Food & Ag 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
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? ...
Viewpoint: With the help of ‘useful idiot’ activists, Russian propaganda targets US national security and public health
Recent Russian clandestine attempts to use “authentic” U.S. media and social media influencers to corrupt elections are hardly surprising, considering ...
What is Mexico’s trade war targeting glyphosate and GMO corn really about
Thomas Jefferson famously noted that "[T]he greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to ...
GLP podcast: Fighting cancer with vaccines; ‘Regulator-activist-legal complex’ undermines innovation
Therapeutic vaccines for some cancers have entered clinical trials. Do they represent the future of cancer treatment? Regulations, fearmongering campaigns ...
The conflict between sustainable development goals and environmental activists
At the end of the 20th century, the United Nations (UN) launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were a list of ...
A five-star recipe for cutting food waste?
A comprehensive report on food waste published in [March 2024] by the United Nations Environment Programme shares some sobering statistics: ...
How is artificial intelligence (AI) transforming agriculture, and what does the future hold?
For all the attention on flashy new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, the challenges of regulating AI, and doomsday scenarios ...
Viewpoint: What happens when health officials spread misinformation?
The American Academy of Pediatrics is legitimizing pseudoscience that is undermining food safety, genetic technologies, and critical agricultural practices ...
GLP podcast: Red state ‘bullies’ trying to ban fake meat; Alt-health activists in a second Trump Admin? Psilocybin might be superior to some antidepressants
Why are some states trying to ban lab-grown meat? Conspiracy thinking prevails in the alternative health movement, and some of ...
A natural biological approach to weed control
Weeds have been a major challenge since the earliest days of farming. Tillage - the mechanical means of weed control ...
How the ‘regulator-activist-legal-complex’ undermines technological innovation
America continues to lead the world in science and technology, but this is hardly a God-given right. Compared to the ...
GLP podcast: Rachel Carson launched chemophobia? ‘Big Ag’ helps solve environmental problems; Placebos as medicine
Did revered environmentalist Rachel Carson gives rise to the modern anti-chemical crusade scientists are now struggling to control? Maybe so ...
Viewpoint: Why are politicians letting the tort lawyer and organic industry funded anti-science Environmental Working Group influence public policy?
We are in an era where rejection of science occurs across all ideologies and communities. Anti-science misinformation spreads as a ...
Viewpoint: Faulty science undergirds attacks on paraquat herbicide
The Paraquat-Parkinson’s tort extortion process is a perfect example of the Predatort Playbook in action. Tort law firms contact activist ...
GLP podcast: Egg myths, debunked; You might hate veggies because of your genes; Chemicals causing early puberty? Probably not
The public believes a lot of myths about eggs. Let's debunk some of the most popular misconceptions. If you don't ...
Will the Supreme Court block further glyphosate suits against Bayer?
Recent surprise decisions have upended plaintiffs’ expectations on the toxic tort front. In Delaware, the top court is rehearing the ...
Viewpoint: Chemophobic demonizing of DEET — Boston Museum of Science’s fact-free endorsement of ’non chemical’ insect repellent alternatives
I'm sure you know by now that I often speak about the harms of the appeal to nature fallacy and ...
Viewpoint: Greenwashing irony—Organic food and farming exempt from Europe’s green regulations despite evidence of sustainability lag
On 17 June 2024, the EU Council of Ministers adopted its position on the Green Claims Directive, a regulatory proposal first ...
Viewpoint: If you want to understand how pervasive medical disinformation in the U.S. is, check out this circus organized by GOP Senator Ron Johnson
Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin. But for those who aren’t aware, Ron Johnson, GOP Senator for Wisconsin, ...
Viewpoint: Large scale, Intensive, land-sparing farming is the sustainable future not the problem
The BBC’s coverage of farming and countryside issues, and its editorial bias in favour of small-scale, more extensive forms of ...
Viewpoint: Who is Phililp Landrigan — the scientist destroying the credibility of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Trust is essential when parents seek advice from their pediatricians. It must be fact-based and free from politics and special ...
Organic or conventional farming? Which system better preserves our fragile insect population
A three-year run of fragmentary Armageddon-like studies had primed the journalism pumps and settled the media framing about the future ...
Viewpoint: Consumers Report bungles science, promotes another food scare—No, Lunchables will not give your kids cancer
“Should you pack Lunchables for Your Kid’s School Lunch?” asks a piece in the April 9th edition of Consumer Reports ...
GLP podcast: Organic farming—solution to climate change or path to world hunger?
Here's some good news to break up the cacophony of alarmist environmental headlines you read weekly: global agricultural output has ...
Are all processed foods unhealthy? Time for a more nuanced rethink
After decades of searching, many scientists believe they have finally pinned down the main problem with our modern diets—the factor ...
Viewpoint: Spreading poison—How green activists pollute public discourse
In the week when the European Union Member States vote for the next European Parliament (plus a host of regional ...
Nutritional epigenetics: How life events can shape your genes and their impact on diet and health
Within the last century, researchers’ understanding of genetics has undergone a profound transformation ...
