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
6% of global carbon emissions are linked to beef. Here’s how American exports can sharply reduce that
Trump’s global trade shake-up has prompted nearly every nation around the globe to reexamine their own trade policies, asking what ...
How farming spread globally in prehistoric times to supplant hunting and gathering
If you’ve ever wondered how farming spread far and wide, our research on past human societies offers one explanation: contact ...
Viewpoint: England’s head start in pioneering crop gene editing in Europe in danger
News that global agribusiness Syngenta is to cut its UK-based wheat breeding activities after 35 years, focusing activity on the ...
Fighting climate change with gene editing: Can we slash cows’ methane production?
Preventing ruminant methane from being produced in the first place seems a sensible way to limit its damaging effects ...
Viewpoint: RFK.Jr’s embrace of fear-mongering about food dyes mimics Europe’s precautionary regulations
Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1 may soon be history. Not because science says they're dangerous, but because the ...
Viewpoint: Activist hypocrisy — It makes no sense to use genetic engineering to treat disease but limit it to grow food sustainably
As a biomedical scientist working in cancer and infectious disease immunology, I’ve spent decades working with genetic tools and genetic ...
GLP Spaces on X: Misinfo from the mainstream. Hypocritical pediatricians blast RFK Jr.’s anti-vaxx stance while flouting consensus on GMOs
You can't be a stalwart defender of scientific consensus, expertise and evidence-based medicine while taking contrarian positions on critical public ...
Stinky plants: The evolutionary explanation
Not all flowers emit odors that are enticing to humans. Three types of flowering plants – Asarum simile, Eurya japonica, and Symplocarpus ...
GLP podcast: Politics over science. Why food safety debates are driven by ideology
America's ferocious battles over food safety and nutrition are often driven by politics and other ideological considerations rather than cold, ...
Viewpoint: While plaintiff attorneys link ultra-processed foods to rising obesity levels, the science remains unconvincing
Opinions regarding “safe” and unsafe foods vacillate more than hem-length fashion. While we disregard emerging data, fail to conduct sound ...
GLP spaces on X: The ‘Dirty Dozen,’ dissected
Each year the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) "Dirty Dozen" list ranks fruits and vegetables with the supposedly highest pesticide residues, ...
Is the American Academy of Pediatrics a stalwart defender of science and vaccines or a biotechnology science rejectionist? Sadly, it’s both
In a rare but pointed rebuke of federal health policy, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) filed a federal lawsuit ...
Would widespread adoption of organic farming practices be a good idea from a climate change perspective?
Agriculture plays a complex role when it comes to climate change. Farming does contribute a significant share of certain greenhouse ...
The science of seed oils: Healthy or harmful?
The Dirt Seed oils have become the most recent food to avoid. Despite being a staple in every diet and ...
Viewpoint: Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen is out. It’s a ‘heaping pile of disinformation’
It’s springtime in the US, which means the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases their annual Dirty Dozen list, the bane ...
RFK, Jr. is targeting chemical food additives. What does science tell us?
In a video posted to YouTube [last] September, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took aim at U.S. health agencies that he said have ...
Global warming is already impacting crop yields. What does the future hold?
How much will climate change affect food production? Will it hurt or benefit crop yields? Can we feed 8, 9, ...
Synthetic, genetically engineered, and ‘Made in China’: Busting supplement industry myths about the natural wonders of Vitamin C
Dear Vitamin C Aficionados: This article isn't about whether you should take the stuff [1]. Instead, it raises some questions about what ...
High stakes: Why hasn’t Congress passed a new farm bill in two years, and what would it cover?
The Farm Bill is the comprehensive federal legislation that lays out our food and agricultural policies. Think of it as a ...
Viewpoint: In damning genetic modification, activists fret ‘traditional vegetables may go extinct’. Why that’s not worrisome
Biodiversity generally refers to the billions of unique living organisms living in the world and the interactions between them. Biodiversity ...
GLP Spaces on X: Refuting MAHA’s anti-pesticide mythology
There's a little-known fact the MAHA coalition would prefer to keep quiet: pesticides are essential to protect public health and ...
Outdated agricultural biotechnology regulations are slowing innovation. Trump could change that for the better
In late 2024, the result of a decades-long process to update U.S. biotechnology regulation was undone when a judge ordered ...
Viewpoint: ‘We need to fend off the sophistry and mendacity of anti-innovation, anti-biotechnology, chemophobic activists’
The adage “Follow the science” when formulating public policy has much to recommend it, but it’s not as straightforward as ...
Viewpoint: Misplaced MAHA health strategy: Remove products that science says are not necessarily harmful while slashing federal programs that work
While the decision to remove artificial food dyes is typically something people across the political spectrum can get on board ...
Viewpoint: Toxic chemicals in tampons? Unpacking the latest environmental activist group hysteria claim
The chatter about chemicals in tampons isn’t exactly a new thing; it’s more like a rerun of a series that ...
GLP spaces on X: Ice cream sales boost drowning risk? Confusing correlation and causation yields strange – and often harmful – results
Ice cream sales and drownings increase significantly during summer. Although these two outcomes are closely connected, they probably occur in ...
Viewpoint: The health and environmental impacts of glyphosate
A federal reckoning over glyphosate is imminent as the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement gains a foothold with Secretary ...
