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
The story behind Séralini’s disappearing GMOs-are-toxic study, and the journal that published it
French GMO researcher Gilles-Éric Séralini published a new paper earlier this week, but a few days later it disappeared. Where ...
Can next generation crop precision editing avoid marketing pitfalls of GMOs?
To avoid the GMO public perception bog, CRISPR and other new generation technologies need a unique marketing approach ...
OMG, GMO DNA found in human blood! What’s meaning of this anti-GMO meme?
We are what we eat? GMO opponents often post scare headlines about "GMO DNA" found in animals who consumer GM ...
Climate change and GMOs: Can non transgenic varieties address global challenges?
Since biotech rice has yet to catch on commercially, what does the future hold for improving rice quality, adaptability to ...
Alison Van Eenennaam: Why botched Italian GMO soy study never made science sense
Italian researcher, Federico Infascelli, is under fire for allegedly misrepresenting data in his publications. Regardless of outcome, his data was ...
Media and organic created myth: UN endorses small-scale organic farming over biotech
Based on one UN study of agriculture in the developing world written by GMO critics, many media outlets claim the ...
After early struggles, ‘biopharming’ poised to make big impact on medicine
Biopharma, which almost disappeared as a technology, has returned, with a treatment for Ebola treatment, a drug producing chicken, and ...
GMO face-off: USRTK’s Stacy Malkan vs Florida’s Kevin Folta
Contentious debate escalates over anti-GMO group’s strategy of using FOIA laws to ‘expose’ emails by scientists who support crop biotechnology ...
How should Europe regulate CRISPR, new breeding technologies (NBTs)?
The precautionary principle-minded European Commission may end up guiding the regulatory fate of new biotechnologies, like CRISPR gene editing, crucial ...
FDA approves GMO potato that resists blight that caused Irish potato famine
The FDA announced Wednesday their approval of second generation Innate potato. A major step for a crop that has seen ...
Why there are no long term GMO studies on humans
A very common criticism of GMOs is that the government doesn't require clinical trials the same way we do for ...
Could genetic engineering be a valued tool against climate change?
How can genetic engineering help against climate change? By many, many ways, but only if we let it ...
Why the concept of GMOs is meaningless
European Union legislation on agricultural genetics and biotechnologies is hopelessly warped — and it threatens to get worse with the introduction ...
European Union reviews, rebukes bizarre Ayyadurai claim of formaldehyde in GMO soy
The "study" claiming that formaldehyde accumulates in genetically modified soybeans--widely touted by anti-GMO activists-- is an example of junk science--no ...
Permaculture: Our ecological future or unsustainable hobby for exurban agroecological activists?
It's advocates claim permaculture is a key agroecological movement that will help pivot world food production from 'industrial agriculture' to ...
Global food shortage? How advanced breeding could domesticate 50,000 wild, edible plants
We rely on less than 150 of the world's edible plants for most of our nourishment and just three make ...
Recapping the 2015 GMO debate: Science eclipses ‘Dark’ voices of anti-biotech hysteria
The year ends with a Congressional battle over GMO labeling after the historic approval of the first animal modified for ...
As Chipotle struggles with poisoning crisis, it’s under fire for GMO and sustainability claims
Chipotle has made than a food poisoning crisis--it's also yet to face up to its deceptive marketing around its use ...
Séralini feed contamination study: PLOS under fire for not following own guidelines on data access
Have PLOS editors abandoned their "requirement" that researchers make all of their data available in open access papers? ...
Myth busting: There is no such thing as GMO sugar
Advocacy groups that encourage consumers to avoid sugar derived from GE sugar beets target small, farmer-owned businesses ...
Anti-GMO Mexican activists target biotech researchers with bomb attacks
A new Mexican pro-GMO organization was the target of bombing attacks, suggesting an escalating level of aggression from GMO opponents ...
How anti-GMO activists use monarch butterflies as ideological pawn
The anti-GMO movement blames GMOs on the decline of the monarch butterfly, but the problem is more complicated--the result of ...
Opponents of GMOs might learn from the disastrous legacy of Soviet era Lysenkoism
Opponents of GM foods no doubt believe they stand on the side of science, but independent evidence suggest they are ...
Bungled science: Why you should wrap GMO salmon in The New York Times
The New York Times said in an editorial that they have a 'right to know' what they are eating when ...
Trade and economic growth, not pesticides, major driver of beehive declines?
Declines in bee health have been blamed on pesticides and other factors. A new study suggests that economic changes may ...
It’s all bug spray in the end: Organic pesticides not necessarily safer for bees
Many critics of conventional agriculture claim organic food is grown with "natural" and "botanical" pesticides that are safer than synthetic ...
Engineering debates on GMOs: How to change minds when emotions overrule science
Discussions about GMOs often degenerate into shouting matches, especially on line. The science minded should consider the psychology of how ...
