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
Organic farmer says “no” to organic-led ‘New MacDonald’ GMO demonization campaign
Polarizing "New McDonald" video sparks outrage among organic farmers more interested in sustainable farming than winning debate points. Will this ...
Why do strawberries taste like straw, and can genetics bring flavor back to the big red berry
The modern supermarket strawberry looks sumptuous but often tastes like...well, straw. With a bit of help from modern genetics, can ...
Synbio firm Intrexon snaps up Okanagan, developers of new GM Arctic Apple
Those wondering whether the the newly approved GMO fruit, Arctic Apple, has a future now know: With this merger/take-over, new ...
Federal GMO labeling bill garners support from skeptical growers
The failures of statewide GMO labeling initiatives and the possibility that the courts will throw out the Vermont mandatory law ...
Did Bill Nye, the anti-GMO guy, just flip? After visiting Monsanto? Stay tuned
The 'Science Guy' has not yet announced how his views about GMOs have changed--he has been a skeptic for years--but ...
China’s rejection of GMO “contaminated” alfalfa–Biotech failure or global politics?
In 2014, China rejected imports of alfalfa from the US that contained trace amounts of GE material. Activists reacted with ...
Can GM technology promote sustainable salmon farming?
Can biotechnology overcome the stigma manufactured by activists to provide solutions for a sustainable seafood movement? Is the sustainability movement ...
Owen Paterson: ‘Anti-GMO stance of Green Blob, Greenpeace condemn poor to starvation, death
Former UK environment secretary goes on the attack against what he says are modern Luddites: Greenpeace and the ministers of ...
VIDEO: Are GM foods dangerous? Renowned science reporter takes on anti-GMO fundamentalists
The British YouTube rationalist and renowned ex-BBC Radio 4 and CBC science reporter with a degree in geology debunks pseudoscience, ...
What do off-patent GM soybeans say about possibilities of open source biotech?
As Monsanto's patent on GM soybeans expires this spring, where does this leave the conversation over corporate control in the ...
Where’s the beef (and fat)? Are you ready for a juicy ‘test tube’ burger?
Lab created beef offers the possibility of ending the breeding of livestock for slaughter--and the ability to produce in vitro ...
OMG! GMO! In Froot Loops! Reason for concern, but not about cereal
GMO Free USA has mounted a boycott against food companies for harmless trace levels of chemicals found in some of ...
Food Babe plays race, sexist shill cards from “Deck of Deflection”
Vani Hari's new book attacking chemicals and GMOs in food is a roaring sales success. But that hasn't stopped critics ...
Deoxyribonucleic acid, it’s fantastic! A Presidents Day rap
Intimidated by genetics? Maybe music is the cure ...
Mother Jones’s missed opportunity to reverse GMO safety consensus denialism
A year ago, Mother Jones published a balanced report on crop biotechnology, embracing the global consensus that GMOs are safe--a ...
Zero tolerance policies on GMO “contamination” hurt organic and conventional farmers alike
Neighboring organic farmers and GMO farmers struggle to coexist amid fears of gene flow through cross pollination. Yet agricultural scientists ...
Mimicking Climategate, anti-GMO activists fund legal attack on biotech academics
US Right to Know, funded mostly by organic activists, is using the Freedom of Information Act to target scientists it ...
Rethinking “pro-GMO” and “anti-GMO” labels
Journalists and commentators often use the terms "anti-GMO" and "pro-GMO" as shorthand to guide the reader through ideological thickets. But ...
The Original Frankenfoods: Origins of Our Fear of Genetic Engineering
The anti-GMO community has gotten a lot of propaganda mileage out of demonizing GM crops as Frankenstein's creation. GLP guest ...
Will Tanzania follow Burkina Faso in embracing GM crops to fight ravaging diseases?
There is a groundswell of popular support for crop biotechnology among African farmers, with Uganda and Burkina Faso the most ...
Anti-GMO sociologists mute attacks on biotech, urge greater sensitivity to cultural impacts
At the National Research Council's public webinar on GM crops, three sociologists, known for their concerns about the cultural impact ...
Is there a future for eco-friendly genetically engineered fish and animals? Maybe not.
Animal biotech has been stifled by political opposition. Could technological advances that move away from classic genetic engineering to novel ...
Call for action: It’s time to March Against the March Against Monsanto
March Against Monsanto has evolved into a cultural event symbolizing the most strident and scientifically questionable side of the anti-technology ...
African elites blame early puberty on GMOs, sabotaging nutrition-enhanced cassava, matooke
It is fashionable in Africa to blame everyinexplicable heath condition on genetic engineered food. It's part of a campaign organized ...
Scientific consensus on GMO safety stronger than for global warming, PEW research center finds
Scientists blame the media and the lack of quality K-12 STEM education for large differences between public opinion and scientific ...
GLP radio interview: Girl Scouts refuse to bow to activist pressure to go non-GMO
On Agri-Talk radio, GLP's Jon Entine discusses the Girl Scouts' decision to rebuff anti-GMO activists who are demanding they remove ...
Pests invade Europe after neonicotinoids ban, with no benefit to bee health
The neonics ban in Europe may be backfiring as farmers turn topesticides that had been phased out because of potentially ...
