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: Criticism of GMO crops in India is ‘deeply flawed’
A review article, “Modern technologies for sustainable food and nutrition security,” which appeared in the November 25 issue of the ...
Will gene editing boost food production? The potential of a ‘revolutionary technology’
Genome-editing tools provide advanced biotechnological techniques that .... have been utilized in a wide variety of plant species to characterize ...
Video: Glyphosate and other health ‘boogeymen’ aren’t causing all diseases
Should John Oliver decide that he’s had enough, perhaps because generating sarcasm is exhausting, there is someone who can slip ...
GMO bacteria could help resolve Africa’s plastic pollution ‘menace’
African scientists are calling for investments in the application of biotechnology to deal with the world’s plastic pollution problem. They ...
Lab-grown meat is coming soon—but will anyone eat it?
As 2018 wraps up, the average American is poised to have eaten 222 pounds of beef over the course of ...
Viewpoint: Intensive agriculture is the only way to sustainably feed the world
[In December], the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a comprehensive study embracing agricultural intensification as the only way to simultaneously close what ...
Land sparing or land sharing: How do we feed the world while protecting the environment?
It is one of the biggest questions in conservation: Should we be sharing our landscapes with nature by reviving small ...
‘Overblown’ fear of biotech crops hinders scientific progress, Nobel laureates warn
Winners of this year’s Nobel prize for chemistry say overblown fears about genetically modified foods risk preventing society benefiting from ...
Edible vaccine may protect honey bees from deadly microbial infections
A growing number of honey bees die each year due to pesticides, vanishing habitats, poor nutrition and climate change, with ...
PEW survey: Half of Americans believe GMOs pose health risks and are linked to use of food additives
A new Pew Research Center report shows an American public that is closely divided over [food] additives, and genetically modified (GM) crops ...
A farmer’s ‘naughty list’: Activists, celebrities and lawyers who spread the most misinformation in 2018
That’s right: it’s almost time for the jolly old fat man to visit homes around the world to deliver presents ...
Have GMO crops cut herbicide use? A tale of two conflicting studies
We have planted millions of acres of genetically-engineered (GE) crops, a vast majority of which are resistant to herbicides. In ...
GMO crops may help keep arsenic out of India’s food supply
An Indian scientist in the UK is working on a way to grow crops in arsenic contaminated soil, a study ...
Canada launches new safety review of AquAdvantage GMO salmon
CBC News has learned AquaBounty’s genetically modified salmon is going through a new federal risk assessment. Environment and Climate Change ...
We need to produce 56 percent more calories by 2050—can we do it sustainably?
If the world hopes to make meaningful progress on climate change, it won’t be enough for cars and factories to ...
‘Switching off’ genes could speed efforts to breed disease-resistant plants
Researchers from [the French Agricultural Research Centre CIRAD] recently showed that inactivating a gene, RECQ4, leads to a three-fold increase ...
GMO crops and herbicides: A ‘win-win’ for farmers and the environment, plant scientist Wayne Parrott says
A fertile soil is a microbial wonderland .... a tiny ecosystem too small to see with our eyes. Yet, the ...
Farmers, here’s what the public wants to know about food
Tyson Foods is the biggest U.S. food company .... [E]arlier this year it formed the Trendtellers Council and packed it ...
Rejecting GMO crops is a risky decision, experts say
Every new or improved technology, regardless of its particular field or application, can involve risk, potential risk, or perception of ...
Uganda’s young cassava farmers want access to GMO crops
Though Uganda’s Parliament passed a biosafety bill [the week of November 26], it remains unclear whether it will benefit a ...
Why did CNN interview the ‘food babe’ about the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak?
The Food and Drug Administration’s urgent warning about a romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak left many Americans wondering .... what ...
How do scientists counter ‘fake news’ in the era of InfoWars?
Within the scientific community, much attention has focused on improving communications between scientists, policy makers, and the public. ... [W]henever ...
Artificial vs natural? Ocean Spray sued for using synthetic flavor in its cranberry juice
Ocean Spray, the company that makes several popular cranberry juice drinks, is battling a class-action lawsuit brought by two plaintiffs ...
French regulators launch re-evaluation of glyphosate products
The National Health Security Agency (ANSES) is tightening [its] grip around the herbicide king [glyphosate]. On December 15, it will withdraw ...
How anti-GMO groups and ‘Russian trolls’ influence public perceptions of science
A new opinion poll suggests that Russian trolls, aided by anti-GMO groups such as the Center for Food Safety and ...
GMOs 101: Experts break down the basics of crop biotechnology
An online search for “GMO” returns more than 88 million results — a tangled mess of frightening images, dense data, ...
Climate change spurs research to develop heat-tolerant rice, wheat
Wheat with DNA tweaked to beat the heat, and redesigned rice that can flourish in hot, dry conditions. Work is ...
