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
What’s driving the ‘multi-billion dollar fear-and-smear campaign against genetically-engineered crops’ — and the link between activists and Russia?
Because most of society is between two and six generations removed from farming, to many people that subject is largely ...
Viewpoint: What is sustainability? What are pesticides? The way media and politicians define ideologically diffuse words shape policy – often for the worse
Reality is perceived by the definitions we give; the black and white lines we draw upon a grey canvas. So ...
Viewpoint: Righteous Risks — Here’s how (and why) environmental advocacy groups misrepresent the risks from innovations but cynically ignore genuine dangers
Synthetic pesticides are under constant regulatory pressure, but not organic pesticides. “Green” renewables and EVs have very little regulatory scrutiny ...
England’s gene-editing rules could be far more restrictive than scientists hope
In proposals set out in a recent public consultation document, the Food Standards Agency has confirmed its plans for implementing ...
Crop gene editing greenlighted by European Parliament. Fight over labeling looms as measure moves to the EU Council
For a more sustainable and resilient food system, MEPs support a simpler process for NGT plants equivalent to conventional plants, ...
Analysis: Climate activists issue scare-warnings of impending starvation, but they ignore technology’s future role in scaling productivity
In 1968, the American scientists Paul and Anne Ehrlich published The Population Bomb. In it, The Ehrlichs foresaw widespread death and ...
GLP podcast/video: Weed won’t improve your workout; Predatory science journals attack GMOs; Eating insects will be mandatory?
Can marijuana make your workout better? Probably not, according to a recent study. Four science publications produce a large swath ...
Viewpoint: Crop biotechnology opponents are losing their war against genetic engineering but the battle for science is not yet won
It was not so long ago that the strident opponents of agricultural biotechnology were dictating the narrative over sustainable crops ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides ensure ‘sustainable productivity’ — UK farmers bemoan ‘scaremongering’ on pesticides
Three leading farmers have accused the RSPB of irresponsible scaremongering by claiming that a ‘cocktail’ of pesticides used by British farmers ...
A nutritionist reflects on the sad state of health education about GMOs and farming at schools and universities
Ruth MacDonald, PhD, Author, Professor and Chair, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, and Interim Senior ...
Viewpoint: Why proposals to ban all 12,000 PFAS chemicals contradict science
I have previously authored many articles about per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” and the misinformation ...
Viewpoint: Ramazzini Institute — Exposing the the shadowy, dark money and tort lawyer funded anti-pesticide research organization manipulating the media and policy organizations
Peer review came about to ensure new scientific claims are vetted by scientists prior to publication. The practice is captured ...
Viewpoint: Whitewash — How four obstructionist journals and their academic enablers are corrupting reporting on the science of chemicals and crop biotechnology
In 2022 and 2023, two papers analyzing the intersection of genetic engineering and disinformation were published. Neither were in very ...
Part II — Viewpoint: A case study of how organic advocates massage data from meta-studies to promote their ideological agenda
What is the magnitude of the data fraud polluting scientific research and what are the sources of it? ...
Viewpoint: What’s the science (if any) behind the regenerative agriculture movement?
As interest in regenerative agriculture reaches fever pitch across the value chain, NIAB is preparing the ground for a major ...
Part I — Viewpoint: Why is trust in scientific research at an all time low?
The validity of much published scientific research is questionable – so how much trust should we place in it? ...
Anti-GMO Advocacy Funding Tracker: Vast network of donors and NGOs seed doubt about crop biotechnology
Who is David and who is Goliath when it comes to the GMO debate? Anti-biotech activists have long maintained that ...
Viewpoint: American Academy of Pediatrics fiasco — International Agency for the Research on Cancer is the cancer at the heart of the anti-glyphosate movement
In today’s world, due to the lopsided impact of the bullshit asymmetry principle, the internet is overflowing with misinformation. However, amidst ...
Here’s how we can genetically modify soil microbiomes to reduce use of synthetic fertilizers and improve yields
There has been a great deal of buzz in recent years about the importance of the human microbiome; much of it ...
Viewpoint: Are corporations and Western countries shackling African agriculture to suit their interests, as anti-GMO groups claim? Or are the activists doing the shackling?
Genetically enhanced (GE) crops, pesticides, and fertilizers have fueled an explosion in food production over the last six decades. Following ...
Viewpoint: Nobel laureates and 1,000 other scientists plead with European parliamentarians to ‘reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering’ over gene editing
As the European Parliament prepares for a key vote on gene editing regulations next week, an open letter signed by 35 Nobel ...
Are children and pregnant women risking their health by eating “GMO” foods? The American Association of Pediatrics controversially says ‘yes’. The real question: Is the AAP endangering the food vulnerable?
Are foods grown using genetically modified seeds hazardous to our health? Scientists, nutritionists and the global medical establishment say ‘no’. ...
GLP podcast/video: Lab-grown meat divides scientists; The rise of ‘Big Weed’; American Academy of Pediatrics goes anti-GMO?
Sustainable agriculture advocates are split over the potential benefits of cell-based meat. Why are these longtime allies divided over this ...
Viewpoint: Organic farming and sustainable agriculture are often in conflict. Here’s why
hen it comes to denying science, California leads America, and sometimes the world. In early 2020, for example, when the ...
African scientists challenge activist claims that crop biotechnology revolution spreading across Africa threatens continent’s plant biodiversity
Do genetically modified (GM) pose a threat to the Africa’s plant biodiversity? ...
Effort to rescue the almost-extinct American chestnut tree hits a snag, as rift develops between major sponsoring organizations over gene-editing techniques
The American Chestnut Foundation, a nonprofit where [Jared] Westbrook is director of science, has poured years of work into a ...
Viewpoint: Crop biotechnology and chemical pseudo-science exposed — Here’s how the ‘dark money’, tort-lawyer funded Heartland Study dupes journalists and co-ops universities
Until the 1990s, research was often low-budget, done in government agencies or industry funded. But as universities acquired expensive analytical ...