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: Here’s how genetically engineered fruits and vegetables will soon emerge as a grocery store ‘selling point rather than a scare tactic’
Fruits and veggies are nature’s gift to humanity. Chock full of vitamins, delicious and colorful, they deserve a starring role ...
What is ‘carbon farming’ and could it provide a path to a more sustainable agricultural future?
As the effects of climate change intensify and paths for limiting global warming narrow, politicians, media and environmental advocates have rallied behind ...
Uruguay joins gene-editing nations, revamps CRISPR crop approval process
The ministries of Environment and Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries will work together in the analysis of the New Genetic Improvement ...
Did you hear the story about the GMO that nearly destroyed the world?
An old myth has resurfaced that a GMO almost destroyed all life on Earth — but what's the real story? ...
Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen Deception: No, your fruit and vegetables are not ‘soaked’ with pesticides
In supermarket conversations (and yes, I do have them) people are scared to death about their fruits and vegetables. I ...
Viewpoint: Seed patent controversy — ‘Does intellectual property in agriculture drive up costs for farmers and restrict access?’ Here are the numbers
Among the many misconceptions about modern agriculture, perhaps one of the most pervasive surrounds the role of intellectual property (IP) ...
CRISPR gene editing applications are expanding dramatically in agriculture. Here are the latest advances
In the past decade, after the release of CRISPR-Cas9 as a genome-editing tool, it has revolutionized biological research. CRISPR and ...
Viewpoint: The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list is a danger to public health put out by an organic industry funded activist group
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an anti-science activist organization ...
Viewpoint: ‘Heavy’ pesticide exposure linked to cardiovascular disease? Flawed study raises ‘troubling’ questions about public health research
What do the results really show? ...
GLP podcast: Oops — heirloom seed company markets GM tomato; Anti-biotech movement in retreat; Bill Gates does more harm than good?
An heirloom seed company that prides itself on selling GMO-free products mistakenly put a genetically engineered tomato on the cover ...
Bangladesh greenlights gene editing to ‘meet the needs of farmers and consumers’
The Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI), under the auspices of the South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP) and in collaboration ...
Costa Rica revises its biotechnology regulations, dropping restrictions on gene editing and other New Breeding Techniques
Industry experts say a November 11, 2023, update to the Costa Rican biotechnology regulatory framework facilitates utilization of innovative biotechnologies ...
Viewpoint: ‘Regulatory vigilantes’ — How former government scientists who are now high-paid ‘expert witnesses’ for predatory law firms use mass tort litigation to sidestep science
Regulatory risk management process allowed policymakers to govern over the last 60 years of technological and industrial development ...
GLP podcast: AAP refuses to print rebuttal to anti-GMO study; Billion-dollar anti-pesticide ‘money grab’; Ultra-processed food won’t make you obese?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a spurious attack on GM crops and pesticides, then reneged on its commitment ...
False dawn or new dawn for genetically engineered crops in the European Union?
It's going to be a long and difficult journey before the fate of the European crop biotechnology reform bill passed ...
How gene editing could rescue virus-devastated global papaya crop
Plant viruses are formidable adversaries when it comes to producing high yielding crops, causing significant harm to global agriculture, and ...
When a farmer and a dietitian are the same person: Telling stories to counter misinformation about biotechnology
Jennie Schmidt, Third-Generation Maryland Farmer, Registered Dietitian, Member of the Global Farmer Network | March 1, 2024 Highlights: Combining a ...
Viewpoint: Environmental Working Group’s manufactured ‘dangerous levels of chlormequat in oat cereals’ study underscores the ‘risk perception gap’
The number of messages I received from people, mostly parents, who said they had been terrified to feed their children ...
Viewpoint: Journal Pediatrics reneges on its commitment to print response to botched article claiming GMOs are harmful to children. Here’s what they censored
A lot has been said about the journal Pediatrics December 2023 Clinical Report on "Using GMOs on Children". The poor scholarship ...
GLP podcast: Bad research sows distrust in science; Pesticides in food aren’t dangerous—unless you eat 340 apples daily
Bad research in peer-reviewed journals is undermining the public's trust in science. What can experts do to stop the flow ...
Viewpoint: Are organizations claimed as “partners” with tort industry-funded Heartland Study aware of the scam? Here’s an ‘open letter’ challenge
Multiple science communicators and scientists have composed a letter to various universities and government organizations that have been linked to ...
Viewpoint: Money grab — How the Environmental Working Group works hand-in-hand with tort lawyers to generate billion-dollar junk suits
On February 15th, the litigation outfit known as Environmental Working Group, most famous for using public USDA data (although excluding pesticides from ...
Viewpoint: Exploiting chemophobia—Environmental Working Groups’s manufactured study claiming oat cereal contains dangerous pesticides designed to manipulate the media
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and media outlets are trying to scare people away from demonstrably safe and nutritious conventional food products ...
Viewpoint: UK’s organic farming lobby needs to drop its ideological rejection of gene editing if it hopes to remain viable
In July last year, the European Commission published its proposals for regulating plants developed using new genomic techniques (NGTs) such ...
GLP podcast: Technology keeps debunking ‘The Population Bomb;’ Internet access can harm mental health; Is urban farming sustainable? Probably not
Technological innovations continue to debunk predictions that global population growth will lead to mass starvation. Some mental health experts are ...
With climate change disruptions of farming and food escalating, scientists look to resilient ancient plant varieties as a possible safety net
In late September, an international team of researchers fanned out across a remote New Mexico mountain range, in search of ...
Is tilapia a human-made freak that we should avoid — or an evolutionary rockstar?
Posts were appearing on my Facebook feed warning against the dangers of eating tilapia. So I decided to do a ...