NH House kills GMO labeling bill

On 04, Feb 2014 | In Blog, Featured | By admin

The House killed a bill yesterday that would have required labels on foods that are the product of genetic engineering.

Several House members said yesterday that they heard from many constituents who supported the bill because they fear that there are health risks associated with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. But House members debated those health concerns yesterday, with the bill’s opponents arguing that the risks have been exaggerated.

“There’s a lot of hysterical momentum behind this anti-GMO movement,” said Rep. Jim Parison, a New Ipswich Republican. “It’s sort of like an angry mob seeking justice for a crime just by lynching the first possible suspect.”

Parison encouraged the House to kill the bill, even if it would be unpopular with some constituents. He said the labeling would not necessarily protect consumers, and it would hurt business owners. The bill would hold retailers – not manufacturers or food processors – responsible for labeling products.

The House voted, 185-162, to kill the bill.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/10334442-95/new-hampshire-house-kills-gmo-labeling-bill

Defense, and SAb Biotherapeutics to Partner to Develop a Novel COVID-19 Therapeutic

April 6, 2020 by admin

Published by Medical Counter Measures

A therapeutic to treat novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is moving forward in development through a partnership between BARDA, the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO – CBRND), and SAb Biotherapeutics, Inc. (SAb), of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Using an interagency agreement with JPEO’s Medical CBRN Defense Consortium, BARDA transferred approximately $7.2 million in funding to (JPEO – CBRND) to support SAb to complete manufacturing and preclinical studies, with an option to conduct a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Read the full press release here.

Agri-Pulse: Can cows be used to fight coronavirus?

March 30, 2020 by admin

Bovine plasma donors genetically engineered to produce human antibodies are in the front lines of the struggle against coronavirus.

SAB Biotherapeutics, a Sioux Falls, S.D., biotechnology company that has been successfully testing use of antibodies from cows to fight diseases such as another coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome, now is engaged in developing a treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Read the full article here.

Times Argus: High-tech chestnuts: US to consider genetically altered tree

November 7, 2019 by admin

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Chestnuts harvested from high branches on a chilly fall morning look typical: they’re marble sized, russet colored and nestled in prickly burs. But many are like no other nuts in nature.

In a feat of genetic engineering, about half the chestnuts collected at this college experiment station feature a gene that provides resistance to blight that virtually wiped out the American chestnut tree generations ago.

Read more here.