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
Pandemic has highlighted resilience — as well as weaknesses — of the global food system: UN Food and Agriculture Organization report
Countries need to make their agrifood systems more resilient to sudden shocks of the kind witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, ...
Video: Dramatic visual evidence of the insect-resistant power of Bt maize, without chemical treatment
In clearing out my office recently I came across a DVD of the video Life in a standard and in ...
Viewpoint: If you seriously care about threats posed by climate change, steer clear of organic farming
Reporters like to lecture the public about the importance of science while promoting obviously unscientific ideas when it suits them ...
Breakthrough technologies reduce the carbon footprint of US beef production
In 2019, the United States produced approximately $111 billion worth of beef, exporting about 3 billion pounds and employing hundreds ...
‘Pesticide’ has become a dirty word. Here’s why most fears are misplaced
Chemophobia is rampant. Some environmental groups, organic promoters and sloppy journalists have successfully made many consumers scared of products that ...
Viewpoint: ‘The bioengineered food label is not expected to have any benefits to human health or the environment’ — The cowardly, useless stupidity behind the new genetic modification law
It’s no secret that Congress sometimes does things – including creating laws – that make little sense and that are contrary ...
Viewpoint: What drives agricultural sustainability? Not what many ‘environmental organizations’ promote
Anyone who has flown over the Canadian prairies in any of the previous summers will notice the tremendous number of ...
GLP Podcast: COVID vaccines; Lab leak scandal; UK embraces CRISPR crops—the biggest stories of 2021
The COVID-19 vaccines saved a lot of lives in 2021, but convincing some Americans to take them proved to be ...
What’s the key, mostly missing, innovation that can help us adapt to severe climate change? Agricultural biotechnology
The major food staples are essential to human survival. Chocolate and coffee are not essential, but try to imagine a ...
Viewpoint: Salmon, apples and potatoes — 3 healthy and sustainable foods that you can buy now under the new “bioengineered” label
The “bioengineered” label for foods sold in the United States is now in effect. Any food or food ingredient that ...
USRTK and other anti-biotechnology groups are using COVID lab-leak theory to spur opposition to life-saving innovations
Hoping to keep their cause alive in the wake of the pandemic, the anti-GMO movement has glommed on to a ...
GMO patent controversy 3: Does Monsanto sue farmers for inadvertent GMO ‘contamination’?
The courts have affirmed Monsanto's claim that it will not sue farmers for any cross pollination from GM seeds that ...
GMO patent controversy 2: Supreme Court cases of farmers Bowman and Schmeiser
Monsanto is accused by its critics of unfairly targeting farmers who 'mistakenly' reuse their patented seeds. Two cases have reached ...
GMO patent controversy: Terminator genes, seed piracy and ‘forcing’ farmers to buy seeds
Many farmers buy new seeds each season. Are they forced to by corporations, like Monsanto, who "control" the seed supply, ...
Viewpoint: Climate change-fighting agricultural tools are delivering enormous benefits — but anti-biotechnology activists continue to vilify them
Following the recent COP26 séance in Glasgow, climate change issues remain prominent for governments and the public. Agricultural practices have ...
Viewpoint: An argument for CRISPR crops — ‘Very little about modern life is natural — and it’s time we all got over it’
Life goes on as gene-edited foods begin to hit the market. Japanese consumers have recently started buying tomatoes that fight ...
Gene editing and agriculture: Challenges and opportunities to significantly address climate change
Excess emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from human activities have accumulated in the atmosphere at levels sufficient to disrupt global ...
Viewpoint: Do phthalates and other chemicals used in food packaging threaten your health, as recent headlines claim? Here’s the science
"Synthetic chemical in consumer products linked to early death, study finds.” "People with the highest levels of phthalates had a ...
Viewpoint: Gilles-Éric Séralini, Vandana Shiva, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — Anti-GMO characters join together in book diatribe misrepresenting the science about glyphosate and Monsanto
The recent court victories against the former Monsanto involving glyphosate constitute a major cause célèbre for anti-GMO activists. Now, another ...
Viewpoint: Organic industry-funded EWG issues absurd critique of EPA science-based regulation of chemicals in public water systems
Everybody wants to know that when they turn on their tap, their drinking water is safe. According to the EPA, ...
Viewpoint: Why gene editing is so much like ‘nature’ — and therefore should not be tightly regulated
At what point do regulatory experts possess sufficient knowledge on innovative technologies and their potential impacts, both beneficial and adverse, ...
Viewpoint: By failing to endorse carbon-cutting biotechnology innovations, Glasgow climate summit missed ‘low hanging fruit’
Although verdicts vary, and some progress was clearly made, the climate change consensus emerging among scientists post-Glasgow is that the world continues on a path ...
Are pesticides in foods a new holiday concern? (‘No’)
The holidays are typically centered around food. Large gatherings of families eating holiday meals, potlucks at work and churches, and ...
Viewpoint: ‘An environmental activist-driven narrative spun by a small population of privileged zealots is presently shaping global climate and agricultural policy’
As the COP26 winds down and the world leaders, delegates and activists all head home, it is time for the ...
Thankful for science: How pesticides made your Thanksgiving meal possible
This year, you're going to pay 24 percent more for a turkey, a tough bite out of the wallet for ...
‘Monsatan’ resurrected: Washington Post bungles review of misguided (and erroneous) new book
What better time than the Halloween season to indulge anxieties about mortality and its discontents and give running room to ...
Could pumpkin pie be on the “86 list” this Thanksgiving?
If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’ve probably heard the term “86” which basically means that they’re out of ...
