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.
Whirlwind tour of career of Bruce Ames, inventor of test to determine chemical toxicity
On an otherwise ordinary day in 1964, Bruce Ames picked up a box of potato chips and read the list of ingredients ...
Plant scientist Pamela Ronald developing GMO bananas that could save millions of lives
Bananas are delicious. But bananas aren’t just some tasty delicacy, they’re actually a staple crop for millions of people, just ...
GM not just about commodity farming: How it can rescue threatened coffee, chocolate, wine, bananas and OJ
Many anti-GM campaigners lambast crop biotechnology because the first generation of genetic modification focused on commodity crops such as corn, ...
Arguments against GM crops riddled with problems including vested interests and romanticizing hunger
The year 2013 marked the 18th consecutive year of commercial cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or now commonly referred to as ...
Lack of funding in Nigeria hindering biotechnology research efforts
A professor, Olufunmilayo Adebambo, has said that the country is missing in the development and utilisation of its biotechnological potential. Adebambo, ...
Poorly written GM ban in Oregon opens door to lawsuits against non-GMO farmers
An ordinance that prohibits biotech crops in Oregon's Jackson County is vague enough to encompass some conventionally bred crops, according ...
Kenyans face danger from aflatoxin contamination in crops, biotechnology can mitigate problem
Most Kenyans are at high risk of aflatoxin contamination due to lack of monitoring and evaluation on the harvested and ...
Anti-GMO journalist, Maharishi Institute follower calls anti-GMO journalist, Reuters’ Carey Gillam, “balanced”
Reuters' journalist Carey Gillam has covered issues surrounding genetically modified foods for the past 16 years, no easy task with ...
Fear of GMOs prevent GM barley resistant to ‘vomitoxin’-producing fungi from reaching beers
This past summer, exceptionally hot and humid for many, was brutal for the small-scale barley farmers who have been cropping ...
AUDIO: Yale neurologist Steven Novella challenges fears of GMOs, industrial agriculture
For Medium's Inquiring Minds, Indre Viskontas spoke with Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University. Novella is a prominent voice ...
‘Significant majority’ of consumers support status quo on GMO labeling, new survey reports
Despite contentious debate in some states regarding mandatory labeling of foods produced with biotechnology or genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops, ...
Italian farmer crusades for GMO corn cultivation, faces opposition from anti-GMO activists and government
“This stuff, with the same light, water and fertilizer, produces 10 times more than the other kind,” says farmer Giorgio ...
Vitamin enrichment focus of Philippines GM development initiatives
Scientists in the Philippines are focusing on biotechnology to improve agricultural productivity, promote food security and sustainable development. Dr. Antonio Alfonso, ...
Many organic seeds genetically altered through hybridization
We have some vague awareness that GMOs are bad and organic is good, but few of us could say exactly ...
Kashi Go Lean Crisp cereal goes non-GMO and nutrition plummets
Take a look at Kashi's Go Lean Crisp! cereal. The company, which is actually owned by Kellogg's, has recently received ...
Mark Lynas: From anti-GMO activist to GMO advocate
Just under 20 years ago, when the issue of GMOs was first hitting the news, I was a dedicated anti-biotech ...
Oregon GMO bans go against principles of organic farming, could hurt organic industry
The vote in Jackson County, Ore., to ban genetically modified organisms marks a huge setback for the organic community across ...
Compromise by pro- and anti-GMO countries opens door to GM crop cultivation in European Union
An unholy alliance of pro- and anti-GMO countries have struck a deal that will sweep away the obstacles to genetically ...
Hawaii island GMO ban threatens future of university-based independent research
Hawaii County set itself apart from much of the rest of the state in December by effectively banning the large ...
Bt cotton huge success in India defies anti-GMO conspiracy theories
In disputes around Bt cotton, a “triumph narrative” is alleged to have emerged from researchers - mainly economists - catering ...
Public mislead about organics: GM and conventional food as safe, healthy, nutritious
The verdict in the Australia courts rejecting the claim of an organic farmer than his GM-farming neighbor was "contaminating" his ...
Voters targeted Monsanto, Syngenta in Oregon GM crop bans but hit farmer neighbors instead
Voters in Jackson and Josephine counties banned genetically engineered plants last week. It's not entirely wrong to consider the result a victory ...
Marsh v Baxter case tested organic certification standards in Western Australia and showed they must change
A biotechnology scientist says organic certification bodies need to relax their rules and be “more realistic” about the presence of ...
GMO, non-GMO, conventional, organic? Clearer terms needed to limit misleading ads and labeling
Today a very high percentage of livestock feed and processed food for human consumption is produced from transgenic modified seed ...
Zimbabweans have consumed GMOs safely for a decade, contrary to minister’s claims
A few days ago, NewZimbabwe.com published an article entitled "GMOs remain banned in Zim, Made" in which the Agriculture, Mechanisation ...
Near-extinct American chestnut trees make comeback with help from genetic modification
The near-extinct American chestnut looks set to make a comeback. Genetically modified trees, which are resistant to a deadly fungus ...
Western Australia court ruling highlights need for law reform to include ‘biotrespass’
The supreme court of Western Australia handed down a landmark decision yesterday, on genetically modified crop liability. The ruling in Marsh ...
