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
Live to be 100+? Extreme longevity research is futuristic privatized enterprise
When longevity research is privately funded, what happens when the money runs dry? ...
General Mills buys Annie’s, GMO opponents go berserk
The announcement that General Mills is buying Annie's touched off raving commotion on social media about the 'natural foods' company ...
Evolution do-over might lead to the same place
Scientists have often wondered if evolution happened all over again, what would life on earth look like? A Harvard biologist ...
At National Academy of Sciences, GMO critics say technology is “failing”
A full slate of anti-GMO luminaries, including Gilles-Erich Seralini and representatives from the Center for Food Safety, Union of Concerned ...
Organic farmer viewpoint: Has the “Food Movement” become a religious cult?
Anti-GMO? Think organic foods are overhyped? Food politics is on the verge of becoming religion. If we haven't already, we're ...
Do anti-GMO activists inhabit an information bubble? Ask Paul Krugman
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman describes how critics of Obamacare stay misinformed, not only because they have incorrect information ...
29-year study of trillions of meals shows GE crops do not harm food-producing animals, humans
According to GMO critics, livestock around the world are developing cancer and dropping like flies after eating genetically engineered feed ...
Do GMO farms ‘contaminate’ neighboring crops? A farmer’s view of co-existence
Skeptics of GMOs often voice concern over cross-pollination--what activists say is the potential for the 'contamination' of neighboring fields by ...
GMOs for Dummies!
Marc Brazeau who blogs at Food and Farm Discussion Lab has posted an extremely useful guide covering many key GMO ...
Parasite practices genetic mind control to spread infection
Toxoplasma gondii, the parasitic infection that may infect almost half the worlds human population uses some special trick to control ...
When the media hypes epigenetics, mothers take the blame
There's a lot of talk about epigenetics in the news, but scientists still don't know what it all means. A ...
New Yorker editor David Remnick responds to Vandana Shiva criticism of Michael Specter’s profile
The Vandana Shiva affair takes a new turn today with the release of The New Yorker Editor David Remnick's point-by-point ...
Brain, behavior and genetics
The link between our genetics and how we behave is the topic of much speculation, some if it highly controversial ...
Portrayal of Vandana Shiva as ‘credible’ spokesperson for GMO labeling crusade promotes anti-science ‘false balance’
Reports in the GLP and by Michael Specter have painted a devastating picture of Vandana Shiva as an extremist who ...
Personal genomics: Care to update your haplogroup status page?
Personalized genomics offers the opportunity to revolutionize medical care and our understanding of disease. But many first adopters won’t wait ...
Debate: Are “Non GMO” labels deceptive?
Non GMO products are reportedly a $7 billion a year business — but do consumers get what they think they're ...
Who is Vandana Shiva and why is she saying such awful things about GMOs?
Vandana Shiva's status as a celebrity anti-GMO activist is not in question, but virtually everything else about her, from her ...
Ten years in, first trial treatment from California’s stem cell initiative approved
It’s been ten years since California voters approved their state-funded stem cell initiative. Critics have charged that the initiative as ...
Is producing more food to feed the world beside the point?
Supporters and critics of crop biotechnology clash over whether GMOs can help 'feed the world'--or even whether we have a ...
Vandana Shiva by Michael Specter: Demagogue or visionary?
Who believes that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the USDA, National Academy ...
More details on Google’s Baseline human health project
Google X’s new Baseline Project was made public in July. Although widely reported that the study would only focus on ...
Africa on GMOs: Scientific response to anti-technology NGOs
More than half of the acreage of genetically modified crops in the world is in the developing world, where the ...
Video: Appetite control and emotion arise from similar brain areas
Relatively few neurons, only thousands, control appetite in a brain region linked to inhibition, fear and emotion according to a ...
Got soy? Consumer Reports drives off anti-science, anti-GMO cliff savaging conventional soy milk
Are you one of the millions of people who enjoy soy milk as an alternative to the dairy variety? Well, ...
Does Nicholas Wade’s ‘A Troublesome Inheritance’ focus on ‘race’ inaccurately portray human differences?
A new book by Nicholas Wade is being condemned by scientists, who claim that it paints a false picture of ...
Monsanto in the anti-GMO crosshairs: Fair or foul?
Monsanto is regularly targeted by anti-GMO activists as 'the world's most evil corporation' and a danger to global food independence ...
Anti-GMO claim examined: Does genetic engineering foster monoculture?
Do GMO crops "foster monoculture?" Plant pathologist Steve Savage dives into the cropping histories of the Midwest's Corn Belt and ...
