Sustainable access of quality seeds of genetically engineered crops in Eastern Africa - Case study of Bt Cotton.

The genetically engineered bollworm-resistant Bt cotton hybrid varieties offer opportunities for reducing crop losses and enhancing productivity. In Eastern Africa region, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya have approved and released Bt cotton in 2012, in 2018, and in 2019, respectively. The region has potential to grow cotton in over 5 million hectares. For commercial plantings in Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya, hybrid Bt cotton seeds have been imported from India. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions, high shipment costs, bureaucratic procedures for importing seeds, and foreign exchange shortages, farmers have not been able to access Bt cotton seeds. Stakeholders are seeking local production of seeds to provide sustainable access by farmers at affordable cost. Country case studies reveal the importance of enhancing capacity for local seed production and extension advisory services. Revival of the cotton sector needs enhanced public-private partnerships to pave the way for sustainable seeds access in the region.

Regulations on Genetically Modified Microorganisms & Their Relation to Bioterrorism in India

Covid-19, a virus-driven pandemic, has shown the world the possible dangers posed by microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi, and their toxins. However, genetically engineered microorganisms are helpful in various biosciences fields, including medication, horticulture, and fundamental investigation into life processes. Among these, some genetically altered microorganisms have drastic potential to cause harm to humans, and the environment, like the current coronavirus pandemic has shaken the world with fatalities caused by it worldwide and crashed the global economy. On the one hand, genetically engineered organisms help understand the ultrastructure of these organisms and as a tool to combat the disease caused by them. On the other, the increasing research on this also poses a threat to the occurrence of pandemics throughout the world. In India, genetically altered microorganisms are regulated by the Rules, 1989 under sections 6,8 and 25 of the Environment Act, 1986. Bioterrorism is the systematic and deliberate deployment of hazardous organisms such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins to spread infectious diseases on a massive scale to wipe out a vast population. The global incidents of the recent twenty years presented that the danger of biological fighting isn't a fictional thing yet a harsh truth. Hazardous microbes can be utilised in bioterrorism by seeing flare-ups brought about by microorganisms. So, there is a need to improve the countermeasures to tackle the spread of infectious diseases. This review covers the various regulations for genetically altered microorganisms in India regarding their sale, import-export storage, and creation, emphasising regulating bodies;their constitution, and application forms for the registrations and approval for research on such microorganisms, and this assessment presents a clear overview of the country's probable biothreats, current laws, and regulations to combat such incidents, with a significant necessity for their execution, and biodefense measures for readiness and defence, in favour of making India a bioterror-free country. Copyright © 2022 Assiut University. All rights reserved.

Politics, Economics and Demographics of Food Sustainability and Security

Driven by several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and armed conflicts around the world, global hunger is growing again. Recent estimates suggest that in 2050 we will have a population of about 10 billion, with an expected increase in the global food demand by 35%–56% between 2010 and 2050. With these premises, feeding people around the world without harm the planet appears quite challenging. In this scenario, public authorities and non-governmental actors have an important role to play in achieving sustainable food security, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda. This chapter aims to briefly describe the framework of actions that may be taken in the agricultural sector to achieve food sustainability and security goals by 2030.

Edible vaccines: a nutritional substitute for traditional immunization

Edible vaccines are created from transgenic plants and animals and contain immunostimulant. Edible vaccines, to put it simply, are medications generated from plants or animals. In underdeveloped countries, oral vaccines are less expensive and more widely available. Researchers came up with the idea of edible vaccines, in which edible plant pieces are employed as a vaccine factory. To make edible vaccinations, scientists put desired genes into plants and then force the plants to generate the proteins expressed in the genes. Transgenic plants are the result of transformation, whereas transformation is the act of converting plants. The edible vaccination promotes mucosal immunity. Dendritic cells in the gut can assist native T cells activate and differentiate into follicular T-helpers (Tfh). T and B cells will respond precisely to a reliable, digestible immunization. Potato, tomato, banana, carrots, tobacco, papaya, algae, and a variety of other plants are utilised as alternative agents for standard vaccinations. Malaria, cholera, hepatitis, rabies, measles, rotavirus, diarrhoea cancer treatments and treatment of covid-19 are among the illnesses for which plant-based vaccines have been created. It takes time and dedication to develop and sell edible vaccinations. Many edible vaccines for animal and human ailments have been developed and have gone through various levels of clinical testing. The importance of plant-based vaccinations is emphasized in this article.

The Half-Truth Effect and Its Implications for Sustainability

Misinformation on sustainability has become a widespread phenomenon in many different contexts. However, relatively little is known about several important determinants of belief in misinformation, and even less is known about how to debias that belief. The present research proposes and investigates a new effect, the half-truth effect, to explain how message structure can influence belief in misinformation. Two survey-based experiments were conducted to show that people exhibit greater belief in a false claim when it is preceded by a true claim, even if the two claims are logically unrelated. Conversely, when a false claim is presented before the true claim, it reduces the belief in the entire statement. Experiment 1 shows the basic half-truth effect. Experiment 2 investigates an individual difference, propensity to believe meaningless statements are profound, which impacts the half-truth effect. Both experiments also investigate debiasing of the false information. The results of the experiments were analyzed using analysis of variance and regression-based mediation analysis. Results show that belief in misinformation is dependent on message structure, and show that the order in which true and false elements are presented has a strong influence on belief in sustainability misinformation. Finally, we present a discussion of how policy makers can use these findings to identify those people who are most likely to be swayed by the misinformation, and then design responses to debias sustainability misinformation.

Food safety, food security and genetically modified organisms in Africa: a current perspective.

Moving forward from 2020, Africa faces an eminent challenge of food safety and security in the coming years. The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) estimates that 20% of Africa's population of 1.2 billion people face the highest level of undernourishment in the world, likely to worsen due to COVID-19 pandemic that has brought the entire world to its knees. Factors such as insecurity and conflict, poverty, climate change and population growth have been identified as critical contributors to the food security challenges on the continent. Biotechnological research on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) provides a range of opportunities (such as increased crop yields, resistance to pests and diseases, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality) in addressing the hunger, malnutrition and food security issues on the continent. However, the acceptance and adoption of GMOs on the continent has been remarkably slow, perhaps due to contrasting views about the benefits and safety concerns associated with them. With the reality of food insecurity and the booming population in Africa, there is an eminent need for a more pragmatic position to this debate. The present review presents an overview of the current situation of food safety and security and attempts to reconcile major viewpoints on GMOs research considering the current food safety and security crisis in the African continent.