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
Frankenfoods? A ‘terrible word’ that could describe more foods than you might realize
What's a Frankenfood? If science matters, it's not food with ingredients whose genes have been precision modified ...
Viewpoint: GMO critic Vandana Shiva’s anti-modernity crusade threatens world’s poor
The recently-published “Social Justice Warrior Handbook,” which satirizes people who promote liberal, multicultural, anti-capitalist, anti-globalization, politically correct views, could have ...
Viewpoint: Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list highlights ‘meaningless distinctions’ between organic and conventional foods
On April 10, the Environmental Working Group – an NGO funded by big organic marketers – released its annual “Dirty Dozen List” ...
Making sense of the patchwork US regulatory system for genetically engineered crops and animals
The faster-growing genetically engineered AquaAdvantage Salmon took 20 years of regulatory scrutiny to gain approval, while the non-browning gene-silenced Arctic ...
Strange bedfellows: American Academy of Pediatrics allies with Environmental Working Group, known for anti-science messages
On the subjects of organics and pesticides, the American Academy of Pediatrics finds itself supporting the Environmental Working Group, an ...
25 years of GMO crops: Economic, environmental and human health benefits
Since the first GMO crop was developed in 1994, genetically modified foods have provided countries around the world with economic, ...
Viewpoint: Why the USDA decided not to over-regulate CRISPR crops—and what it means for agriculture’s future
On 28 March, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that “USDA does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could ...
‘Natural’ label lawsuits: What you need to know
In the United States, when a food label uses the word “natural,” food companies are frequently the target in litigation ...
Scientists challenge Center for Biological Diversity report claiming monarch butterflies threatened by dicamba herbicide
Dicamba drifts. Apparently, more than expected by a lot of farmers, agriculture officials and manufacturers. But does that mean, as ...
GMO maize could halt devastating fall army worm invasion in Uganda—if it gets approved
Mary Yangi trekked a long journey from South Sudan to Uganda’s West Nile region to settle as a refugee and, ...
Viewpoint: How politics pollutes the FDA’s genetically modified animal regulations and stifles innovation
AquaBounty's fast-growing salmon and Oxitec's disease-fighting mosquitos are two examples of why genetically modified animals should be regulated by the ...
The human cost of the anti-GMO movement: Why one scientist is quitting GE crop research
Constantly confronting people who think my research will harm them is profoundly distressing ...
‘Boneless watermelons’? What this new ‘hot fruit’ can teach us about non-GMO labels and fear-based marketing
Nowadays labels extol the absence of something that never was there in the first place. Such marketing schemes manipulate the ...
Viewpoint: Will the crop biotechnology revolution pass Nigeria by?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a new era, fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds. Breakthroughs in different fields ...
Viewpoint: How Germany’s anti-GMO, pro-organic politics benefit US ag companies
Editor's note: The following is a satirical letter written by Reinhard Szibor, professor emeritus of human genetics and forensic medicine at the ...
How ‘open source’ seed producers from the US to India are changing global food production
Around the world, plant breeders are resisting what they see as corporate control of the food supply by making seeds ...
Did the EPA and Monsanto conspire to hide glyphosate’s health risks?
A recent op-ed in the Sacramento Bee repeated the debunked conspiracy theory that Monsanto manipulated the EPA to hide evidence ...
Far more toxic than glyphosate: Copper sulfate, used by organic and conventional farmers, cruises to European reauthorization
Over the past months, the European Union and several member nations have vigorously debated re-authorizing glyphosate, the herbicide maligned by ...
Viewpoint: Unlikely alliance between environmentalists, farmers and big ag companies aims to improve soil health
Here are three startling facts about the planet Earth: It currently hosts seven and a half billion people. Its carrying ...
Should we worry about trace pesticides on fruits and vegetables?
An anti-GMO funded study promoted by Vani Hari--Food Babe--that found parts per billion trace residues of the herbicide glyphosate in ...
Europe missed out on GMO biotech revolution. What’s going to happen with gene editing?
As a plant geneticist in Europe, I must carefully pick my way through some of the most onerous constraints to ...
Viewpoint: Gene editing poised to revolutionize agriculture—if we can fix biotech regulations
In his speech at the recent American Farm Bureau convention, President Trump said his administration was "streamlining regulations that have blocked cutting-edge ...
Uganda’s researchers ready to taste test their GMO vitamin A-enriched banana
The East African cooking banana is one of the major food crops eaten by the people living in central Uganda ...
From GMO hater to biotechnology advocate: One person’s Facebook journey
An anti-GMO, pro-organic mom became a staunch defender of modern agriculture following a social media encounter that prompted her to ...
Current biotech regulations create animal and crop approval blocks and bottlenecks but gene editing may open new doors
The cost of current biotech industry regulations might not be obvious to consumers, but it’s clear to researchers. “We’ve got ...
Meat wars: Sourcing from animals may not be what distinguishes meat from ‘meat alternatives’
The US Cattlemen's Association is making a pre-emptive strike against potentially misleading marketing for the next wave of meat alternatives ...
How Russia tried to turn America against GMOs and agricultural biotechnology and sow ideological discord
How serious was secret Russian interventionism when it comes to creating public discord over US farming and agricultural trade policy? ...
