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: 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 ...
Podcast: How 1970s fat-free fad launched organic, non-GMO and other ‘absurd’ labeling schemes
Go walk the aisles of your local grocery store and see how many products are being marketed for what they ...
Viewpoint: Crop biotech innovation isn’t enough to shut down the anti-GMO propaganda machine
Scientists need to promote and defend the relevance of their science, even after it has left their lab ...
Video: Debating Europe’s pro-organic Farm to Fork Green Deal—Sustainable agriculture or recipe for disaster?
One of the unpleasant lessons of the COVID pandemic is how little prepared we’ve been for an event that was, ...
Viewpoint: Red meat increases cancer risk? Maybe, but staying healthy isn’t as simple as avoiding steak
Summer is a great time to grill steaks and hamburgers…they were definitely featured in our Fourth of July BBQ! We ...
Sustainable farming advances: Global movement to ban pesticides and GMOs spur next-generation biotech pest controls
Their target remains GMOs—a range of agricultural products made with modern techniques of genetic engineering, from eggplant grown mostly in ...
Viewpoint: Fast-growing GMO salmon poised to hit US stores in 2020, but why did it take 30 years?
In a few months, the first transgenic (GMO) salmon will be sold in the US, produced in an AquaBounty farms ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides on produce aren’t dangerous. Ignore the ‘Dirty Dozen’ and eat more fruits and veggies
A uniquely frightening time like this provides a great moment for us all to do what’s best for neighbors, employees, ...
Viewpoint: Busting nutrition myths—Why you don’t have to cut potatoes out of your diet
“Stop cutting out white potatoes – they're as healthy as sweet ones, dietitians say,” a recent headline in Insider urges us ...
Podcast: Homeopathic ‘drug’ passes peer review; EU: GMO crops bad, GMO medicine good; Wine industry wants CRISPR
Research validating a homeopathic 'drug' for erectile function was published in a peer-reviewed science journal. Europe's Green Party opposes genetic ...
Viewpoint: Mexico’s activist government pushes glyphosate ban that threatens food security and farmer welfare
Biotech giant Bayer is currently in the fight of its life against more than 100,000 lawsuits alleging its flagship weedkiller ...
Viewpoint: Calling gene-edited crops ‘natural’ won’t dispel public skepticism. Here’s a better way to build trust in CRISPR
What determines whether a genetically modified vegetable or fruit is natural? ...
Viewpoint: Are synthetic food additives dangerous? Here’s the science anti-chemical activists ignore
Always take chemical advice from EWG with a grain of (inorganic) salt ...
Podcast: Doctors have to think about sex; AI text generators spread ‘fake news’? Coffee can indeed make you poop
An ER physician says doctors have to consider biological sex to properly care for their patients. Coffee can send some ...
Viewpoint: How biotech crops, lab-grown meat and other food innovations could jump start post-COVID economic recovery
COVID-19 threatens to slow or halt agricultural innovation in the US by exacerbating the decline in public R&D and threatening ...
Viewpoint: Fish farming has a sustainability problem and genetic engineering might be the solution
As the world endures the impacts of a rapidly changing climate—sea level rise, extreme weather events, warming and acidifying oceans ...
Viewpoint: Activist opposition to GMOs fueled by an ‘extremist’ vision of nature
We would like to take the opportunity on #Worldenvironmentday to come back to a problem we have been thinking about ...
Viewpoint: Organic food represents a ‘reactionary’ ideology that doesn’t support health or sustainable farming—and should not be subsidized
The health and environmental benefits claimed by organic agriculture are based on shaky scientific foundations ...
