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.
How anti-GMO imagery derails rational discussion of biotechnology
This paper explores the international controversy over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). We argue that the uncommonly high levels of opposition ...
Media shouting match over neonicotinoids isn’t helping bees
[Bees have] become pawns in the ag wars, the subject of dueling bee-death narratives. In one of those story lines, pesticides ...
China seeks to reassure consumers about GMO foods amid calls for labeling
China's agriculture ministry said it would back new laws on genetically modified (GMO) food labeling "at a suitable time" as ...
GMO labeling fight was between factions of food industry, not industry vs. consumer
[R]oughly 90% of survey respondents support mandatory GMO labeling. Consumers want to know. But the typical response when consumers want ...
Environmental Protection Agency in New Zealand finds ‘no glyphosate-cancer link’, rebukes WHO’s IARC
A new report on glyphosate [patented originally under the trade name Roundup], commissioned by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), says ...
USDA making progress crafting GMO labeling rules
The Agriculture Department's efforts to craft rules for implementing a nationwide, mandatory system for labeling genetically modified ingredients is making ...
Who will regulate lab-grown meat, other products of ‘cellular agriculture’?
[T]he test tube burger. . . has helped put a spotlight on the question of how the U.S. government will ...
Domestically developed GMO mustard clears major regulatory hurdle in India
A government panel has cleared commercial use of what would be India's first genetically modified (GM) food crop, but politicians ...
Does rootworm resistance to Bt corn symbolize failure of GMOs, industrial agriculture?
In recent months, the rootworm has caused damage in fields planted with Bt corn, which is engineered to kill the ...
Anti-GMO crusader Jeffrey Smith: ‘Labeling GMOs was never the end goal it was a tactic to get them banned’
Because “public-interest” groups cloak themselves with the feel-good mantle of protecting consumers, the environment, animals, etc., the motives of such ...
Zimbabwe could save $60 million per year by adopting GMO maize
Zimbabwe could be losing up to $60 million worth of maize output a year due to failure to adopt new plant ...
Preponderance of field studies and latest research still concludes bees not disappearing
Bees are in the news, . . . mainly, dire tales of disappearing bees threatening a third of our food supply. ...
Why science communication about GMOs often fails
. . . . [S]cientists and science supporters frequently take on those who dabble in homeopathy, or deny anthropogenic climate change, ...
Mergers between major seed, pesticide companies prompt scrutiny by US lawmakers
U.S. lawmakers say they plan to hold a hearing to examine a wave of mergers that could reshape the $100 ...
Video: ‘Natural’ label is meaningless
We want to buy what’s best, but there are almost too many choices. Food companies know this. So they use ...
In patent dispute, Monsanto withdraws application for next generation GMO cotton from India
Monsanto Co has withdrawn an application seeking approval for its next generation of genetically modified cotton seeds in India [Bollgard ...
Indian regulators may consider socio-economic factors when assessing GMO crops
With the debate on genetically modified (GM) crops getting intense, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is considering the ...
Australia, New Zealand reviewing bruise resistant, low acrylamide GMO potato
Australia's food regulator has called for submissions as it reviews a genetically-modified potato designed to produce less chemicals when fried ...
Data alone won’t convert GMO skeptics
One of the highlights of the 2016 Plant Biology Conference in Austin, TX was a panel discussion about the National Academies of Science ...
WHO IARC reviewer reiterates no health concerns for glyphosate safe ‘if used as directed’
A leading Canadian public health official has commended New Brunswick's review of a controversial herbicide . . . Dr. John McLaughlin, ...
How will potential takeover of Syngenta by ChemChina affect US farmers?
Long a major customer of U.S. farmers, China on [Aug. 22] took another step toward being a major supplier, as a key U.S ...
Pesticides impact health in farming communities, GMOs can reduce their use
. . . [W]hat’s lost in the debates over imaginary risks from GMOs is the real threat posed by the ...
Regulation, not domestic capability, stifles biotechnology in India
In this interview, [K.K. Narayanan, one of the Founder-Directors of Metahelix Life Sciences] speaks about the arduous but persistent ...
Legal scholar Cass Sunstein’s cost-benefit analysis finds mandatory GMO labels ‘difficult to justify’
Many people favor labeling GM food on the ground that it poses serious risks to human health and the environment, ...
US national security regulators approve ChemChina takeover of Syngenta
. . . [T]he U.S. national-security regulator approved China National Chemical Corp.’s planned $43 billion takeover of Swiss seed giant Syngenta AG ...
Mark Lynas: US Right to Know funded by anti-vaccine activists
USRTK’s [U.S. Right to Know] funding is substantial. . . . . . . .To date, it has received $314,500 ...
Will consumers embrace ‘animal-free’ milk produced using genetically engineered yeast?
Perfect Day, a new ‘animal-free’ milk scheduled to launch at the end of next year, contains all the same components ...
