Crops & Food
We eat to live. Humans use approximately 11% of Earth’s land for the cultivation of crops for food, but also for clothing, medicine and biofuels. Globally, major crops include sugarcane, pumpkin, maize (corn), wheat, rice, cassava, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Ted Talks and videos on the science of GMOs
Blogger Cami Ryan has compiled a list of Ted talks and videos that relay reliable scientific evidence on GMOs ...
Retraction Watch: Back story on Séralini’s censorship demands on GMO study and critique of retraction
The debate over the retraction of a highly controversial paper on the effects of GMOs on rats continues as new ...
Sustainability case for GE crops
The public debate about food has become deafening. "Local" and "organic" are mantras of the organic lobby, but organic food ...
Grist for the genetic engineering mill
A “what I’ve learned about GMOs” (“genetically modified organisms”) end-of-the-year column by Nathanael Johnson, Grist’s food writer, would ordinarily not warrant much attention ...
China vows ‘active, cautious’ GMO food stance
With the safety certificates for China's GMO rice and corn expiring soon, the country will take an "active and cautious" policy ...
Massive data do not support Don Huber’s GMO/glyphosate pathogen claims
Anti-GMO figure Don Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, has stirred quite a bit of controversy as ...
The fable of Hawaiian ‘Frankencorn’
Hawaii is the epicenter of a furious campaign to shut down production farms that yield genetically modified seed. It was ...
Uganda: ActionAid, other NGOs face scrutiny for false claims that GMOs cause cancer, infertility
Last November, the National Agricultural Research Organization (Naro) took concrete steps towards beating off any opposition to the draft bio-technology ...
Addressing belief that organic farming uses fewer/less harmful ‘natural’ pesticides
Go shopping in any large supermarket in a Western country and you are likely to find yourself bombarded with enticements ...
Social benefits of biotech crops
Ask any sugarbeet grower in the US how their lives have changed since the commercialization of Roundup Ready beets. Really ...
Ex FDA official analyzes industry draft GMO labeling and ‘natural’ proposal
It might have enraged those in favor of mandatory GMO labeling, but a leaked document outlining the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s ...
Weighing the plusses and minuses of GMO labeling
The most visible and contentious debate in our food supply is undoubtedly over labeling of genetically modified organisms. In the ...
Kenya to lift ban, commercialize GMOs
Kenyan Education, Science and Technology Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has revealed plans by the government to lift a ban on Genetically ...
Are consumer perceptions of biotech crops changing?
A new report from researchers at the University of Florida suggests that the public's perception of biotech crops could be ...
Biotech crop opponents slowing federal approval
The opposition to biotech crops is slowing the approval by U.S. regulators of new genetically modified products that is hurting ...
Hostility to GM putting EU in ‘global slow lane’
The growing influence of green lobbyists and anti-capitalists on European policymaking is condemning the EU the ‘global slow lane’ when ...
Nathanael Johnson lets the anti-GMO movement off the hook
Grist columnist Nathanael Johnson recently completed a 26 part series on GMOs by seemingly letting the anti-GMO movement off the ...
Ethics debate intensifies over retraction of flawed Séralini GMO rat study
While the mainstream science community has backed the decision by a prominent journal to withdraw and expunge from the records ...
Pro and Anti GMO forces spar in Hawaii
State Senator Russell Ruderman used his own company’s letterhead when he submitted anti-GMO testimony recently to the Hawaii County Council ...
Deadly bacteria could put an end to Florida orange juice
For years, Florida orange farmers have been fighting an incurable bacterial infection that threatens the very existence of the state's ...
State of the planet: GMOs not just about crops
While much attention is focused on genetically modified foods and the debate over their safety, fewer people are aware that many ...
China cloning on an ‘industrial scale’
Fast-growing Chinese company BGI is not only the world's largest center for gene sequencing, it's also the world's largest center for cloning ...
FDA rebuffs activist pressure to define ‘natural’ label
For years, activists have been pressuring the FDA to define exactly which foods it considers to be "natural," but a ...
Organic farmer deconstructs ‘the scientist’ vs. ‘the activist’ in Don Huber’s talks
Who is Don Huber and why is he making claims about 'dangerous pathogens' linked to GMOs and glyphosate--without any hard ...
China’s ‘father’ of conventional hybrid rice says ‘GM is the future’
China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan Longping, says he is working with researchers on rice that has been genetically modified ...
New technique to trace GMOs in food but not ready for prime time
As more governments across the globe start requiring food producers to label products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or even ...
Crucifying Amy Harmon: What happens when good journalists challenge anti-GMO orthodoxy
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Amy Harmon recently wrote another excellent, nuanced piece of science journalism when she explored one ...