Agriculture & 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.
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Viewpoint: Why RFK, Jr.’s promotion of ‘natural medicines and food’ is simplistic, often ignorant, and sometimes dangerous
Often, we’re given a choice between certain things – such as foods, medicines or procedures – that are deemed natural, ...
Bayer on SCOTUS: It should not face liablity in state courts for alleged health damages caused by its weedkiller Roundup (glyphosate) when independent federal agencies have reviewed thousands of studies and labeled it safe
The U.S. Supreme Court today announced that it will review the Durnell Roundup™ case. Monsanto petitioned the court to hear ...
Supreme Court agrees to review Bayer’s request to block lawsuits claiming federally-approved herbicide glyphosate causes cancer
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review Monsanto’s appeal seeking immunity from lawsuits related to its popular herbicide, Roundup ...
Chemophobia & Monetized Activism: Year in Review
Chemophobia — the reflexive fear that “chemicals” are inherently dangerous — stokes public anxiety about health and the environment. It ...
Viewpoint — Lysenkoism 2.0: RFK, Jr. is more dangerous than the 1930s Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko, whose crackpot views killed millions of people and set back Russian science for decades
We don’t need to look to dystopian authoritarian theocracies portrayed in science fiction novels and movies to know that it ...
How MAHA policies are fast-changing the ingredients in popular foods
Make America Healthy Again. Ozempic. Fibermaxxing. Powerful forces are pushing the U.S. food industry to make what could be the ...
Bloated advice: MAHA influencers are flooding social media with misinformation on gut health
“I had one patient who saw a TikTok video about doing a colon cleanse, bought something over the counter to ...
‘A whole lot of (methane) gas’: Grass-fed beef is not better for the climate, experts agree
Roughly a quarter of all global greenhouse gases come from food production, and beef accounts for the single biggest share ...
Viewpont—’Weight gain is not a necessary component of a highly ultra-processed diet’: A nuanced look at America’s ‘deadly diet’
In the past half century, nutrition scientists have blamed health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease on many ...
Viewpoint: America’s upside-down, upside-down food pyramid is bad science
Health Warning: Like every other Food Pyramid released in the last two weeks, this article is satire. Although most of the ...
AI is a revolutionary tool to increase global farming output and food productivity
With the world's population projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the global agricultural sector faces a defining challenge ...
Despite ‘no conflicts of interest’ pledge, several of Kennedy’s dietary advisors have ties to the meat and dairy industry
Soon after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s health secretary, he promised to overhaul the federal ...
Disinformation Attacks on Food and Farming: Year in Review
Global farming and food policy is under intensive attack from an alliance of left-leaning environmental activists and the ideologically mushy ...
Viewpoint: For the developing world, ‘nature-friendly’ organic and regenerative farming lags in production and sustainability
Across the UK, we face an extensive and growing set of land-related environmental targets - spanning climate change mitigation, biodiversity ...
In the UK effort to align more with Europe, will it mothball its recently relaxed policy on gene-edited crops?
The [UK] government is attempting to negotiate an opt-out from European laws that ban the commercialisation of most forms of ...
RFK, Jr. ends ‘war on saturated fats’: A win for meat-maxing influencers, a loss for common-sense eating
For decades, nutrition experts and health officials have warned against eating too much saturated fat. Red meat, full-fat dairy products, ...
Supreme Court may consider blocking further suits targeting the weedkiller glyphosate, which global regulatory agencies have found safe
The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to take up a case involving weedkillers and cancer that could effectively ...
Why are we not eating more cell-based meat? Blame over-regulation, protectionist states, and skeptical consumers
In , we wrote about the excitement consumers and investors had for a new type of protein. By 2013, investors ...
Viewpoint: Tampering down hysteria on ultra-processed foods
The term ultra-processed food (UPF) has become so common — and so charged — that many people feel a sense ...
‘Goes against decades of evidence’: RFK, Jr.’s new food pyramid draws backlash from heart health and nutrition groups
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced new dietary guidelines for Americans focused on promoting whole foods, proteins and ...
Viewpoint: Organic proponents are wellness vaccine-skeptic grifters but with better branding
The organic industry is a multi-billion dollar cash cow (get it—I love a good pun) that is based on zero ...
Europe’s small step to unwind its science-free precautionism of crop biotech
The European Union recently agreed to ease restrictions on new genomic techniques (NGTs) for food, in the most significant change to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Ripped from the playbook’—The politics behind San Francisco’s Big Food case
The companies behind Tony the Tiger, Fruit Loops, Heinz ketchup, Coca-Cola, Oreo, and Lucky Charms are lawyering up as the ...
From organic living to science-denying conspiracy: The evolution of America’s ‘Crunchy Mom’ movement
When her son was born six years ago, Alex, a 30-year-old mother living in Iowa, completely changed her mindset: "During ...
How once food-poor India’s advanced seed genetics usurped China’s global dominance of rice production
India has become the world's largest rice producer, beating China, with a total output of 150.18 million tonnes, Union Agriculture ...
Detox cleanses are a quick fix that don’t work
Detox cleanses are all over social media, with people claiming the diets remove toxins, help you lose weight and supposedly ...
Ten-year-old prediction that ‘glyphosate will make half of all children autistic by 2025’ proven false and looney. Date moved to 2032
A big date has arrived. Those of us who have been following pseudoscience for some time will remember that way ...
