Policy News

Microbiologists have a rare opportunity to help shape future European biotechnology regulation. Applied Microbiology International (AMI) is calling on members to contribute as the European Commission seeks expert input on a proposed new Biotech Act.

A growing global debate over “biopiracy” is raising urgent questions for microbiologists, researchers, industry and policymakers alike — and Applied Microbiology International is calling on members to help shape the conversation.

Applied Microbiology International is calling on members to contribute after the UK government proposed a major overhaul of fertiliser regulation through a new framework: the UK Fertilising Product Regulations (UK FPR).

Earlier this year, Suparna Mitra and Alan Koh took part in the Royal Society of Biology’s Voice of the Future event at Parliament, representing AMI. Here they reflect on the experience and what they took away from it.

More than a decade after the Nagoya Protocol, which aims to fairly share the benefits of utilizing genetic resources, became law, microbiologists and other scientists still face practical challenges and confusion.

The policy team is excited to announce four new priority areas: bioethics, microbiomes, antimicrobial resistance, and climate change.

Tyler Myers, an MPhil Candidate at the University of Cambridge, reports back from the Royal Society of Biology’s Voice of the Future event at Parliament, where he served as a guest panelist representing Applied Microbiology International.

Scientists have warned that the world’s tiniest organisms need to be taken into account in efforts to improve soil health. Applied Microbiology International (AMI) has launched a new policy report, Improving Soil Health in the UK, setting out key recommendations to support the long-term protection, restoration and sustainable management of soils across the UK’s four nations.

This policy report emphasises the need to foster effective communication across the soil stakeholder spectrum to build the trust and open-mindedness to risk that is necessary for enabling wide-scale, lasting change.

Director General of the Chilled Food Association, Karin Goodburn MBE, who sits on AMI’s Food Security Advisory Group, reveals why the publication of new Listeria guidance for the UK food industry is regarded as a landmark moment.