Food & Agriculture 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
Support for California Prop 37 slipping
The genetically engineered food labeling initiative once had a 2-1 advantage but an advertising blitz has trimmed the lead to ...
European food safety agency dismisses anti-GM maize study as flawed
The European Food Safety Authority has dismissed as flawed the controversial maize study by Gilles-Eric Séralini and his research team ...
Fear mongering about DNA-modified apples hurts farmers, consumers, says GM supporter
Most people are familiar with the unappetizing browning of apples shortly after they’re cut or bitten into. The good news ...
Sloppy anti-GMO journalism goes viral
Keith Floor, who thoroughly deconstructed the uncritical reporting that accompanied the release of the now widely discredited Seralini GM maize ...
GM foods present serious challenges
For those that want to complain about restricting technologies, the truth is that we do it all the time. According ...
Are GM foods safe? Opponents are skeptical
Are the emotionally charged, politicized discourse on GMOs mired in the kind of fever swamps that have polluted climate science ...
Flawed GM corn study fallout: Russia suspends import of Monsanto corn
In what can only be described as a hysteria-driven reaction, the Russian government has "temporarily" suspended the import of a ...
Media manipulation by anti-GM scientists and NGOs
The controversial study purportedly documenting the dangers of GM corn continues to come under fire--not from industry critics but from ...
Genetic Literacy Project cited in Maui debate over GM labeling
Are genetically engineered food products safe? And, should such products be labeled to give consumers informed choices? Those questions hung ...
Scientists savage study purportedly showing health dangers of Monsanto’s GM corn
Are GM foods harmful or nutritionally less beneficial when compared to conventional or organic foods? Scientists and regulators almost universally ...
Wal-Mart resists protesters, will sell GM corn
The protest over Walmart’s decision to sell genetically modified sweet corn is building. Opponents of GM foods are alarmed and ...
GMOs and California: To label or not to label?
Steve Savage, a plant pathologist working with agricultural technology, gives his explanation of why voters should absolutely vote 'no' on ...
A song tries to go beyond the ‘OMG’ reaction to GMOs
David Holmes and Andrew Bean, two graduates from NYU, have created a hip hop music video called “OMG GMOs”, aimed ...
“Big Organic” outspends pro-GM forces in California labeling fight
Both the 'yes' and 'no' side of the California GMO labeling controversy have been fundraising to raise money for the ...
High hopes for drought-resistant corn
The United States is having one of the worst droughts recorded in over 50 years. More than three-quarters of U.S ...
To label or not to label? The California GMO labeling initiative gears up for the big vote
The anticipation builds as voters prepare to head to the polls for November’s election. And for those voters in California, ...
Florida could gain a new resident: The genetically engineered mosquito
The British biotechnology firm Oxitec has applied to the FDA to release a genetically modified mosquito in Florida to prevent ...
The California GM labeling controversy joins list of historical food scares
Writer Kevin Folta takes aim at anti-GM activists in this piece, comparing the California GM labeling controversy with other food ...
Despite record heat wave and drought, genetic engineering will result in productive corn season
Corn farmers expected this to be a record year, the biggest since 1937. But after months with little or no ...
Climate change drives salmon evolution
Salmon DNA records stretching back over 30 years show that nature has increasingly selected for fish that migrate from the ...
Huh? Activists embrace new foods mutated with toxic chemicals and radiation, reject safe GMOs
Anti-GMO campaigners take no issue with new crops created by soaking seeds or tissues in toxic chemicals or subjecting them ...
Part II: How biotech corn and roundup ready soy work – And why they should not scare you
In Part II of his series of articles responding to anti-biotech activists, Professor Michael Eisen explains the reasons why GM ...
GMO labels limit choices, hurt the poor
To build support for the California GMO labeling law, NGOs and activist groups have played on consumer fears about a ...
Part 1: GMOs: Gene transfer is neither unnatural nor dangerous
Anti-agricultural biotech NGOs and activists raise a common and familiar set of fears in the campaign to get biotech foods ...
Australian farmer: Don’t let the biotech revolution leave us behind
In southern Australia, the soil there is some of the driest in all of the world. To cope with drought ...
American Medical Association comes out against GMO labeling
On June 19, the American Medical Association adopted a policy statement that says “there is no scientific justification for special ...
Genetic engineering turns mosquitoes into disease fighting weapons
Good intentions often go bad. Questions over the potential danger from spraying DDT to control malaria and other insect-borne scourges ...
