Newsletter GLP Food & Ag
Climate change is roiling the African continent. With cutting-edge biotech solutions largely blocked, governments rely on tweaks of more traditional technologies to boost output
While Africa is currently responsible for a negligible amount of total global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent is under significant ...
From lab bench to dinner table — How do you create cell-based prime rib eye?
In March of 2021, researchers at the University of Tokyo announced that they had successfully grown steak in a lab ...
Good and bad news: What we know about vaccines and containing COVID variants
Glimmers of hope are beginning to shine through the gloom of the past year. That was evident in a recent ...
The case for public investment in alternative proteins
The United States currently consumes more meat per capita than any other country. In the past decade, however, the US ...
Viewpoint: Organic farming offers some sustainability benefits, but ‘fear-driven marketing campaigns’ exaggerate advantages and demonize acceptable alternatives
When the “Risk-Monger’s Dirty Dozen” list of pesticides used in organic farming was published, I had broken a taboo. Before ...
The Green Revolution was built on manipulating genes to breed higher-yielding, disease resistant crops. Here’s an ode to one of its pioneers, Sanjaya Rajaram
Few people are aware of the heroes behind the surge in yields of wheat and other crops that began in ...
Viewpoint: Advocacy disguised as journalism? Meet Carey Gillam, the prolific purveyor of crop biotechnology and agri-chemical disinformation
When it comes to science, how much do media narratives influence public opinion and policy? The answer is, a lot ...
Viewpoint: Can European Commission reverse 20 years of backward, precautionary regulation of crop biotechnology? CRISPR presents an opportunity
The expected report of the European Commission on “new genomic techniques” was published as announced before the end of April ...
Blocking innovation: How Canada’s novel plant-breeding rules hinder progress in food production
You’ve heard it before on SAIFood: Canada’s plant breeding sector is facing regulatory barriers to innovation. Today’s blog provides further ...
Organic farming has a sustainability problem — and now the EU is in a dilemma of their own making
European Union (EU) agricultural scientists are in a bit of a pickle. I’m not sure to what extent it is ...
Sierra Club endorsement of disease-resistant chestnut tree divides the anti-GMO movement
Across the eastern seaboard, the majestic American Chestnut tree once dominated forests. A main source of timber for cabins, shipbuilding, and ...
Viewpoint: ‘The Dirty 8’ — Which are the most notorious advocacy groups spreading disinformation about food, farming, biotechnology and agricultural sustainability
When it comes to food safety, there's no shortage of well-funded advocacy groups stirring up public concern. Under the guise ...
Natural GMOs: Plants and animals ‘steal genes’ from other species during process of evolution, mimicking transgenics
Little did biologist Gregor Mendel know that his experiments with sweet peas in a monastery garden in Brno, Czech Republic, would ...
Viewpoint: 6 debunked anti-GMO talking points activists should abandon for good
The public still accepts some blatant untruths about biotechnology, food safety, and sustainability ...
Book review: Jennifer Thompson’s ‘GM Crops and the Global Divide’ addresses Europe’s neo-colonialist attempt to intimidate Africa into rejecting crop biotechnology
Jennifer Thomson’s excellent new book, “GM Crops and the Global Divide” (CSIRO Publishing, 2020), is a highly informed, lucid, and ...
Podcast: Media’s COVID hypocrisy; Mandatory vaccines; Biodegradable plastic from GM plants
The mainstream press has viciously criticized COVID conspiracy theorists and vaccine rejection. Yet when it comes to other critical science ...
Viewpoint — ‘Selective skepticism’ and media hypocrisy: Why are liberal news sites vigilant in challenging COVID misinformation but give anti-biotechnology and chemical scare-mongers a free pass?
In recent months, the mainstream press has been on a crusade against COVID vaccine skepticism, tenaciously promoting science-based medicine and ...
Podcast: Should farmers embrace ‘natural’ organic chemicals to replace ‘synthetic’ inputs? Moving beyond the outdated debate
As the benefits of biotechnology come to fruition, people are letting go of the dated view that we should be ...
Our food has never been safer, so why are we so scared of it?
Why you shouldn't trust your brain ...
How the Biden Administration can accelerate prosperity by fixing agricultural-biotech regulations
The Biden administration has a rare opportunity to accelerate agricultural innovation and spur broad and lasting economic growth by taking ...
Podcast: Nature makes ‘GMO’ fish; Biology and gender; Curing sickle cell with CRISPR
Anti-GMO groups have long warned about the dangers of AquaBounty's genetically engineered salmon. But as it turns out, transgenic fish ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Part 3: How dangerous is glyphosate?
Although pesticide toxicity and biodegradability has decreased overall during the last few decades, many consumers are still worried about pesticides ...
Viewpoint: Here’s what ‘whole grain’ really means—and it’s not the health claim you’ve been told it is
Consumers have been so saturated with vague marketing claims that nearly 50 percent can't correctly identify what is claimed to ...
Afraid of Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list? Here’s 12 reasons you shouldn’t be
Many regular food shoppers anxiously await the results of the Environmental Working Group’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list. Even if you ...
Podcast: This GMO ‘almost’ wiped out all life; Here comes AquaBounty salmon; Pregnancy, chemicals and junk science
Did you hear about the genetically engineered microbe that almost wiped out all life? It got widespread attention in the ...
Anti-GMO groups struggle to preserve Europe’s stringent crop gene-editing rules in post-Brexit UK
Following its political and economic divorce from the European Union, the UK has been forced to tackle an incendiary question: ...
Anti-GMO activists launch final effort to block AquaBounty’s fast-growing, sustainable GM salmon as US sales loom
As biotech firm AquaBounty prepares to harvest its GE AquAdvantage salmon for sale in the US, activist groups have trotted ...
