Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Viewpoint: How can we ensure disease-resistant CRISPR livestock are treated ethically?
Powerful gene-editing techniques have the potential to improve modern farming by making animals resistant to heat and disease, reducing methane emissions and ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the damaging myth that agrochemicals are the biggest threat to bees
Regardless of the plant breeding method, products used to improve modern farming that could potentially harm bees could be used ...
A daily cup of coffee could be an easy and effective way to ward off Alzheimer’s disease
Coffee lovers know a steaming cup of java can quickly deliver energy and mental clarity every morning, but new research ...
Can cell-cultured breast milk provide parents with another option?
Science has made impressive gains in the art of producing animal products minus the animal. Now this emerging field of ...
The ‘Holy Breath’ eating plan is one of dozens of fad diets. Here’s why none of them really work
Extreme low-cal, Atkins, dukan, south beach, fasting, the hacker’s diet, paleo, keto… the list goes on and on. My personal ...
Viewpoint: ‘As climate changes, we urgently need to engineer plants to withstand harsher climates’
Genome editing using CRISPR technology may be a key approach to improving agricultural production. It is already being used to ...
GMO crops have reduced pesticide poisoning among farmers, report finds
Many countries have enjoyed improved economies and healthier populations by farming genetically modified (GM) crops, according to a report from ...
Animal-free real dairy products are beginning to roll out
General Mills moves into the emerging ‘animal-free’ dairy category with a brand called Bold Cultr – a lactose-free cream cheese ...
Synthetic biology in Africa: ‘Golden opportunity’ once regulations are in place
Synthetic biology can solve some of Africa’s pressing challenges related to poverty, food insecurity and climate change, scientists say, but ...
Viewpoint: By blocking CRISPR gene editing, Europe is rejecting a proven tool to address climate change and food insecurity
CRISPR technology is not the same as GMO technology; it does not introduce DNA from other species into plants. Yet ...
Could eating cheese and other dairy products cause disturbing dreams?
Eating cheese late at night, the rumour goes, will give you strange dreams. As far back as 1964, a researcher ...
UK mulls break from EU’s restrictive crop biotechnology rules to gain an edge in international trade
With a few helpful tweaks to its regulations on crop biotechnology, the European Union could easily spawn an avalanche of ...
Republican Senate candidate Dr. Oz has long history of promoting pseudoscience, including anti-GMO disinformation
Among Dr. Mehmet Oz's achievements are ten Emmy awards, a syndicated television show, an Ivy-League medical degree, and a rapport ...
Supreme Court set to consider addressing lower court ruling that found Bayer’s Roundup herbicide caused applicator’s cancer
Bayer AG’s effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to review a key trial loss in the nationwide Roundup litigation ...
Lab-grown fats may be key ingredient in diets of the future
“Lab-grown fat.” It sounds like a nightmare for marketing teams, but for scientists, it’s a key ingredient for the future of food ...
Viewpoint: Here’s how to respond to anti-biotech activist groups that disguise themselves as food experts
Activist groups and groups disguised as “authorities” on agricultural issues often use manipulative persuasive fear appeals in ways that impacts ...
‘Life as we made it’ book review: Why ‘intervening in nature’ is not new and should not be feared
Life as We Made It by Beth Shapiro, an exploration of biotechnology, human evolution and our significant and often unwelcome impact ...
Viewpoint: Why Thailand should rethink its opposition to biotechnology
Thailand needs a "new mindset" to adopt controversial genetically modified organism (GMO) technology to increase agricultural productivity and serve the ...
Viewpoint: ‘Time is of the essence’ — Climate-resilient crop varieties can take over a decade to come to market
Researchers are experimenting with engineering crops to better manage higher temperatures. “Continuously improving seeds to grow more resilient and high-yielding ...
Glyphosate does not kill bumble bees and is unlikely to cause health problems, latest comprehensive study finds
Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in the world, and is widely used in agriculture. While glyphosate has been ...
GMO crops and glyphosate use can offer carbon sequestration benefits, Canadian study suggests
University of Saskatchewan research has concluded that genetically modified canola and the use of glyphosate have increased carbon sequestration in ...
Kenya’s insect-resistant GMO cotton embrace boosts farmers’ yields and cuts down on chemical use
In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta under his Big Four Agenda made an announcement... allowing the cultivation of Genetically Modified cotton ...
Nigerian GMO cowpea farmers testify to reduced pest infestation and better yields
Nigerian farmers growing the country’s first GMO food crop — pod borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea, or beans — say they have ...
Glyphosate herbicide helps reduce carbon emissions in agriculture, academic study finds
In the early 1990s, tillage was the leading form of weed control, with minimum/zero-tillage management practices incapable of long-term continuation ...
Climate change impacts crops rich in micronutrients like zinc, vitamin A, and iron — triggering food security issues in lower-income countries
A new review paper, published in Advances in Nutrition, draws together the existing science of how climate change threatens staple ...
Going GMO-free? Why rejecting biotechnology leads to environmental and financial losses
Challenges associated with supplying society with food have evolved from additional innovation and continual innovation will be required to meet ...
Endangered rice: Key crop provides 25% of global calories, but rising temperatures threaten long-term viability
For much of the developing world, rice is a key to human survival. But at the same time, climate change ...
