-30-2019 (RIA): 36 proposals
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Bioengineering pioneer Genomatica has raised $90 million in private funding to accelerate the commercialization of two chemicals it has developed from renewable sources-chemicals that are being used today in plastics, cosmetics, and personal care. The company says it will also use the money to further ongoing development of a third chemical, to be used in sustainable nylon.
A new investor, New York-based investment firm Casdin Capital, led the financing, Genomatica announced Wednesday. Previous investors also participated in the round, including Genomatica’s largest shareholder, Connecticut-based hedge fund Viking Global Investors, and Ginkgo Bioworks, a venture-backed synthetic biology company in Boston. Ginkgo,… Read more »
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For me, fall is the best time of year. Cooler weather, upcoming holidays, my birthday, but, more importantly, the best of college football season is starting. Pretty soon teams will be playing to secure a spot in one of the many uniquely-named bowl games. There’s the Citrus Bowl, Rose Bowl, and now the… Precision Agriculture Bowl?
On Saturday, October 6, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits will face off against the Indiana State University Sycamores in the first-ever Precision Agriculture Bowl.
As reported by Successful Farming (your go to source for news at the intersection of football and farming, apparently) the Precision Agriculture Bowl has been labeled as such because of a new bachelors program at SDSU.
SDSU is the first land-grant university in the country to offer both a bachelor’s degree and minor in precision agriculture. Students learn while participating in a collaborative program focusing on both the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science, and the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering within the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The precision agriculture curriculum also incorporates other programs from across the university.
The precision agriculture major offers courses in data analytics, GPS-GIS technology, soil sciences, precision crop production, plant pathology, precision data mapping, sensor technology, precision farm machinery, electrical diagnostics and weed/pest management.
And even if the SDSU Jackrabbits lose on Saturday, at least the students will have something to cheer on as the school breaks ground on their new precision agriculture center before the game.
The 6 p.m. CST kickoff at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium at SDSU will be preceded by the groundbreaking ceremony for the new SDSU Raven Precision Agriculture Center at 1:30 p.m.
To read more about the Precision Agriculture Bowl, click here.
