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.
Environmental activists sue EPA in challenge of approved Monsanto glyphosate-dicamaba Xtend herbicide mix
Environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on January 27th in attempt to force the agency to take another look ...
California can place cancer warning label on the herbicide glyphosate, judge ‘tentatively’ rules
California can require Monsanto [and other manufacturers of glyphosate] to label its popular weed-killer Roundup as a possible cancer threat ...
2016 was not a good year for crop biotechnology and science
Editor's note: The piece below was written by Wayne Parrot, professor of crop science at the University of Georgia, and Val ...
Chile’s curious double standard: Produce GMO seeds for export but not for local planting
For years, Chile has had a curious double standard when it comes to genetically modified organisms. The country is a ...
Next ‘big thing’ in agriculture? Genetically modified microbes
Editor's Note: This article was written by Matthew Wallenstein, an associate professor at Colorado State University and director of its ...
Kenya unveils first-ever GMO label, riling activists who want imports banned
The government has launched a genetically modified organism labelling mark that will be attached to food products on sale. Willy Tonui, ...
‘Super milk’: Offspring of GE cows retain hypoallergenic modifications
In 2012, Daisy the genetically engineered dairy calf made headlines around the world after researchers at AgResearch used a genetic ...
Ghana scientist speaks out against efforts to derail appointment of pro-GMO ag minister
Editor's Note: This article written by Walter Sandow Alhassan, the director of Biotechnology and Stewardship for Sustainable Agriculture, is a ...
CRISPR co-discoverer Jennifer Doudna: Gene-editing will improve global health
An initiative launched two years ago by UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco to use CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to develop ...
Improved herbicides only a ‘temporary fix’ for herbicide-resistant weeds
Editor's note: This article was authored by Nathan Donley is a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, a group ...
Uproar over perceived gag order at Agricultural Research Service was ‘self-inflicted wound’
Don’t blame this one on the Trump administration. In a bungled attempt to anticipate the wishes of their new political ...
Non-browning Arctic Apple hit shelves February 1: Will they change consumers’ opinions about GMOs?
The fruit, sold sliced and marketed under the brand Arctic Apple, could hit a cluster of Midwestern grocery stores as ...
Majority of farmers say GMOs allow them to minimize pesticides and conserve water, survey finds
Editor's Note: This article discusses a recent survey by the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and National Corn Growers Association. According ...
GMO mustard approval in India stalled by lawsuit alleging scientists deceived public on crop’s benefits
India’s long-standing push to approve genetically modified (GM) food crops has been controversially delayed, after an environmental campaigner launched a ...
Economists, in ‘predatory’ journal, challenge Syngenta study finding neonics pose ‘low risk’ to bees
Editor's Note: This article discusses the attack on a Syngenta study by economists published in the Environmental Sciences Europe titled "An experiment ...
Will release of GMO American chestnut trees have ‘unforeseen’ consequences for environment?
The [American chestnut tree]...fell victim to a [Cryphonectria parasitica fungus] disease introduced by a foreign chestnut species in the early ...
Agricultural Research Service rescinds order barring its scientists from contact with public
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have rescinded an order that barred its researchers from releasing “public-facing documents,” ranging from news releases ...
USDA, FDA proposals on gene editing aimed at ‘modernizing biotech regulations’
Editor's note: This story discusses proposed plans for new regulations for gene-edited plants and animals by the FDA and the USDA ...
Agriculture Department: No gag order on its scientists
Employees of the scientific research arm at the Agriculture Department were ordered Monday to cease publication of “outward facing” documents and news ...
How GMO crops can help feed world’s growing population in time of climate change
Editor's Note: This article was written by Stuart Thompson, a senior lecturer in Plant Biochemistry at the University of Westminster ...
US withdrawal from Trans Pacific Partnership worries nation’s cattle producers
On [January 23], he signs [a Presidential memorandum that withdraws] the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. What’s more, he has ...
CRISPR, EXZACT technologies boost gene-editing efficiency in plants from 1% to 90%
The perfect seed doesn’t exist—but can it? Breeders have tried without success for decades to perfectly combine yield, disease tolerance ...
USDA’s GAIN report: China to grow its own GE crops by 2020
Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from the US Department of Agriculture's Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) annual report ...
Will Trump cut funding of UN agency accused of ‘shoddy science’ for designating glyphosate probable carcinogen?
Editor's note: This article discusses the International Agency (IARC) for Research on Cancer, a sub-group of the World Health Organization ...
#GlyphosateIsVital: British farmers take to social media to defend herbicide’s environmental benefits
The Twitter campaign under the hashtag #glyphosateisvital has been backed by a number of British farmers, who have posted tweets ...
Decoding wheat genome enhances production in the face of severe climate disruptions
Editor's note: Wheat rust and spot blotch are two fungal diseases that cause a devastating amount of crop damage around ...
Bill Gates: ‘Disease resistant, biofortified cassava one of reasons I’m optimistic about Africa’
A recent opinion poll found that the majority of Americans are optimistic about 2017. Although 2016 was a tough year ...
