Food & Agriculture Features
The GLP explores the role of genetic engineering in food production and the polarized debate surrounding it. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- Chemicals and pesticides
- Organics
- Conventional crops
- New breeding technologies
- Animal biotechnology
- Food systems
- Sustainability
- Regulations
- Politics
- Ideology
Viewpoint: Does organic food taste better? No, but deceptive marketing can make you think so
I have already illustrated that organic food is no safer or healthier as explained here and here, but many consumers have an ...
Podcast: Glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? How a questionable claim from a flawed study went viral
As a rule, scientific research is relegated to obscure technical journals and goes unnoticed by most people. Every few months, ...
Viewpoint: Environmental groups attack latest crop gene-editing innovations misusing scientifically outdated 20-year-old anti-GMO arguments
“Gene stacking”—the process of modifying several genes or traits instead of just one—has been around many years. “Golden Rice,” engineered ...
Genetically engineered, blight-resistant potato could help East Africa beat hunger and move towards food self-sufficiency
Imagine being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on ...
Beepocalypse Myth Handbook: Assessing claims of pollinator collapse
After a decade of debate, the causes of the mid-2000s spike in bee deaths is coming into focus. Culprits are ...
Synthetic DNA barcodes on fruits and vegetables could open the door to food and agricultural transparency
Few technologies can transform the relationship between growers and consumers like the promise of transparency. And with Covid, many of ...
Podcast: GMOs = colonialism? CRISPR-edited eggs; sustainable shoes made from fungi
Distribution of genetically engineered crops to developing countries proves that "colonialism in science is still alive and well," alleges one ...
Viewpoint: Promoting CRISPR crops at the expense of GMOs to appease activists undermines both technologies
In the span of a few short years, gene editing has allowed scientists to begin rapidly and cheaply improving food ...
Can Biden’s USDA bring America’s animal gene-editing rules into the 21st century?
I am in perhaps a somewhat rare position regarding the contemplated USDA regulatory framework, as I actually have several animals ...
‘Back to the future’: The case for returning to risk-based animal gene-editing regulations
So what is the USDA’s proposal for the regulation of genetically engineered animals? In a nutshell, it proposes moving regulation ...
Viewpoint: Are GMOs a corporate ploy to colonize developing countries? Is vitamin-A enhanced Golden Rice a plot by ‘Western entities’ to control global agriculture? Here are the facts bungled in Slate commentary.
Western scientists who introduce biotech crops into developing nations are paternalistic colonizers. While they claim to be helping farmers in ...
Regulation gone wrong: A critique of the FDA’s nonsensical animal gene-editing rules
The “Guidance for Industry #187” entitled “Regulation of Intentionally Altered Genomic DNA in Animals” was published in the Federal Register ...
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Viewpoint: ‘Regulatory creep’—How the FDA’s evolving rules hindered the introduction of gene-edited animals
Ever since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its plans to regulate genomic alterations in genome edited animals ...
GE animals: While the federal government delays approvals, antibiotic use, animal suffering and food prices increase
They say good things come to those who wait. Well I have been waiting my entire career to eat milk, ...
Viewpoint: Impossible and Beyond Burgers are delicious, but are they good for you?
The leading companies offering fake meat are mission-driven, with vegan roots. Any benefits to human health are icing on the ...
Viewpoint: Why organic farming won’t help preserve the world’s biodiversity
A recent paper finds that if just 15 percent of farmland reverted to nature, it would wipe out nearly a third ...
Golden Rice could fight deadly vitamin A deficiency now. Why do farmers have to wait another 3 years to grow it?
It’s one of the world’s most preventable tragedies. Every year, as many as 500,000 children go blind because their diet ...
Machine learning helps battle life-threatening diseases. Could it end world hunger, too?
When was the last time you read an online magazine or newspaper, only to find yourself bombarded with shopping ads ...
Viewpoint: Do we really need GM fish? The case for growing (and eating) AquaBounty’s biotech, fast-growing salmon
Innovation and creative thinking in the protein industry is ever-evolving. You may have read some of our posts on the ...
Viewpoint: Depopulation conspiracy debunked. Western billionaires aren’t using GMOs to control Africa’s food supply
The truth is that African farmers need biotech crops as climate change makes farming an increasingly difficult profession ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s blanket opposition to gene editing, pesticides means higher food prices for world’s poorest people
By 2070 the world will be populated by approximately 10.5 billion people. This means that we will need to be ...
Brain food or health fad: Can you really boost cognition with nootropics?
What if you could think better, faster, and have a stronger memory? Nootropics, found in foods and supplements, are believed ...
As the CRISPR revolution advances, here’s how gene editing will actually help farmers and consumers
2020 has been an eventful year for gene editing. The recent Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate-cancer trials illustrate how tort lawyers undermine science in the courtroom
Should we be fair to chemical manufacturers when they are sued? First of all, who are they? Since everything in ...
Viewpoint: ‘Green neo-colonialism’— Utopian visions of organic farming promote starvation in Africa
Across Africa, farmers and governments are struggling to feed growing populations. Ongoing and deadly locusts and Fall Armyworm infestations, cancer-causing ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s globally important wine industry threatened by pesticide, biotech phobias
“Make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly.” That's the lofty goal of the European Union's (EU) Farm to Fork Strategy, ...
