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.
University of Washington professor speaks out in support of I-522
The Seattle Times sat down with Phil Bereano, a professor emeritus of technical communication and co-founder of AGRA-Watch, a group ...
I-522 becomes most expensive initiative battle in Washington State’s history
A ballot measure in next week’s election will give voters the chance to make Washington the first state to require ...
Manila: Department of Agriculture allows field trials for GM crops
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will allow field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops even as innovative technologies may potentially ...
Deconstructing the GMO debate: The difference between reason and ideology
In his blog Neurologica, Steven Novella, MD, argues that ideology is rampant in the debate over GMOs and it's important to ...
Costa Rica: Three out of four people don’t know what GMOs are, yet still protest against them
Even though many Costa Ricans oppose GMOs, "a staggering three out of four Ticos say they're not sure what GMOs ...
Analysis of Kaua’i County bill 2491
Biofortified's Karl Haro von Mogel breaks down Kauai's bill 2491, which passed in the Kauai City Council 6-1. He notes ...
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization report calls for better biotech efforts in developing countries
A new [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] publication calls for greater national and international efforts to bring ...
Role of GMOs for food security in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda
(Summary) The Center for Strategic & International Studies has released a report that investigates the current status of the GMO ...
Genetic mechanisms may cause herbicide resistance in weeds
(Summary) Farmers in Illinois have noticed over the last few years that the invasive waterhemp weed has become resistant to ...
UK Ecologist: GMOs produce ‘monopoly’ and ‘monoculture’
"My profound fear is that we will all be subjected to a greatly reduced number of mass-produced, unhealthy monocrop foods," ...
Proposed congressional bill bans the cultivation of GMOs in Costa Rica
Opposition lawmakers and environmental groups today filed a bill to Costa Rican Congress to establish a moratorium on the cultivation ...
With brinjal (eggplant) approval, Bangladesh joins GMO club
The National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) yesterday officially released [Bangladesh's] first genetically modified (GM) food crop, brinjal, which is infused ...
Oregon’s top newspaper on Washington I-522: Don’t back “irrational” labeling
The Oregonian, Oregon's largest newspaper, has released an editorial opposing Washington's GMO-labeling bill. The editorial board argues that this bill ...
Consumers Union says labeling would not raise food prices, backs I-522
On Nov. 5, Washington state residents will vote on Initiative 522, a referendum that would require labels on foods that are ...
Teenage anti-GMO Internet sensation now blogs on HuffPo
The 14-year old Canadian girl, Rachel Parent, the founder of "Kids Right to Know", who became a cyberspace sensation by ...
Hawaii anti-GMO activists influence policy by spreading fear of biotech
Reason's Ronald Bailey explores Hawaii's anti-GMO activists, who spread false information to advance their political goals. Both the Hawaii County ...
Cost/benefit analysis of GM crops in sub-Saharan Africa
The International Food Policy Research Institute has released a study on the impact of GMOs in African countries: A variable ...
Traces of glyphosate on crops are not toxic to humans
Anastasia Bodnar from Biofortified explains why the traces of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, are not toxic to ...
UK Environmental Minister: Consumers care more about cost of food, not GMO controversy
Consumers no longer care about the issue of GM crops, the [UK] Environment Secretary claims. Owen Paterson insisted genetically modified ...
European farming organizations demand greater access to GM crops
The organizations representing farmers in the four countries of the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Romania have written ...
In Europe, debate intensifies over GMO food imports from US
The European Union has some of the strictest regulations in the world for genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, requiring extensive ...
Monsanto once supported GMO food labeling in Europe
The biotech company Monsanto, a major opponent of Washington state’s GMO-labeling Initiative 522, actually once supported the labeling of genetically ...
Washington State University researchers: GMO labeling is ‘useless,’ ‘misleading.’
Researchers at Washington State University’s Agricultural Research Center call an initiative to label genetically modified foods “useless information,” citing a ...
Using GMOs, scientists show how plants tell time
Plants use sugars to tell the time of day, according to research involving a University of York scientist which is ...
Judge rejects request by pro-labeling group to freeze ‘No on I-522’ campaign funds
A Thurston County judge rejected a request by the Moms for Labeling group Wednesday to freeze $3.5 million still unspent ...
Los Angeles city councilmen propose ban on GMOs
Los Angeles is considering banning the cultivation and sale of genetically modified organisms. If it does, the second-largest U.S. city ...
Nigerian Agriculture Minister urges faster acceptance of biotechnology in Africa
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, has called for an accelerated pace in Africa's use of biotechnology, ...
