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
Myth busting: Why Agent Orange has nothing do to with GMOs and the herbicide 2,4-D
By spreading misinformation about the herbicide 2,4-D, which IARC says is less hazardous than glyphosate, anti-GMO activists seek to deny ...
“Hybridization is not genetic modification” — And other scientifically suspect anti-GMO sayings
Life forms have been genetically modified, for billions of years by nature, and then for the last 11,000 years, in ...
USDA, EPA butt heads on honey bee and pesticide initiative, highlighting lobbying conflicts
The fight over pollinator policy between the USDA and FDA has escalated, with honey bee health and the future of ...
Could TransPacific Trade agreement enable corporations to block GMO labeling laws?
The controversial Trans Pacific Trade agreement has been attacked by anti-GM0 activists for supposedly watering down the ability to regulate ...
Pesticides Part III: Comparing pesticide use in agroecological and conventional agriculture
The World Health Organization's IARC committee categorization of glyphosate has been widely celebrated by anti-GMO activists at the same time ...
Myth busting: Pesticide use in organic and conventional agriculture-Part II
Our food is filled with many scary sounding chemicals. Here is a why you should be taken in by foodie ...
Myth busting: Pesticide use in organic and conventional agriculture
What is in a name? Plenty! Can pesticides be medicine? Vice versa? As we will attempt to show, there is ...
Chipotle, Whole Foods struggle after GMO food demonization campaigns
Is this a case of exploiting idealism, and its backlash? Two darlings of the foodie movement that have risen in ...
Glyphosate is no bee killer
The science is in. Challenging anti-GMO claims, glyphosate (Roundup) doesn't kill bees, unless you drop a bottle of it on ...
Another bungled correlation study on bee health dangers of neonics
How the belief that neonics are primary threat to honey bees despite hard evidence pointing to Varroa mites and other ...
Unlikely alliance: How GMOs and Ecomodernism brought two ideologically opposite moms together
Two moms--both former skeptics of GMOs and from opposite sides of the political spectrum--find common ground in their support of ...
Trick or Treat: The tale of ‘dangerous’ Pumpkin Spice Latte
Starbucks is following other food companies in caving to foodie demonization campaigns about chemicals. Why that hurts all of us ...
Uganda’s President Museveni endorses GMOs, tipping scales in reluctant parliament
Talking directly to members of the Ugandan Parliament and several farmers who continue to suffer the burden of banana bacterial ...
Scare stories on ‘uncontrolled spread’ of GMOs spreading uncontrollably: They’re misguided
The world wide web has become inundated with anti-GMO sentiment, spreading fast like an invasive species and casting GMOs as ...
Facing drought-induced food shortage, Zimbabwe confronts GMO dilemma
The southern African country is facing an acute food shortage because of an extended drought. Politicians remain resistant to a ...
If GMOs are safe, why aren’t they labeled? Straight answer to a valid question
The 'right to know' sounds so intuitively attractive, which is probably why some polls show American strongly support mandatory GMO ...
Am I hurting my child feeding him GMOs? From mommy guilt to mommy outrage
Everyone from your neighbor to the TV chef to the plumber waxes about the importance of feeding your child 'safer' ...
“Fear Babe”: New book dissects the scare tactics of Vani Hari
From preservatives to pesticides, "Fear Babe" examines the claims of self-proclaimed Food Babe Vani Hari and the most notorious food ...
New England Journal of Medicine ignored Chuck Benbrook’s failure to disclose organic conflicts of interests
The New England Journal of Medicine has a long history and important place in the sphere of American medical practice ...
Anti-GMO ‘Big Lie’: Is labeling really about our “Right to Know”?
Anti-GMO leaders often claim they are not against crop biotechnology; their only desire is a 'right to know' what's in ...
The price of science literacy: Florida professors’ open letter of support for Kevin Folta
University of Florida professors come out in support of independent researchers in the crosshairs of anti-GMO activists ...
FOIA emails reveal anti-GMO, pro-organic spin ‘A team’ led by Tom Philpott and Michael Pollan
A trove of new emails tied to former professor Charles Benbrook shines an ethically harsh light on the journalistic ethics ...
FOIA: Organic industry, Chuck Benbrook orchestrated anti-GMO “independent” research, marketing
FOIA released emails show that the former university professor whose research is the lynchpin of the anti-GMOs industry's public case ...
A co-existence peace plan for GMOs and organics
Could organic and GM farming step past the rhetoric and vitriol, and co-exist? The science says yes ...
India farmers’ ‘seeds of suicide’: 200-year old story behind a modern tragedy
Anti-GMO activists have linked a spate of suicides to the introduction of GMO cotton in 2002. But the tragedy is ...
Nassim Taleb’s Precautionary Principle nonsense and warped “GMO” pseudo-category
Expertise in economic, statistics and stock market risk does not translate into competent analysis about biotechnology and food ...
Anti-GMO forces can slow train of technological progress but cannot derail it
Science ultimately conquers ignorance and so it will be with GMOs ...
