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
Viewpoint: What are the barriers limiting Africa from adopting genetically engineered and hybrid-improved seeds?
Over the last 15 years, development organizations including USAID, the UK’s DFID, and most prominently the Gates Foundation, have invested millions ...
Viewpoint: How Consumer Reports offers up a dish of bad and biased advice about what we should eat, and why
Consumer Reports (CR) promotes itself as an unbiased source of a wide variety of product ratings. It also publishes Should ...
Latin America’s embrace of gene editing positions Americas to become global leader in agricultural innovation
Over the 25 years since the introduction of GM crops in Latin America, the continent has been a battleground between ...
‘Organic label doesn’t always mean safer,’ study finds: Spinosad insecticide more damaging to beneficial insects than synthetic imidacloprid neonicotinoid banned in Europe
Very low concentrations of the popular organic insecticide spinosad have profound effects on beneficial insect species, including vision loss and ...
We may soon be able to genetically engineer a synthetic alternative to palm oil, helping to preserve biodiversity. Here are the challenges
Tom Jeffries and Tom Kelleher met at Rutgers University in the 1970s while studying industrially useful microbes. Jeffries went on to ...
Viewpoint: Dissecting anti-science smears — Center for Media and Democracy spreads disinformation about food and science communication
At a time when democracy is threatened by a number of sources and media is a potent remedy or problem, ...
Do we need more risk studies to confirm the safety of genetically engineered crops?
The appeal of the 31 European Union parliamentarians [1,2] to the European Commission to provide funds for research on the ...
Video: Crops in space? With long space voyages on the horizon, NASA working on ways to grow food for astronauts
As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and for longer periods, food will become increasingly critical. Crop production can supplement a ...
Citrus greening crisis: How genetically engineered tools and other strategies might prevent total devastation of Florida’s orange and grapefruit industry
For more than two years, human society has been dealing with ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and that already feels ...
Viewpoint: Despite organic farming’s massive failures and extensive fraud, many people still think the ‘miracle of smaller yields’ will save the planet
Numerous headlines lately described a frightening scenario: during a global pandemic, the food security of Sri Lanka was put at ...
Viewpoint — Prince Charles’ ongoing rejection of GM, biotechnology-inspired crop advances is the latest example of celebrity disinformation on science
There are relatively few people in the world who possess sufficient gravitas that the media are prepared to publicize their ...
Viewpoint: How anti-GMO activists use select studies to ‘prove’ glyphosate is ‘dangerous’ and unnecessarily scare the public
If you want to show that any chemical is dangerous, here's a three-step process that will consistently yield the desired ...
Viewpoint: ‘Scientists seeking attention resort to promoting oversimplified food fads’ — Be cautious of clickbait claims that foods accelerate dementia
Can avoiding certain foods reduce your dementia risk? One nutritional psychiatrist seems to think so, but the evidence is much ...
Eating disorders: How advances in genetics and psychology are informing new treatments
In 2017, Hennie Thomson checked herself into a hospital for six weeks of in-patient treatment for anorexia nervosa. She was ...
Viewpoint: Environmentalist delusions? Why ‘progressive’ opposition to nuclear energy and crop biotechnology are the biggest obstacles to addressing climate change
In the recent Netflix smash hit Don’t Look Up, scientists try to warn the world about a comet hurtling towards ...
Viewpoint: Anti-chemical campaigners misleadingly invoke a looming ‘insect apocalypse’ to justify demands to junk targeted, synthetic pesticides
“Alternatives to sulfoxaflor exist, what are we waiting for?” titles a blog post on the website of the Belgian environmentalist NGO ...
Rebuffing activist claims, USDA confirms American-grown fruits and vegetables are free of harmful trace pesticides
The results of the USDA's Pesticide Data Program (PDP) for 2020 are in, and they lend themselves to two important ...
Viewpoint: Will there ever be organic GMOs? Here’s the science behind why it it’s a good idea
What’s your preference: Food that is organic or not organic? Grown from genetically modified (engineered) seeds or not? How about ...
Can what we eat change the world?
How should we live in relation to food and our food system? In this article I suggest a return to ...
Myth busting on pesticides: Despite demonization, organic farmers widely use them
Anti-GMO activists like to point to organic food as free of pesticides. They are not, and some chemicals used are ...
Viewpoint: Scientific American’s bizarre promotion of ‘woke’ agricultural biotechnology rejectionism
Recently I highlighted four disturbing trends in science journalism that are destroying the public's trust in mainstream academic and public health ...
How CRISPR and other forms of genetic engineering are revolutionizing farming and addressing climate change
One of the biggest challenges facing agriculture in the U.S. and around the world is how to make farming more ...
Viewpoint: The messy ‘non organic’ reality of imported organic food
I am a strong believer in consumer choice. Although I may not agree with every choice a consumer makes, it’s ...
$83 trillion in savings — Misguided attacks by ‘organic fundamentalists’ distort the revolutionary advancements of the Green Revolution
A recent study quantifies some of the previously undocumented benefits of the Green Revolution. The results are nothing short of ...
Viewpoint: Reflecting on science journalism in 2021 — Four trends that need to be reversed for media to regain credibility
Science journalism is plagued by several critical problems that jeopardize its credibility. If we want the public to be more ...
Viewpoint: Canada poised to join expanding number of countries endorsing crop gene editing. That’s encouraging — but global reform remains elusive
Gene editing, which allows precise edits to the genome, has been widely used for a variety of applications in laboratories ...
A new wave of cow-free milk options are hitting the market. How will traditional dairy farmers fare?
A new wave of cow-less dairy is hitting the market. In the United States, Perfect Day is using genetically modified fungi ...
