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.
Grocers claim GMO labeling would increase costs and grocery bills
If individual states start requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food, it would have a negative impact on agriculture ...
Monsanto launches “$hill Bucks” effort to sway GMO debate
The biotechnology industry, struggling to gain acceptance for their products, has looked at social media as a wild animal they’ve ...
University extension educator urges farmers to know basic biotech crop science
Farmers need to know the basic biotech crop science to educate consumers about what they do. Jenny Rees, a University ...
Regulation threatens food industry, says former U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Carlos Gutierrez returned to Michigan after a decade out of the food industry with some advice: Amid strict business regulations, ...
Oregon student group campaigns for GMO labeling
In February, Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPRIG) set off on its lead petition campaign for the 2014 winter term. With ...
Chinese officials accused of covering up illegal GM crops
Agriculture officials in Hainan have been accused of trying to suppress evidence that genetically modified crops have been grown illegally ...
Borlaug’s Green Revolution: Neither green, nor revolutionary
The Rockefeller Foundation, always around for funding long-term investments such as food and agriculture which the US government views as ...
Glow-in-the-dark trees as street lights
In the not-so-distant future, your evening walk could be lit by gently glowing trees rather than standard street lights. That ...
Zimbabwean farmers urged to adopt Bt cotton
Zimbabwe must seriously consider the adoption of Bt cotton by farmers to revamp production and revive the textile and clothing ...
Why political partisans don’t like facts
To paraphrase an observation attributed to the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, people are entitled to their own opinions, not ...
Misguided Californian bill panders to small group of anti-science alarmists
In a victory for California’s radical anti-technology minority, S.B. 131 passed the state’s senate Health Committee by a vote of ...
Leading Nigerian politician pushes for bio-safety law
The Speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria, Aminu Tambuwal, has indicated that the passage of the Bio-safety Bill ...
Jackson county could be first in Oregon to ban growing GMOs
If voters approve, Jackson County would become the first in Oregon to ban growing genetically modified crops. A local farmers’ ...
FDA to finalize guidance for voluntary GMO labeling soon
FDA will soon finalize its voluntary guidance on genetically engineered food labeling, agency Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the House Appropriations ...
In defense of Biology Fortified Inc
Biology Fortified Inc (BFI) is widely recognized as an independent, free-thinking, and accurate source of information on biotechnology. Over the last ...
Integrated pest management with GM crops can outperform organic agriculture
Is organic agriculture always safer to the environment and human health? Can all consumers afford the generally 20 to 30 ...
GMOs in India face trials despite initial approval
The Indian environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) approved field trials of 11 varieties of genetically-modified (GM) crops that had ...
Fear and deception in anti-GMO efforts
The anti-GMO troops in the United States received some unwelcome news this week from Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the U.S ...
Dow challenges Monsanto with new seed and herbicide system
Dow AgroSciences looked on for years as agribusiness giant Monsanto dominated the genetically modified seed market. Now the seed and ...
Connecting agricultural biodiversity to environmental justice
When the U.S. Supreme Court held last year that farmers can be liable for damages if they use patented seeds ...
GMO labeling push reflects deep misunderstandings of science
Critics say genetically modified foods might be unsafe, but even if they are not, consumers have a right to know ...
Scientists build designer yeast from scratch
Humans have been using what they know about the biological world to make stuff for centuries—from beer to antibiotics. But, ...
Going GMO-free: Easier said than done
Boulder is known for its staunch commitment to organic products, sourcing local and an emphasis on avoiding genetically modified organisms, ...
British scientists push for government to relax GMO barriers
Many people are pretty fed up with the continuing fuss about GM food and crops. There have been innumerable reviews and ...
When scientific consensus meets GMOs
The information on a scientific consensus is easy enough to find, but for the topic of GMOs it is in ...
US regulators sitting on non-browning Arctic Apple approval
A Canadian company petitioned USDA regulators two years ago to “deregulate” – approve for unrestricted cultivation and marketing — a ...
Sec of Ag: Technology offers alternative to mandatory GMO labeling
Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, told a House subcommittee his department is talking with the U.S. Food and Drug ...
