Daily Food & Agriculture 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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
‘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 ...
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 ...
IARC glyphosate bombshell: Scientist who lead review of herbicide withheld data showing no cancer link
When Aaron Blair sat down to chair a week-long meeting of 17 specialists at the International Agency for Research on ...
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 ...
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 ...
Are farm chemicals to blame for Iowa’s sick oak trees?
Iowa’s state tree is under stress. Visible damage to oak trees in recent years may be caused by farm chemicals, ...
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!” ...
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 ...
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, ...
GMO foods vs. GM medicine: What’s the difference in public acceptance?
This analysis sought to quantify US residents’ acceptance of [genetic modification (GM)] across five potential uses (grain production, fruit or ...
Video: Dietitian Abbey Sharp’s hilarious look at the GMO debate
[Editor's note: Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), food writer and blogger, and founder of Abbey's Kitchen Inc.] Did ...
Ghana’s farmers should have right to grow GMO crops, says Cornell professor Sarah Evanega Davidson
Ghanaians are being urged to give Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) technology a chance as a possible tool for dealing with ...
Dissecting MIT computer scientist Stephanie Seneff’s claim that glyphosate herbicide causes autism
[Editor's note: Josh Bloom is director of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. He ...
