Seed Magazine reports on efforts to make genetic engineering research a public good and says that it is vital for the next green revolution.

Excerpt:

“Free distribution and local ownership of bioproperty will be one crucial aspect of the new Green Revolution. Another will be the cultivation of locally adapted varieties. “The second Green Revolution is going to be much more complicated than the first,” says Nina Fedoroff, a plant geneticist at Penn State, and science and technology adviser to the US Secretary of State. This time around, Fedoroff explains, scientists will have to address local needs and local crop varieties. Consider ringspot-virus-resistant GM papaya: “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful accomplishment,” says Fedoroff, “but the transgenic plants that are protected from the virus in Hawaii aren’t going to work in the Philippines.” Building locally focused biotech and training biotech-capable scientists is “a big deal,” says Fedoroff. “It’s a huge investment, and it needs to be done everywhere.”