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.
New Yorker editor among many who stand by criticism of Vandana Shiva
A profile of the anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva in The New Yorker in August by Michael Specter has drawn a blistering, 5,000-word rebuttal from Shiva, who accuses Specter ...
New CEO of Monsanto India says Bt cotton research to continue
Monsanto, the $15 billion agrochemical multinational, continues to conduct field trials of genetically modified cotton seeds in India, despite a ...
Grocery Manufacturers Association seeks October hearing to block Vermont GMO labeling bill
Late last week lawyers for the Grocery Manufacturers Association asked a federal judge to shelve the state's GMO labeling law.It's ...
Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva reaches out to agribusiness, renounces anti-GMO stance
Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva, an icon of the green movement, is cozying up to old adversaries in the sugar ...
National Academy of Sciences convenes panel to re-evaluate GMOs
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is embarking on a comprehensive study of genetically engineered (GE) crops. It will examine the historic development of ...
Norman Borlaug inspires biotech-based second ‘Green Revolution’
If Norman Ernest Borlaug were a Roman Catholic, he could be declared a saint immediately. The Church begins the canonisation ...
Costa Rican court declares GMO regulatory approval process unconstitutional
In a ruling Thursday lauded by Costa Rica’s anti-GMO activists, the country’s Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, struck down the government’s ...
Genetic modification, gene therapy, insect resistance management: Evolutionary tools for sustainability
Solving societal challenges in food security, emerging diseases and biodiversity loss will require evolutionary thinking in order to be effective ...
Cargill sues Syngenta over financial losses due to rejected GMO corn
Cargill Inc. sued Syngenta Seeds Inc. on Friday in an unusual legal battle over genetically modified food that both companies ...
Oregon GMO labelers ally with marijuana legalization campaign in voter registration drive
Young adults tend to be the least likely to vote in Oregon – particularly in non-presidential years. But the campaigns ...
Anti-GMO fervor and vaccine rejection not the liberal equivalent of climate denial
For a long time, those wishing to claim that Democrats and Republicans both reject science—we're all biased, just in different ...
Filipino farmers, scientists: Bt eggplant ‘healthier, safer’ alternative against pests
Local government constituents from Pangasinan province in the Philippines, including municipal agriculturists and farmers, students, members of the media, and other stakeholders ...
In support of Shiva’s critique of the Green Revolution
Social media is alive with folks’ thoughts on Michael Specter’s recent New Yorker piece. As the controversy fades, I worry that ...
Will new European Commission president be unfriendly to biotech?
The Juncker Commission has promised to be “more political” than its predecessor, something GMO backers see as a negative development ...
Missouri’s right-to-farm amendment could protect farmers from new GMO regulations
Missouri voters and interest groups are locked in a battle over the right to farm, as some farmers say they ...
Ugandan finance minister supports biotech bill
The minister of state for Finance in charge of Planning, Matia Kasaija, has refuted claims that government has withdrawn the ...
Vietnam green-lights first GM corn crop cultivation but ‘disturbing questions’ remain
Vietnam has green-lighted the cultivation of its first genetically modified (GM) corn crop after leaving a number of disturbing questions ...
Oregon GMO labeling backers open new campaign office, focus on door-to-door canvassing
Oregon is gearing up for a high-profile food fight this election season: a November vote on whether to require food ...
Media attacks on GMO critics ‘simplistic, misleading representation’
Hot on the heels of a much publicised article in the New Yorker that set out to attack Vandana Shiva ...
Modern foods genetically modified for centuries
For the health-conscious, the prevailing wisdom is that natural food is the best food. But no matter what studies of ...
Maui locals sue in attempt to stop anti-GMO voter initiative
A group of Maui County residents and organizations are suing in an attempt to stop a county voter initiative to ...
DC nonprofit donates $78,000 to Vermont’s GMO labeling law fund
Vermont has raised more than $300,000 in private donations since May to help defend its GMO labeling law in federal ...
Oregon’s GMO labeling initiative depends on ‘urban’ votes
The fate of Oregon’s genetically modified organism labeling initiative will hinge on whether heavy spending by opponents can overcome the ...
Kauai’s anti-GMO bill defeat shows legal system favoring ‘corporate control’
A federal court recently ruled that Kauai County’s right-to-know law dealing with genetically modified organisms and pesticides is unenforceable. The court ...
Indian government’s indecision on GMO trials stranding research in labs
The government’s continued flip-flopping over field trials has disappointed Indian research scientists. Delhi University has spent 18 painstaking years developing ...
GM might be best hope for saving coffee from ‘looming Coffee Apocalypse’
Scientists have managed to sequence the java genome, a breakthrough that brings new insights into the venerated bean while also ...
Filipino farmers faction calls for ‘immediate halt’ to Golden Rice trials
A year after the uprooting of Golden Rice, more than a hundred farmers, scientists, consumers and basic sectors are calling ...
