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.
US at final stages of approving next generation GM herbicide-resistant crops, galvanizing activists
Two key federal agencies are in the final stages of approving a new herbicide-resistant crop “system” that would constitute the ...
GMO debate in infographics and charts
One of the most debated subjects involving agriculture today is the production of genetically modified crops or (GMOs). Although these ...
GMO labeling would jack prices and costs with farmers and food producers hit worst
Even though labeling food with genetically modified ingredients is creating a distinction without a difference, the costs would be real ...
Plant geneticist Paul Gepts says polarized GM discussion endangers innovation
Whether you call them transgenic, genetically engineered or GMO crops, the fever-pitched debate about Monsanto misses the bigger picture by ...
If you believe GMOs are bad, read this
Agriculture might not strike you as humanity’s first scientific endeavor. Familiar images of farmers tilling their fields or cowboys tending ...
Hawaii ‘grassroots’ anti-GMO rebellion run by Washington-based Center for Food Safety
On the 11th floor of the Gold Bond Building, on the edge downtown Honolulu, is the brain trust of Hawaii’s ...
20 breaking stories about GMOs
Genetically modified (GM) food and crop stories continue to appear in the popular media across the globe. In the United ...
Five reasons why you sound crazy when denouncing GMOs
(1) Words and linguistic distinction matters. There is a tendency to either ignore, mutilate or warp the meaning of terms like ...
Scientific American: ‘Environmentalists’ have opposed genetically improving crops as ‘unnatural’ for a century
The May 2014 issue of Scientific American, called Scientific American Classics, looks at "The Birth of the GMO Debate." It ...
Vegans and vegetarians embrace simplistic anti-GMO propaganda, eschew debate, at Canadian expo
Kevin M. Folta, who describes himself as “a scientist in a scientifically illiterate nation at a time when we need science ...
GMO growers and organic farmers can coexist in Australia
Coexistence between organic farmers and those that grow genetically modified crops is a big challenge but it is possible in ...
GMKnow responds to mutagenesis challenge, claiming process is ‘natural’
The proudly anti-GMO group, GMKnow, responded to the question I posed to them two days ago. I asked them why mutagenetic ...
New media group Vox stands up to GMO ‘test’
Vox.com is a new news site that aims to do things a bit differently. Led by Ezra Klein, formerly of ...
Anti-GMO consumer claims there’s ‘no watchdog’ over GMOs, advocates for labeling
When you cross a horse with a donkey, the offspring is neither a horse or a donkey. The resultant hybrid ...
Philippines-based activist group urges Asian governments to halt field trials of Golden Rice
A Philippines-based farmer-scientist group, MASIPAG, along with its regional network, has called on governments to immediately halt all planned field ...
Vermont senator describes consumers as ‘guinea pigs’ when ramifications of GMOs are not well-understood
Vermont is poised to become the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified organisms in food products. We speak ...
Vermont’s GMO labeling law could face legal challenges on three grounds
Expect two things to happen now that Vermont’s legislature has passed H.112. Any day now, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) is expected ...
Would making genetic resources “open source” reduce GMO controversy?
The creation of free software 30 years ago has had a profound effect on computing, and helped fuel the rise of the ...
When GMO critics use scare tactics, ask what they’re selling
Nutrition is a wonderful playground for people who want to manipulate fear. We need food to live, yet can be ...
Organic label creates brand perceptions of “healthier” and “safer,” even when untrue
There are many public debates raging that are essentially dueling narratives, both sides claiming to have science, evidence, and logic ...
Activists made genetic modification a bogeyman with no scientific validity
Millions know him simply as “Dr. Joe,” the McGill University chemistry professor who has spent the last 30 years popularizing ...
Patchwork of GMO labeling laws like Vermont’s would force food manufacturers to label all products
Look under the hood of every movement to forestall the use of genetically-modified grains and you’ll find a preponderance of ...
Against lab made seeds? GMO critics give mutagenesis using radiation and chemicals free pass
I got into a back-and-forth with GMKnow over on Twitter (you can read the exchange here). As is obvious from one look at their ...
Vermont’s GMO labeling law passed because of well-organized and well-funded campaigns
Despite the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads from food manufacturers, key lawmakers in Vermont went from skeptical ...
Guardian’s John Vidal attacks Gates Foundation for links to Monsanto and Cargill (on site funded by Gates Foundation)
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is sponsoring the Guardian's Global development site is being heavily criticised in Africa and the ...
GMO fervor spills into Hawaii’s elections, fuels campaign donations
The fervor surrounding genetically engineered crops in Hawaii is expected to spill into this year's elections, as a number of ...
Cotton Board of Zambia calls for investments in biotech to aid sustained production of quality cotton
Cotton Board of Zambia board secretary Dafulin Kaonga said Government should invest in modern biotechnology, including genetic engineering, to develop ...
