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
Do you have food allergies? Manipulating the gut microbiome might treat them
As a child, Cathryn Nagler broke out in hives when she ate eggs. She reacted to penicillin. Working in labs ...
Podcast: Neuralink brain chips; Flu vaccines during COVID; US farm system unraveling?
Elon Musk's company Neuralink recently debuted its brain implant in pigs, pushing us a little closer to integrating humans and ...
Viewpoint: UN’s ‘hand-in-glove’ alliance with anti-pesticide groups cripples response to Africa’s ravenous locust swarms
In a year devastated by locust plagues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and massive flooding that displaced over a hundred thousand people ...
Podcast: Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue interviews GLP’s Jon Entine on feeding the world sustainably through biotech innovation and challenging the ‘myth of organics’
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue wants to welcome you to his very own podcast – “The Sonnyside of the Farm.” ...
Pesticide hypocrisy? EU edges toward banning glyphosate after finding it safe but clears organic copper sulfate after finding it a ‘public health and environment concern’
Of all the elements the EU considers in ag regulations, science gets the shortest shrift ...
Viewpoint: ‘Superfood’—a lucrative marketing term with no scientific basis
Walking through the grocery aisle, there is an overwhelming number of new superfoods to choose from. Hemp hearts are full ...
Podcast: ‘Clean’ wine isn’t so clean; FDA blocks hemophilia gene therapy; Universal flu vaccine?
Actress Cameron Diaz and fashion entrepreneur Katherine Power are marketing a new brand of "clean" wine using long-debunked claims about ...
Chile poised to tackle food shortages and climate change with ‘Golden Apple’ and other CRISPR-edited crops
Chile’s intense political unrest exacerbated by months of COVID-19 quarantine has temporarily overshadowed a relentless environmental, farming crisis: an intense ...
How do you make meat without animals? The 5-step ‘recipe’ for a lab-grown, cell-based burger
Cultured meat, lab grown meat, cell based meat, clean meat, and cultivated meat are all terms used to describe meat ...
Podcast: Activism’s dark side—Earth Liberation Front bombs ‘GMO’ tree lab, destroys endangered plants instead
Law enforcement agencies keep a watchful eye on environmental groups that have engaged in eco-terrorism, notably Greenpeace and PETA, and ...
Podcast: Deadly chemicals everywhere? Stem cell tourism kills; Natural pet food is a scam
A pair of high-profile studies alleges that the health impact of endocrine-disrupting chemicals has doubled in five years. Should you ...
Viewpoint: Farm to Fork failure—How Europe’s ‘obsession’ with organics undermines the global sustainable farming movement
Europe’s quest to confront climate change and achieve carbon neutrality is being undermined by “Big Ag”? That’s not my claim. It’s the ...
Anti-GMO movement merging with anti-vaccine groups, escalating threat to global coronavirus response
As scientists around the world work at an unprecedented pace to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, anti-vaccine proponents are planting ...
CRISPR cows could boost sustainable meat production, but regulations and wary consumers stand in the way
When Ralph Fisher, a Texas cattle rancher, set eyes on one of the world’s first cloned calves in August 1999, he ...
Viewpoint: GMO vs non-GMO foods? There’s no difference to your body or health
What exactly happens when you eat a GMO? ...
Viewpoint: How prosperity and technology are defeating ‘environmental pessimism’
In 1980, the year that PERC was founded, I spent three months in the Himalayas working on a wildlife conservation ...
Podcast: Covid conspiracies; Cuba embraces GMOs; biotech vs. nature’s ‘mindless dangers’
A fearful public accepts conspiracy theories because they offer a sense of control in an uncontrollable situation, says a young ...
Viewpoint: How body building culture and fad diets mislead consumers about protein
In most supermarket aisles you’re likely to come across at least one product that features ‘protein’ somewhere in the title ...
Viewpoint: ‘All natural’ pet food is no better for Fido, and it’s terrible for the environment
Gone are the days when a proud new pet owner could waltz into the grocery store and pick up a ...
Viewpoint: Europe must abandon ‘fear of progress’ to defeat anti-science chemophobia
A site like European Scientist has one hope: that the 2020s will be the decade of renewal for European scientific ...
Podcast: Arguing with vaccine skeptics works; Ban GMO labels? Agroecology keeps Africa poor
Contrary to popular belief, arguing with anti-science activists on social media helps combat the spread of misinformation. Organic food groups ...
‘No change in insect population sizes’: Massive North American study challenges ‘insect apocalypse’ claims
In recent years, the notion of an insect apocalypse has become a hot topic in the conservation science community and has ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate-tainted hummus? Environmental Working Group’s latest pesticide scare short on facts
In the wake of a highly publicized legal settlement between Bayer, owner of former glyphosate-maker Monsanto, and lawyers representing plaintiffs ...
Viewpoint: While ‘elitist academics’ praise local food ‘industrial farming’ feeds us during a pandemic
With the world COVID-19 pandemic in its sixth month, food activists are back to trumpeting locally grown, and even home ...
Viewpoint: Battling deadly disease with gene drives is worth the limited risk
The fate of society rests in part on how humans navigate their complicated relationship with insects – trying to save ...
In effort to block Philippines’ GMO Golden Rice, activists falsely link nutrition-enhanced staple to COVID
Anti-biotech groups in the Philippines are trying to link the COVID-19 pandemic to Golden Rice as part of a week-long ...
Viewpoint: How to constructively engage on social media with those who post anti-GMO and anti-vax conspiracies
The other day, a tantalizing question appeared in my Twitter feed: “If you were writing a book about 2020, what ...
