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.
Paranoia about GMOs more harmful than rejecting evolution
This year is the tenth anniversary of a book called The Republican War on Science. I could just as easily write ...
Pope’s concern about GMOs is about corporate power, not safety
Needless to say, there’s a lot to explore in Pope Francis’s encyclical, “Laudato Si’ — On the Care of Our ...
Whole Foods rating system highlights hypocrisy of organic food claims
Whole Foods has concocted a rating system for produce and flowers called “Responsibly Grown.” It takes into consideration such factors ...
Non-GMO trend driven by emotion over food fads like ‘gluten free’
Ilene Gordon, Fortune 500 CEO of Ingredion, said the non-GMO movement was driven more by consumer sentiment than hard scientific evidence ...
Former UK ag minister: Neil Young ‘tragically wrong” on GMOs
Neil Young is following the lead of activists who claim that GMOs are harmful to health, farmers and the environment. This ...
Cloning farm animals could be banned in Europe
EU lawmakers on Wednesday backed a ban on cloning farm animals and products derived from them, citing deep public unease ...
Pope says research and debate needed over GMO pros and cons
Pope Francis has called for a “scientific and social debate” on genetically modified foods that considers all the information available ...
Organic pesticides substituted for ‘dangerous’ neonicotinoids found far more toxic to bees
There are two toxic pesticides, Rotenone in Europe and Azadirachtin in the US and Europe, that need to be banned ...
Activists wary Indian government secretly considering GMO mustard approval
While the central government is yet to take a call on introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the country, ...
Wall Street’s view of Monsanto in midst of Syngenta takeover battle
Monsanto is best known for its famous (infamous, perhaps) Roundup weed-killing product. In addition to agricultural products, Monsanto also sells ...
Synthetic biology biocontainment ‘lock and key’ prevents accidental releases
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an easy way to put bacteria under a molecular lock and ...
Consumers opposition to GMOs based mostly on “intuition” and not science
Approximately 88 percent of U.S. scientists agree that GMOs are safe to eat, but this position is only shared by 37 percent of laymen ...
Disease-resistant cloned bananas in development Australia
An Israeli agricultural biotechnology company is looking to trial tissue cultured banana varieties in major Australian growing areas and to ...
Activists claim WHO glyphosate reassessment “nail in coffin’ to glyphosate and GMOs
Could it be that the World Health Organisation's classification of glyphosate as a 'probable carcinogen' (Glyphosate 'Probably Carcinogenic to Humans' ...
Monsanto throws weight behind voluntary GMO labeling bill
Monsanto Co. and other biotechnology giants are throwing support behind a bill to create new national standards for genetically engineered ...
Why Illinois’ proposed GMO-labeling law ‘has no teeth’
In her May 31 guest commentary ("Do you know what's in your food?"), St. Xavier University assistant professor Tatiana C ...
France bans glyphosate sales at garden centers
France has announced a ban on over the counter sales of a brand of weedkiller from garden centres after the ...
Should we phase out bee-killing pesticides in our food system?
We love our bees. They make honey and pollinate our flowers and crops. But bees are dying at an alarming ...
Cheese playing increasingly ‘divisive role’ in GMO labeling debate
Today, it is estimated that 80—90 percent of cheese in the U.S. and UK is made using Fermentation-Produced Chymosin (FPC). The GMO-derived enzyme has ...
280 global science organizations affirm consensus for GMO food and crop safety
Currently there is a social and political controversy about the safety of of foods produced from genetically modified (GM) crops, ...
CRISPR gene editing used to genetically modify trees to protect their health
Researchers at the University of Georgia have used a gene editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas9 to modify the genome of ...
Farmers need to regain control of seeds, public plant breeding research
During last year’s Farm Bill debate, Sen. Jon Tester introduced an amendment to clarify a proposal from the previous Farm ...
Vani Hari and Kavin Senapathy debate which is better—Organic or GMOs?
Are genetically modified foods necessary to feed the world's growing population and organic foods just too expensive and gimmicky? Or ...
Better question than GMO debate: Are global crops genetically diverse enough?
The highly polarized GM debate too often devolves into good vs. evil, or corporate vs. small and organic farmers. The ...
Organic farming nets higher income than conventional farming, despite lower yields
According to a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), organic agriculture earns farmers ...
Genome editing preemptively fights disease in African cattle
Animal diseases cost cash-strapped African farmers about $300 billion a year in lost income and veterinary bills. Now scientists are ...
African indigenous vegetables are genetic treasure trove of nutrition, hardiness
In Nairobi, indigenous vegetables were once sold almost exclusively at hard-to-find specialized markets; and although these plants have been favoured ...
