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.
Australian senators support GMOs as environmentally friendly, scientifically sound
Australian Federal Senators have backed a motion supporting genetically modified (GM) crops for being an environmentally friendly farming technology supported by ...
Kenya to lift GMO ban to help fight hunger
The Kenyan government will lift the ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in two months, Deputy President William Ruto has ...
Next generation GMOs? Monsanto experiments with modifying crops by spraying them with RNA
Using RNA interference technology, which temporarily turns off the activity of a gene, Monsanto thinks it has hit on an alternative to ...
Science fiction? Hollywood weighs in on GMOs
Actress and lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow recently appeared on Capitol Hill to promote GMO labeling. We applaud her willingness to get involved in the political ...
GMOs protect farm laborers, reduce carbon emissions and are safe to eat.
Unsure about biotechnology? There’s a lot of misinformation out there. Although biotech can improve people’s lives, it can be hard to get ...
A short history of GMOs, from prehistoric times to today
Humans have been altering the genetics of organisms for over 30,000 years, but how did the practice of selective breeding ...
Genetically engineered bacteria could monitor water contamination, detect mining waste
A team of young scientists in Canada is developing a fascinating way to detect water contamination. Their box, called the ...
Can GMOs fight hunger in the face of climate change?
More people die annually from chronic hunger than from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Many of the world’s hungry live in ...
GM seaweed produces nutritious food fast, fights global warming, tastes like bacon
Dulse is the pulse of a potential food revolution that could play out in grocery stores and diets across America. And ...
European scientists criticize Scotland’s GMO ban
The Scottish government is to ban the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops. Here are a selection of reactions to ...
‘Blood on their hands’? Withdrawal of Golden Rice study for non science reasons feeds anti-GMO fervor
A 2012 article in the nutrition literature might have been the most momentous contribution to public health worldwide since Dr. Jonas Salk’s announcement ...
Kevin Folta: When science literacy threatens anti-GMO activist beliefs, they attack teachers
You'd swear by the hate-filled rhetoric that I just threw a pillowcase of kittens into a wood chipper. Activists everywhere delight ...
Neil Young embraces GMOs to prolong his life, but tries to block benefits for others
Neil Young: Grammy-award winning musician and GMO-hater? That’s the clear message from Young’s latest album, released earlier this summer. “The Monsanto Years,” ...
Surveys show scientifically literate less likely to fear GMOs
The debate over GMO safety has come to Congress. Americans’ concerns about GM foods are providing the backdrop: A majority of ...
Beemageddon? Honeybee numbers at 20 year high
You've heard the news about honeybees. "Beepocalypse," they've called it. Beemageddon. America's honeybees are dying, putting honey production and $15 billion worth ...
Anti-GMO activists’ attacks on scientists echo Soviet persecution of geneticists
After the "Ask Me Anything" discussion on August 8, 2015, it's clear the recent actions by US Right to Know and activist groups ...
Opponents of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh employ false media reports and scare tactics
Media reports are claiming that Bt brinjal (eggplant) has failed in the field and that farmers in Bangladesh are regretting growing it ...
Scotland banning GMOs over objections of Scottish farmers
Scotland is to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) produce, the country's rural ministry has announced. Rural affairs secretary Richard ...
Industry-University GMO relationship: Complicated reality exploited by activists
Concern over ties between academia and industry is legitimate, but often overblown, and can be used to justify witch hunts. There is the ...
Most people want government experts, not public opinion, to decide GMO labeling
I wanted to draw your attention to an aspect of the GMO labeling debate that you don't hear a lot about ...
Generic GMO soy opens lower cost market and could be boon for academic researchers
Monsanto's Roundup Ready seeds increased farmer's yields, but came with a caveat. Because their pesticide resistance genes were patented, farmers had ...
GMO white sea cucumbers could make costly Chinese delicacy affordable
Sea cucumbers, sluglike creatures that hug the seafloor, have long been a prized delicacy at Chinese banquets, the mark of ...
Anti-GMO critics could use lesson in critical thinking
The debate over GMOs is a case study in critical thinking. By exploring the errors in fact and thinking circulated by ...
Can “lab-grown” meat end animal cruelty and promote sustainability?
If we know too much about that juicy steak we might not want to eat it anymore. A lot of ...
Biotech professor’s emails show no misconduct in battling anti-GMO propaganda, but Monsanto tie noted
Michelle McGuire, a nutrition scientist at Washington State University in Pullman, was stunned when anti-GMO activists asked to read her ...
Kevin Folta responds to questions about funding of his biotech outreach efforts
In addition to my job as a researcher and a department chair, I run the Talking Biotech science communication program designed to help ...
Strawberries, threatened by disease, look to pesticide-avoiding genetic solution
Delectable strawberries are highly sought after — and not just by humans. Rodents, insects, fungi and bacteria all like to pig ...
