Evolving life sciences and agricultural research approaches may have a decreasing need to access physical resources in future, such as plant seeds or viral material. Information and genetic data may be all that is required for commercial exploitation of biological resources. This POSTnote summarises the challenge this creates for international discussions on the governance of genetic resources and the possible options for addressing these.
Documents to download
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Herbicide Resistance (384 KB, PDF)
Key points in this POSTnote include:
- Agricultural crop yields are reduced when unwanted plants (weeds) compete with crops. Synthetic herbicides are widely used to control weeds.
- A wide variety of weeds have shown resistance to a range of herbicides, which reduces chemical control options.
- The EU regulates the use of herbicides. Changes to the regulations in 2009 have reduced control options further.
- More diverse management strategies that include non-chemical methods, such as spring cropping, may help conserve the effectiveness of herbicides and contribute to reducing resistant weed numbers.
Documents to download
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Herbicide Resistance (384 KB, PDF)
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Plastic packaging waste has become a key consumer concern. In the UK, over 2.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging enter the consumer market each year. Much of this is used in the food sector because plastic packaging is cheap, light to transport, hygienic, and can be used to extend the product’s shelf-life. In the UK around 46% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, mostly through local authority collections. However several issues with the current systems of plastics recycling persist. This POSTbrief reviews proposals to Defra and HM Treasury to improve plastics recycling in the UK .
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