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.
Five reasons why you sound crazy when denouncing GMOs
(1) Words and linguistic distinction matters. There is a tendency to either ignore, mutilate or warp the meaning of terms like ...
Scientific American: ‘Environmentalists’ have opposed genetically improving crops as ‘unnatural’ for a century
The May 2014 issue of Scientific American, called Scientific American Classics, looks at "The Birth of the GMO Debate." It ...
Vegans and vegetarians embrace simplistic anti-GMO propaganda, eschew debate, at Canadian expo
Kevin M. Folta, who describes himself as “a scientist in a scientifically illiterate nation at a time when we need science ...
No science-based reason to justify mandatory GMO labeling, study concludes
Analysis of the scientific, legal and economic ramifications of mandatory GMO labeling by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology ...
New media group Vox stands up to GMO ‘test’
Vox.com is a new news site that aims to do things a bit differently. Led by Ezra Klein, formerly of ...
Anti-GMO consumer claims there’s ‘no watchdog’ over GMOs, advocates for labeling
When you cross a horse with a donkey, the offspring is neither a horse or a donkey. The resultant hybrid ...
Philippines-based activist group urges Asian governments to halt field trials of Golden Rice
A Philippines-based farmer-scientist group, MASIPAG, along with its regional network, has called on governments to immediately halt all planned field ...
Vermont senator describes consumers as ‘guinea pigs’ when ramifications of GMOs are not well-understood
Vermont is poised to become the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified organisms in food products. We speak ...
GMO growers and organic farmers can coexist in Australia
Coexistence between organic farmers and those that grow genetically modified crops is a big challenge but it is possible in ...
GMKnow responds to mutagenesis challenge, claiming process is ‘natural’
The proudly anti-GMO group, GMKnow, responded to the question I posed to them two days ago. I asked them why mutagenetic ...
When GMO critics use scare tactics, ask what they’re selling
Nutrition is a wonderful playground for people who want to manipulate fear. We need food to live, yet can be ...
Organic label creates brand perceptions of “healthier” and “safer,” even when untrue
There are many public debates raging that are essentially dueling narratives, both sides claiming to have science, evidence, and logic ...
Activists made genetic modification a bogeyman with no scientific validity
Millions know him simply as “Dr. Joe,” the McGill University chemistry professor who has spent the last 30 years popularizing ...
Patchwork of GMO labeling laws like Vermont’s would force food manufacturers to label all products
Look under the hood of every movement to forestall the use of genetically-modified grains and you’ll find a preponderance of ...
Vermont’s GMO labeling law could face legal challenges on three grounds
Expect two things to happen now that Vermont’s legislature has passed H.112. Any day now, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) is expected ...
Would making genetic resources “open source” reduce GMO controversy?
The creation of free software 30 years ago has had a profound effect on computing, and helped fuel the rise of the ...
Is glyphosate, used with some GM crops, dangerously toxic to humans?
Glyphosate has been characterized by independent science and regulatory agencies to be relatively safe, but anti-GMO groups use uncritically publicized ...
Vermont’s GMO labeling law passed because of well-organized and well-funded campaigns
Despite the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads from food manufacturers, key lawmakers in Vermont went from skeptical ...
Guardian’s John Vidal attacks Gates Foundation for links to Monsanto and Cargill (on site funded by Gates Foundation)
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is sponsoring the Guardian's Global development site is being heavily criticised in Africa and the ...
GMO fervor spills into Hawaii’s elections, fuels campaign donations
The fervor surrounding genetically engineered crops in Hawaii is expected to spill into this year's elections, as a number of ...
Cotton Board of Zambia calls for investments in biotech to aid sustained production of quality cotton
Cotton Board of Zambia board secretary Dafulin Kaonga said Government should invest in modern biotechnology, including genetic engineering, to develop ...
Scientific literacy and critical thinking missing from anti-GMO groups
The landscape of science communication resounds with a cacophony of credible and incredible voices. Such voices fill the demands of ...
Against lab made seeds? GMO critics give mutagenesis using radiation and chemicals free pass
I got into a back-and-forth with GMKnow over on Twitter (you can read the exchange here). As is obvious from one look at their ...
Debating GMOs: Anti Michael Pollan and plant scientist Pam Ronald break new ground with dialogue
Journalist Michael Pollan and plant geneticist Pamela Ronald set an important precedent when they convened the two sides of the ...
Scientists and farmers reject proposed GM crop ban in Jackson, Oregon, call it ‘threat’ to agriculture
The idea of banning genetically modified plants seems like folly to some scientists who work in crop technology, not to ...
Organic groups fight propagation of Golden Rice in Philippines to protect native varieties
Several environmental groups have raised the alarm against golden rice, a genetically modified variety, that threatened “to destroy the organic ...
Biotech can strengthen vegetarianism but Veg Expo chooses anti-GMO agenda
Most people never knew I was not a meat eater. I enjoyed an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet for 16 years. I get the ...
