GLP Podcast: When science isn’t about evidence; Bayer pulling Roundup off retail shelves; Kenya approves GMO cassava

• Is science really about evidence? How convention trumps new findings on obesity and health

• Facing 30,000 unresolved cancer claims, Bayer plans to pull glyphosate from US lawn and garden market by 2023

Despite a mountain of studies showing that glyphosate probably doesn’t cause cancer, Bayer is pulling its Roundup brand of weedkillers off the retail market by 2023. The company hopes to avert some of the remaining 30,000 claims from consumers alleging that its glyphosate-based herbicides caused their Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. What does this development say about America’s legal system?

• Kenya greenlights disease-resistant genetically modified cassava

Kenya has just approved a genetically engineered cassava resistant to two stubborn viruses that can decimate farmers’ yields. The crop was developed primarily by the country’s Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) with assistance from the St. Louis-based Danforth Plant Science Center. The project is a powerful counter to the allegation that big, western biotech firms engineer GM crops to hook African farmers on their patented seeds. In reality, these growers want products that make their lives easier, and the scientists in their countries are eager to help them.