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.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Organic industry-funded anti-GMO group US Right to Know calls Food Evolution film ‘chemical industry propaganda’
[Editor's note: Stacy Malkan is co-director of US Right to Know. Read the GLP's profile of USRTK here.] Some industry messaging ...
Ecuador passes law allowing GMO crop research
[Editor's note: The following article has been translated from Spanish.] Ecuador has approved a law allowing the entry of genetically ...
Lesson from BPA: Banning glyphosate herbicide won’t make us safer
For years, opponents of glyphosate have argued the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup is harmful for your health. ...
10,000 times more pesticides ‘naturally’ in plants than synthetic residue on food
The word pesticide is misunderstood, nearly to the same extent as the word chemical. People have been led to believe, ...
US farmers skeptical of organic industry ‘task force’ cracking down on fraudulent imports
[May 2017], The Post reported that three enormous shipments of “organic” corn and soybeans - large enough to constitute a ...
Future of corn: Genetics could improve maize’s sustainability and productivity
A new, much more detailed reference genome for maize, or corn, as it is called in the U.S., [was] published ...
Scientists criticize IARC for withholding data showing glyphosate herbicide does not cause cancer
According to a new Reuters investigation, Aaron Blair, the scientist who led IARC's [the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a ...
Talking Biotech: Toxicologist on flawed approach of IARC’s glyphosate evaluation
University of Guelph toxicologist Len Ritter: 40-year history of safety assessments challenge IARC's "probable carcinogen" finding ...
Epigenetics Around the Web: Trump isn’t affecting human evolution and organic produce isn’t helping your sperm
Is Donald Trump adversely affecting human evolution? One professor's opinion shows how the left politicizes science too; Men's Health quotes ...
‘Wake up call’: Farm animal overuse drives jump in antibiotic-resistance genes
Eighteen months ago, a gene that confers resistance to colistin — known as an ‘antibiotic of last resort’ — emerged ...
Should milk from cows that eat genetically modified feed be labeled GMO?
[A] woman in California is suing Chipotle because it advertises a GMO- free menu, while serving meat, cheese and sour ...
Will GMO-wary public embrace gene-edited food crops? ‘It’s more social science than science’
Green stalks have only just begun to sprout in the test fields where biotech giant DuPont Pioneer is planting rows ...
WHO’s IARC under fire for ignoring exculpatory data on glyphosate: Should it be reformed or abolished?
Independent scientists challenge IARC's use of 'hazard' rather than 'risk' analysis--its operating premise that a substance should be ‘labeled’ carcinogenic ...
Glyphosate herbicide ban could cost UK farmers $1.2 billion, reduce tax revenue
New figures show the potentially devastating impact of a ban on glyphosate to the British economy and the agricultural sector, ...
Video: Missouri farmer creatively complies with ‘ridiculous’ requirement to destroy GE petunias
Blake Hurst, a greenhouse grower in Northwest Missouri and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, recently received a letter telling him ...
Should the government have ordered the destruction of harmless and beautiful ‘illegal’ GMO petunias?
Sometimes government regulators do things that are not merely misguided but gratuitously stupid. A classic example came [May 2017], when ...
High yield gene-edited rice: Field trials begin in Japan
A food research body [in Japan] has started growing genome-edited rice plants outdoors on a trial basis for the first ...
AquaBounty acquires first US fish farm to raise fast-growing GE salmon
When salmon from AquaBounty Technologies reach grocery stores and restaurants, some of them will come from America’s heartland. AquaBounty has ...
National Academies of Sciences rebuke claim 2016 GMO crops report ‘tainted’ by conflicts of interest
[Editor's note: The following is a letter to the editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education from the Committee on Genetically ...
China approves new varieties of GMO corn, soybeans for import from US
China approved two new varieties of genetically modified (GMO) crops for import June 12, after the world's top buyer of ...
Can CRISPR gene editing revive promise of GMOs to provide hardier, more nutritious, better tasting crops?
Using CRISPR to add—or remove—a plant trait is faster, more precise, easier, and in most cases cheaper than either traditional ...
Organic industry forms ‘anti-fraud task force’ following discovery of ‘contaminated’ USDA-certified imports
A task force convened by the Organic Trade Association will get to work [June 2017] on developing a best-practices guide for ...
Canada delays neonicotinoid insecticide ban decision until at least December 2017
Health Canada won’t issue a final decision on whether it will ban imidacloprid [until at least December 2017], says a ...
Will Trump continue Obama-era ‘streamlining’ of crop and animal biotech and gene-editing regulations?
[Editor's note: Hank Campbell is president of the American Council on Science and Health.] President Donald Trump spent a great deal ...
Why biotech crop advocates should stop saying ‘GMOs are safe’
The anti-GMO movement has perfected the art of cherry picking. Take the mainstream media headlines that scream “GMOs are safe!” ...
Nature editorial: USDA and FDA need to ‘harmonize’ gene-edited plant and animal regulations
In January [2017], two US agencies proposed the first substantial overhaul in 30 years of how they regulate genetically altered ...
Could a mushroom save honey bees from Varroa mites?
What is killing honey bees? The most prevalent cause of death is due to infestation by the invasive Varroa mite, ...
