Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Activist lawyers challenge Health Canada after agency reconfirms safety of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer
American lawyers who successfully sued the makers of the glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup on behalf of a man dying of cancer say Canada ...
High expectations for GMO rice research in Ghana
Both farmers and the Ghanaian scientists now conducting field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice believe the improved variety will ...
If you want consumers to embrace biotech, take their concerns about GMOs seriously, plant scientist says
As people become more conscious about the food they put on the table, farmers are having to deal with a ...
‘Reliance on science’ may not help retailers win glyphosate-cancer lawsuits, attorneys say
Glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, has dominated headlines over the last year as Monsanto has battled thousands of ...
Scientists engineer chickens to make cancer drugs—10 times cheaper to produce than factory-made medicines
Researchers have genetically modified chickens that can lay eggs that contain drugs for arthritis and some cancers. The drugs are ...
Viewpoint: Green New Deal should invest in precision agriculture
When policymakers talk about “green jobs,” they tend to default to examples in solar power, wind and other sources of ...
New study hyping health benefits of organic food is more marketing than science, biologist argues
How do you know when a "study" isn't really a study? When the people who performed it wrote up a ...
Judge allows evidence of Monsanto’s alleged ‘corporate misconduct’ in first phase of upcoming glyphosate-cancer trials
A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer causes cancer on [January 28] tentatively allowed pieces ...
In pursuit of higher profits, some US soybean farmers abandon GMO crops
For the first time in 15 years, Illinois farmer Steve Ruh will plant only old-school soybean seeds to boost profit ...
Europe may relax its ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, alleged to harm bees, leaked document suggests
According to a leaked document, the European Commission is considering ditching bee-safety standards that led to a ban of three ...
Women are more skeptical of GMOs than men—but not because of their ‘maternal instincts’
Studies have found that women are more skeptical of genetically modified (GM) foods than men....Conventional wisdom has been that maternal ...
This farmer says more food producers should stand up for agriculture—here’s 5 reasons why
....An advocate for agriculture, sometimes referred to as an AGvocate, can be anyone who works to tell the inclusive story ...
Opposition to GMO crops is a first-world privilege, plant scientist says
Growing up in India, Devang Mehta thought of GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, as an exciting new technology. “India is ...
A look at the neglected ‘1%’ of biotech crops that slashed chemical use and boosted yields
Last year on SAIFood we discussed the benefits of the four major genetically modified (GM) crops, canola, corn, cotton and ...
Video: Scientists ‘resurrect’ the scent of extinct flower by piecing together its DNA
Using the tools of paleogenomics, scientists at Gingko Bioworks, a Boston-based synthetic biology company, have resurrected the smell of an extinct ...
French president Macron backtracks on proposed glyphosate ban in wake of scientist, farmer protests
French president Emmanuel Macron says that the phasing out of glyphosate-based weed killers in France by 2021, as previously announced, ...
Plants have a sense of smell—can we harness it to fight pests, improve crop quality?
Plants don't need noses to smell. The ability is in their genes. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered ...
As glyphosate debate rages, French politician urges EU to take ‘science-based’ approach to pesticide regulation
French MEP Angélique Delahaye believes that policymakers must tell citizens what is currently possible and what is not when it ...
CRISPR-edited chickens are coming: Can they stop a bird flu epidemic?
Humans don’t usually get the flu directly from animals, but human outbreaks of bird and swine flu can and do ...
Can ‘heart-healthy,’ gene-edited soybeans build consumer trust in new biotech crops?
This fall, soybeans grown by 78 farmers in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa churned out of combine augers into awaiting ...
Scientists developing biofortified ‘Amazon Peanut’ with boosted levels of disease-treating proteins, fatty acids
A team of Colombian scientists is working on the development of transgenic sacha inchi, a plant in the Amazon rich ...
High-yield, protein-enriched rice could help combat nutrient deficiency in developing world
More than 750 million people don't get enough nutrients from their food. More than two-thirds of those people live in ...
Even as public opposition to glyphosate grows, some French winemakers denounce ban of Monsanto’s Roundup Pro 360
On January 15, 2019, the Administrative Court of Lyon [France] banned [Monsanto's] “Roundup Pro 360,” a herbicide containing glyphosate. The ...
When it comes to food, pesticides and drugs, does ‘natural’ mean safer or healthier?
From a scientific point of view, an evaluation is done on a case by case basis, whether it is a ...
Teaching skeptical consumers the science of biotech crops may calm their fear of GMOs
Genetically modified (GM) foods are often met with harsh public opposition, though little research has attempted to understand why this ...
Ghana moves to stop illegal import of GMOs, biotech experts say country’s food supply is safe
A report of parliament’s Environment, Science and Technology Committee....said members are worried about the introduction of GMO products into [Ghana] ...
Warmer temperatures may preserve nutritional quality of food crops—at the expense of lower yields
Recent research has shown that rising carbon dioxide levels will likely boost yields, but at the cost of nutrition. A ...
