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 over-eating processed foods is not the main driver of obesity
Typical binge foods share a common feature: They are composed mainly of fast-digesting carbohydrates that rapidly raise blood sugar ...
U.S.-Iranian War will inflate food costs even if fighting does not resume
This is one of those moments where geopolitics quietly reshapes what we pay at the grocery store. The conflict in ...
‘Appeal to nature’ and other dietary myths that seem appealing but could damage your health
... A systematic review that examined 64 studies concluded that “online nutrition-related information is often inaccurate and of low quality”. ...
Trump administration’s gutting of USAID fuels a health and science crisis
In the rice-growing region of Nueva Ecija in the Philippines, smallholder farmers who supply local markets have long relied on ...
Viewpoint: How wrong was Paul Ehrlich about population’s negative impact on growth? Just look at India
In 1968, a little-known ecologist named Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, which aimed to bring attention to the perceived ...
Here’s why some foods need to be ultra-processed—and how to make better food choices
If you’ve read nutrition headlines lately, you’ve probably seen “ultra-processed foods” thrown around with increasing urgency, most likely framed as ...
Will the MAHA movement save the GOP this fall — or help bury it? This man may be key
Tony Lyons knows how Republicans can win the midterm elections later this year. All they need to do, as he ...
Viewpoint — Influential sports scientists: ‘No evidence that organic food is healthier’
Dr. Mike Israetel, a sports scientist and professor with a PhD in kinesiology, recently appeared on The Rubin Report to ...
Reviewing the evidence on the benefits and dangers of glyphosate
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order that expands U.S. production of glyphosate, a herbicide contained in commercial and domestic ...
What are the consequences of agriculture misinformation—and how to fight back
Is organic farming better than non-organic farming? Should farmers feed antibiotics and steroids to their animals? Such debates about food ...
A new tool can spot diet and nutrition misinformation—and measure its risk of harm
A new tool that not only identifies diet and nutrition misinformation online but also evaluates the content’s risk for potential ...
Why the herbicide glyphosate is key to sustainable agriculture
Here are some reasons why there could not be sustainable agriculture without herbicides like those containing glyphosate. Sustainable Farming: The ...
Netflix plastic documentary is scare nonsense packaged as science
Netflix, which has made simplified propaganda many times before (See: Dopesick), sticks to a familiar formula in a thoroughly slanted ...
How China engineered its agricultural revolution
Between 1959 and 1961, an estimated 30 to 45 million Chinese people died in a famine resulting from Leader Mao Zedong’s Great ...
Viewpoint — Dirty Dozen produce ranking flop: Environmental Working Group is at it again with its scientifically ignorant rankings
Spring has sprung. And along with the change of season comes the annual release of Environmental Working Group’s “Shopper’s Guide to ...
Ultra-processed food: The term UPF is less than 20 years old. Here’s its social justice origins
Ultra-processed foods now make up more than 50% of the American diet. They are also less expensive and better tasting ...
Viewpoint: Cheddar cheese from unpasteurized milk? Cheese linked to e coli outbreak but Raw Farm and organic grocery stores reject recalls
Pasteurization exists for a reason: It is a time-tested way to make sure that dairy products don’t contain bacteria that ...
Viewpoint: The ‘link to cancer’ myth—Activist and trial lawyers misrepresent the potential danger of glyphosate and other herbicides
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure increased domestic supplies of elemental phosphorus ...
Vitamin D alert: Cod liver oil contains environmental toxins. Is it safe to eat?
Cod liver oil comes from fish liver and therefore contains environmental toxins. Is cod liver oil or capsules with fish ...
Key Republicans are abandoning Casey Means’ floundering surgeon general nomination
The nascent Make America Healthy Again movement got one of its biggest wins last spring: Casey Means was selected to be the ...
Stomach or digestion problems? Wellness “experts” on social media are promoting these quack cures
Social media is usually rife with misinformation about how to boost health, and various tricks to your improve your digestion ...
Viewpoint — Glyphosate: Ecological villain or environmental scapegoat?
Glyphosate may just be the most polarizing chemical in modern agriculture, if not modern society. Since the World Health Organization’s ...
Viewpoint: Climate change propaganda and disinformation are now the official position of the U.S. government
The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists recently won a court case against the administration which forced it to ...
Viewpoint: How ‘fake news’ shapes our behavior?
In recent years, the spread of fake news—particularly in the health domain—has become a significant concern. Misinformation about medical treatments, vaccines, ...
Viewpoint: Farmers face mounting challenges — Proposed U.S. farm bill doesn’t meet them
The House Agriculture Committee advanced a proposed farm bill ... —a set of legislative proposals that have traditionally balanced the social safety ...
Viewpoint: In defense of plastics (and a rebuttal of ideology-infused misinterpretations of risk science)
Close observers will note that journalists in the legacy press have a perplexing habit of engaging in outright activism for ...
Viewpoint: Social media influencers are promoting RFK, Jr.’s dangerous protein-heavy diet
The rise of social media influencers promoting the carnivore diet with its emphasis on eating as much beef, butter and ...
