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.
Indian farmers excluded from debate on GMO cotton
I am on a phone call with a farmer named Ganesh Nanote [from Nimbhara, India]... . . . . I have been ...
Food company executives know GMOs safe, but cater to consumers’ desire for labeling
Consumers’ desire for deeper transparency into how food is made will continue pushing food companies to label ingredients made from ...
78% of Canadians think tomatoes modified with catfish gene would taste fishy
A new report commissioned by Health Canada finds Canadians are critical yet overwhelmingly confused about food that has been genetically ...
Chinese man receives 3 year jail sentence for stealing GMO corn trade secrets
A Chinese man will spend three years in prison for conspiracy to steal trade secrets from DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto ...
‘Non-GMO month’: A marketing ploy grounded in misinformation
I was not aware until earlier this week that October is Non-GMO Month, a time apparently set aside to wallow ...
Addition of Hawaiian bees to endangered species list unrelated to honey bees
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added 49 species of plants and animals to the endangered species list on [Sept ...
Genomics will allow plant breeders to use seed banks more effectively
There are vast numbers of seeds in gene banks around the world. A new approach uses their genomes to predict ...
India’s inconsistency on GMOs: endorse GM mosquitoes, oppose GM mustard
Politicians... in India have been pretty receptive to GM technologies for control of dengue and chikungunya... Such political support for GM ...
EU Parliament, bucking EU Commission, opposes authorization of five new GMOs
The European Parliament opposed the European Commission plans to authorise five GMO products, maize Bt11, 1507 and MON810 (seeds and ...
How are family farms faring as companies buy land to meet growing organic food demand?
Farmers... want to meet the growing demand for organic, but are faced with several challenges to increasing acreage. Most significantly ...
Cargill to offer Non-GMO certified sugar, sunflower oil and sweetener
Cargill, one of the world’s biggest wholesale food suppliers, has bowed to consumer trends... The US company handles millions of ...
Greenpeace scientist Doug Parr on GMO debate: “Facts matter less”
Many people criticize Greenpeace for backing the scientific consensus when it comes to climate change, but not when it comes to the safety of GMOs ...
Tanzania kick starts GMO era with field trial of drought-tolerant GMO maize
Tanzania planted its first genetically modified maize research trials [Oct. 5] under an initiative that is building a new model for ...
‘Advocacy research’ tying neonicotinoids to bee deaths debunked, but still effective propaganda
...[A] worrisome... trend is the increasing frequency of articles containing flawed “advocacy research” that is actually designed to give a false result. This ...
Michael Pollan claims ‘Big Food’ out-lobbies the ‘food movement’
Simply put, [Big Food] is the $1.5 trillion industry that grows, rears, slaughters, processes, imports, packages and retails most of the ...
Farmers get higher prices for non-GMO soybeans, but are they worth the extra labor?
In the late 90s, many farmers went all in on biotech crops... But as crop prices falter, and some Americans ...
Monsanto’s Robert Fraley: Next GMO crops to focus on nutrition, climate change
The first genetically modified row crops of any kind—herbicide-resistant soybeans and cotton protected against the bollworm and other pests—were introduced ...
CRISPR could be used to make virus-resistant crops without introducing foreign genes
Plant viruses are ubiquitous in natural environments and can severely limit plant growth and fertility. Globally, viruses are a significant ...
DuPont-Pioneer collaborating with non-profit to develop gene-edited, disease-resistant maize
Although controversial, genetically modified (GM) crops constitute one option for increasing yields and have not been proven to be dangerous ...
Will GMO mustard suffer same fate as GMO eggplant in India?
With the deadline of submitting comments of stakeholders on genetically modified mustard... coming to an end... both anti and pro-GM ...
Anti-GMO activists’ attempt to stage circus debate on GMOs at Cornell University flops—but not before they spread misinformation
In poking through my Twitter feed I find a curious post. It is being circulated that I agreed to do ...
Video: Non-browning GMO golden delicious apples harvested commercially for first time
Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) announced [October 3] that it has successfully completed the first commercial harvest of its non-browning Arctic® Golden ...
Is India flouting its own laws in GMO cotton intellectual property dispute?
Monsanto’s ... Bt cotton has spawned the mother of all intellectual property (IP) disputes in India... . . . . Using ...
Do GMO enzymes used in natural flavorings and cleaning products promote allergies?
Genetically modified enzymes used in food, perfumes, medicine and cleaning products are “potent allergens” and should be tested like other ...
With school budgets tight, New York state PTA proposes spending more for non-GMO food
...[T]he New York PTA has released its Proposed Resolutions for 2016. ...[including] a proposal aimed at taking any genetically engineered foods, or ...
Are poorer consumers avoiding fresh produce because of fear-based organic food marketing?
New peer reviewed research published in Nutrition Today shows fear-based messaging tactics used by activist groups and some organic marketers that invoke safety concerns ...
Kenyan authorities now deny that they approved field trials of GMO maize
The National Environmental Management Authority has denied claims it approved GM insect-resistant maize for trial. . . . . Nema’s ...
