Credit: ALLEA
Berlin, 3 May - In a new report, ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, examines the potential of technical and policy measures to tackle science disinformation and calls for improved European exchange and coordination in this field.
While disinformation strategies are intoxicating public discourses in many fields, science disinformation is particularly dangerous to democratic governance and society at large. As highlighted by the ongoing pandemic, an undermining of trust in science poses a fundamental threat to political and individual decisions based on evidence and scientific knowledge.
Over the past years, extensive research and a variety of strategies have been developed and applied to tackle science disinformation. ALLEA s paper reviews this work, focusing on the roots and consequences of this multi-dimensional phenomenon, as well as practical solutions for policy, technology and communication.
Current regulations do not support the sharing of health data with medical researchers outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). Researchers of the University of Tartu have helped the European academy networks to seek solutions to facilitate the transfer and mediation of health data in both regions.
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Europe’s status as a health research leader “is at risk” because of barriers to sharing data introduced by the bloc’s data protection rules, a joint report by three academy networks says.
“It has become apparent that implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation has contributed to barriers in sharing health data with researchers outside the EU/EEA [European Economic Area],” the report says.
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When it comes to modern agricultural biotechnology, Europe’s caution has been slowing progress for more than two decades. It started in the 1990s, when Europe began rejecting crops modified using recombinant DNA, or DNA from other species crops branded as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Now it is doing the same for gene-edited crops improved using CRISPR. European scientists have objected to this new blockage, but they are not the only ones paying a price.
Using CRISPR, researchers are now working to make crop plants that have higher yields, resist disease or stress, or are tastier, more nutritious, or more convenient than conventionally bred varieties. As farmers seek to adapt to climate change, gene editing could become an even more valuable tool in agriculture if regulators will allow it.