Abstract
Recent advances in animal biotechnology have opened up entirely new opportunities to address and make significant advances for mankind’s most pressing needs: sustainable and efficient food supply to feed a growing population; increasing demands for food safety and quality and new technologies to enhance human health. Much of this will need to be delivered via uptake of new biotechnologies such as precision genome engineering: the development of genetically modified (GM) animals. However, the acceptance, regulatory processes and application of GM technology has not kept up to speed with the technological and scientific advancements—from a developer’s perspective it’s like driving with the handbrake on. Much of this stems from sceptical public perceptions and concern and the regulatory policies that are currently in place. Both of these issues need to be addressed by the application of sound scientific research in combination with public education and communication that will allow appropriate risk assessments to be undertaken and provide the general public and policy makers with a high level of information and confidence.
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Conference Proceedings “Science into Policy, improving uptake and adoption of research conference” 11th to 13th November 2013 in Brisbane, Australia, a conference sponsored by the OECD Co-operative Research Programme on Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems.
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Lowenthal, J.W. Confidence in genetically modified animal research and regulation. J. Verbr. Lebensm. 9 (Suppl 1), 47–50 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00003-014-0884-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00003-014-0884-x