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
Non-GMO beer? Label makes no sense
Beer's usual ingredients - water, barley or wheat, hops and yeast - are not available as genetically modified crops, yet ...
Honoring of Green Revolution’s Norman Borlaug ignites ideological skirmishes
Today would have been Norman Borlaug's 100th birthday. As the father of the Green Revolution he is credited with saving ...
Bill Nye isn’t really an anti-GMO guy
The Physics Police blog uncovered an episode of Bill Nye's "Eye of Nye" from 2005 in which Nye might be ...
New York Times flunks genetic literacy challenge: No, mutations don’t kill-off genes
The New York Times failed a recent genetic literacy 'test' in a story on the genetic roots of diabetes ...
GMO war of words: On “contamination”
The use of the word "contamination", as used by organic farmers worried about GM crops invading their fields from neighboring ...
Rootworm are evolving to resist GM Bt corn developed to kill it
Crop mismanagement may lead to rapid rootworm resistance to Bt corn, according to a study published in the Proceedings of ...
Rejecting GMOs and supporting small-scale organic farming is a cheap vote winner but it’s not sustainable
The increase in global food supplies has been largely achieved through massive expansion of land cultivation. That's not sustainable. Rejecting ...
GMO and non-GMO farmers have been coexisting for years
In the debate over GMO and non-GMO crop coexistence, an important fact is often overlooked: farmers have been coexisting for ...
Cross-contamination and the law: Legal backgrounder on Australia’s GMO crop case
While this case is "portrayed as a fight between organic and GM, it’s really ... about the consequences of inadvertent ...
GM salmon: Will supermarket wariness sabotage rollout of first genetically engineered animal?
With the FDA close to approving the AquAdvantage GM salmon, wariness by supermarkets and aggressive opposition from anti-GMO NGOs raises ...
GMOs “no longer a Pandora’s box”–Key tool to meet soaring food needs
The NGO Biosciences for Farming in Africa has produced a collection of essays focused on "how will we be able ...
A tall non-GMO latte? Not at Starbucks
The anti-biotech group GMO Inside called on Starbucks to serve only organic milk, thereby eliminating GMOs, from its stores in ...
Chipotle’s anti-GMO “Farmed and Dangerous” series irks farmers
Chipotle's "Farmed and Dangerous" is, according to the restaurant chain, a "comedy series that explores the 'outrageously twisted' world of ...
Will pests develop resistance to GMO Bt crops? Not anytime soon, says Cornell study
GM crops modified with the bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) produce natural proteins that kill pest insects, dramatically reducing the need ...
Breaking research: GM cotton in India has probably reduced farmer suicides not caused them
A new study from The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research challenges the assumption that GMO cotton has ...
Hawaii is ground zero for GMO debate: Earth Island Journal weighs in
The recent controversy over GMOs in Hawaii exemplifies the concerns heard in the larger agricultural biotech debate. Arguments over pesticides, ...
Confused about GMOs? Blame it on your poor math education
A person's math skills may impact how well they understand messages and information about scientific health, such as information regarding ...
Are GMO crops sustainable? Bullets fly over environmentalist Jon Foley’s controversial essay
“Against my better judgment, I’m dipping my toe into the genetically modified organism debate," wrote University of Minnesota environmentalist Jon ...
How should Congress and the FDA respond to calls to label foods with GMOs?
According to Henry Miller, a physician and the founding director of the Office of Biotechnology at the FDA, and Drew ...
Golden Rice opposition cost $2b and 1.4m ‘life years’ over 10 years in India alone
As debate over Golden Rice ensues, countries like India suffer, according to a new study from the journal Environment and ...
He said/She said: Are GMO “secrets” just inconvenient truths?
Well know activist-author Robyn O'Brien's recent post on the Huffington Post's Food for Thought blog, slams GMOs in nine points ...
Evaluating competing claims about genetically modified crops
The arguments for and against GMOs began at the technology's inception, in the 1980s, and have changed little since. But ...
Dr. Oz again takes on the GMO controversy again—Science or myth?
Celebrity talk show host Dr. Oz has a complicated and controversial relationship with GMOs—demonstrated again with his latest foray into ...
Want your own Frank N. Foode? Kickstarter campaign brings GMO mascot to the masses
Now you can have your own Frank N. Foode--the mascot of the sound science GMO movement--with Biology Fortified's Kickstarter campaign ...
Are industry funded studies corrupting GMO science?
Are all of the studies supporting the safety of GM foods the result of a massive scientific selling-out, the product ...
Technology and food security: International Food Policy Research Institute director weighs in
A wealth of technologies is now at our disposal for boosting yields of the world’s key staple crops, but how ...
Vandana Shiva scandal deepens, as Beloit College botches response to criticism
After bungling its invitation to Indian environmental activist Vandana Shiva, who misrepresents her credentials and promotes the myth that the ...
