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.
Lessons learned from the Séralini affair
Last year a group of French scientists led by Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini reported in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology ...
‘Jumping genes’ may explain why coffee bean boring beetles are so destructive
Tiny beetles that bore into coffee beans to lay their eggs and do $500 million of damage annually to coffee ...
GMOs key for future, according to China’s ‘father of hybrid rice’
Yuan Longping, the “father of hybrid rice,” recently spoke about his ongoing research into genetically modified food production, calling the ...
GM plants could yield same amount of omega-3s as fish
British researchers say they've been able to genetically modify a biofuel crop to produce components of fish oils beneficial for ...
Most Americans pay little attention to GMOs
A national survey shows that most Americans pay little attention to the debate over genetically modified foods, despite extensive media ...
Overcoming the stigma surrounding GMOs
In August, at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, a group of activists vandalized test fields of so-called ...
Chinese celebrities knock heads in GMO debate
The debate has heated up since Cui Yongyuan, a well-known former China Central Television (CCTV) host, claimed he spent 500,000 ...
More myths dispelled about GMOs creating food allergies
Kevin Bonham, a Scientific American blogger and graduate student working on a PhD in the Immunology Program at Harvard, where ...
Liberals v. Science: As Hawaiians debate GMOs, local legislator committed to science is ostracized
In November, after months of rancorous debate, the County Council on the Big Island voted to ban biotech companies and ...
US bioeconomy 2.5% of GDP, and booming
The bioeconomy continues to emerge as a significant component of the U.S. economy. Domestic revenues from genetically modified systems are ...
Food, genes and the feeling of risk
Riffing off of breaking news about General Mills announcent that it had dumped GMOs from its iconic Cheerios, Andrew Revkin ...
New Hampshire debates GMO labeling: Restaurant nightmare will jump costs and prices
A bill before the New Hampshire House of Representatives — HB 660 — will make it harder for struggling families ...
Indy Hawaii study downplays atrazine dangers, shows flaws in Kaua’i bill
Last year, the Kaua'i County Council passed BIll 2491, legislation designed to restrict genetically modified crops while also targeting some ...
How plants evolved to cope with cold
In a study that appeared last week in Nature, researchers have found new clues to how plants evolved to withstand ...
Video: China faces political dilemma regarding GM drought resistant rice tested as safe
A number of leading scientists in China are preparing a proposal for the State Council to approve the commercial production ...
Nepalese activist official launches anti-GMO volley
Binyod Acharya, an official with a National Tea and Coffee Development Board in Nepal, launched a broadside against GMOs, accusing ...
Bt sweet corn yields higher, require less pesticides, cuts bioseafety costs
The only GE fruits and vegetables commercially available are virus-resistant papaya and squash, and insect-resistant sweet corn. With their diverse ...
Napa Valley may push for GMO labels
While California voters rejected a ballot initiative that would label foods containing genetically modified organisms just over a year ago, ...
Ghana prostate cancer victim spreads misinformation as anti-GMO campaign ignites
Anti-GMO groups in Ghana are escalating their scare campaigns after the government completed regulations that could allow modified cowpeas and ...
Wales anti-GM European Parliamentarian backs freeze in wake of liberalization plea
Jill Evans MEP, an anti-GMO activist who represents Wales in the European Parliament, has called for a freeze on GMOs ...
Trade protectionism, falling prices behind Chinese GMO corn rejections?
Over the past several weeks, China has rejected several shipments of approved corn grown in the United States, in a ...
Big Ag response to critics: Don’t let misinformation define you
There’s a lot of conversation about traditional agriculture recently, and much of it is critical. Think stories about genetically modified ...
Ecologist amps anti-Golden Rice campaign
The Ecologist, the once-venerable UK environmental magazine, has launched another salvo in its campaign against Golden Rice. The vitamin A ...
Genetic defect in tomatoes tweaked to increase yields, fruitiness in canned varieties
Teasing out the hidden subtleties of a type of hybrid vigor involving just one gene has provided scientists at Cold Springs ...
Seeking alternative to fossil fuels, high-yielding heat and cold resistant biofuel crop potential genetic goldmine
Six years ago, jatropha—an inedible, drought-resistant plant that produces a high-quality oil—was “the next big thing in biofuel,” because its oil ...
Irish potato farmers, facing blight scare, look to GMOs but EU turns blind eye
GM is important for Ireland. The country's staple pototao crop is being threatened. Farmers typically spray 10-20 times against blight; ...
Genetically modified crops key to India’s food security
India's population will grow to 1.3 billion by 2017, so current agricultural output needs to be doubled against odds like ...
