Biotech Communications

Viewpoint: ‘Frankenfood’? Anti-GMO rhetoric more harmful than ever in a hungry, post-COVID world
With trend culture emphasizing ‘earth-to-table’ recipes and organic ingredients, it’s no wonder that the perception of GMOs as a kind ...

Viewpoint: Are health advocates and politicians overselling the value of masks?
The public assumes that research performed since the beginning of the pandemic supports mask mandates. Policy makers and the media ...

Viewpoint: 3 biotech foods you can’t buy at Costco thanks to anti-GMO activism
The opponents of this method of improving food have been successful in suppressing even the most logical applications ...

We needed an official scientific name for the ‘warm and fuzzies’: It’s kama muta
The phenomenon is characterized by feelings of intense love ...

48% of people globally say GM crops ‘unsafe to eat,’ Pew survey shows
A 20-public median of 48% say genetically modified, or GM, foods are unsafe to eat, while a much smaller median ...

Podcast: One couple’s journey to vaccine skepticism; Partisan COVID science; Neophobia and GMOs
How do well-meaning, educated parents become vaccine skeptics? One hypothetical couple's journey may shed light on the process. Some scientists ...

David v Goliath? What reporters and activists got wrong about 3 high-profile Monsanto patent suits
Anti-GMO folk hero and canola farmer Percy Schmeiser was the best-known avatar of the idea that Monsanto, now part of ...

Conspiracy promoter Mike ‘Health Ranger’ Adams built online disinformation Natural News online empire that subverts science, report finds
Alternative health guru and conspiracy theorist Mike Adams, founder of the popular website Natural News, has been identified as the ...

Viewpoint: How the cover was blown on the Steve Bannon, FOX-promoted ‘China did it’ COVID conspiracy theory
A respected Chinese virologist appeared on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News in mid-September to share the results of her just-completed report ...

Podcast: Some vaccine skeptics aren’t science deniers; Animal-free ice cream; Plant burgers are ‘meat’?
If you reject vaccines, you're a science denier! Not necessarily. Some people may have legitimate reasons to be skeptical. Scientists ...

Viewpoint: Anti-Monsanto biopic ‘Percy’ tells misleading tale about GMOs and seed patents
As any experienced moviegoer knows, "This film is based on a true story" is more of a disclaimer than a ...

Are all anti-vaxxers kooks? Here is one couple’s journey to vaccine rejection and what might change their minds
Anti-vaccine parents are deeply concerned with being good parents. They are college educated and usually members of the middle class ...

Social media misled you about pesticides. A farmer explains what they are and how they protect our food
It seems that too many people don’t realize that herbicides are considered a type of pesticide. All herbicides are pesticides, ...

Don’t eat it if you can’t pronounce it? Avoiding ‘scary-sounding ingredients’ won’t make you healthier
"If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it!” We are told that steering clear of scary-sounding ingredients is a simple, ...

Neophobia: The psychological barrier that inspires knee-jerk rejection of GMOs and other food technology
Psychologist Michael Siegrist and nutrition scientist Christina Hartmann have compiled research on the psychological and societal factors that influence consumer ...

Scientists taking partisan stands on the coronavirus: Here comes the political backlash
Today, although most Americans trust information from physicians and medical scientists, public trust in the scientific community has become increasingly partisan, and conservatives and ...

Face masks—Are they critical or ideology-driven overkill? Here’s the science
Face masks are the ubiquitous symbol of a pandemic that has sickened 35 million people and killed more than 1 ...

How American COVID misinformation energized the global anti-vaccine conspiracy movement
The coronavirus crisis is energizing America’s anti-vaccine movement and expanding its reach. Even as countries and companies race to develop a safe ...

Podcast: Anti-GMO ‘documentaries’; Cancel culture v Darwin? Biotech chestnut trees
So-called 'cancel culture' has already taken down a handful of prominent scientists and philosophers, living and deceased. One evolutionary biologist ...

Video: Viewpoint: The US wrote the global playbook on the coronavirus and then ignored it
A year ago, the United States was regarded as the country best prepared for a pandemic. Our government had spent ...

Viewpoint: Swayed by anti-GMO groups, biotech pioneer Mexico lurches toward GM crop ban
“There is currently enough food in the world to feed 10 billion people,” writes the anti-GMO environmental group Green America ...

Understanding COVID vaccine skepticism: It’s not all anti-science
Even though vaccines have virtually eliminated the risk of many preventable diseases, there has been an increase in refusal and ...

Plant-based meats can be labeled ‘burgers’ in Europe, encouraging consumers to eat fewer animal products
Veggie burger enthusiasts can rejoice after the European Parliament on [October 23] rejected a measure to ban use of the ...

Viewpoint: Great Barrington Declaration on herd immunity falsely suggests a scientific divide over if we can achieve it and how
[The Great Barrington Declaration] suggests that scientists fall into two camps: those who are pro-lockdown and those who think we ...

Pandemic offers unique opportunity to corral global vaccine denialism movement
Bringing increased attention to vaccination now is especially important as the world continues to combat COVID-19, a novel infectious disease ...

Scare talk debunked: GMOs, pesticides and antibiotics don’t make conventional food unsafe
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue recently cautioned Americans not to fear their food. That’s an amazing thing for any public official ...

Science paradox: How the response to the pandemic has been infected by bias, overconfidence and politics
[W]hen people started falling ill last winter with a respiratory illness, some scientists guessed that a novel coronavirus was responsible ...

‘We cannot just be testing grounds’: COVID prompts African scientists to call for homegrown vaccines
African scientists say that the COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call that prompts the continent to produce more of ...