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.
Tanzania’s ban on GMO crop trials will set biotech research back a decade, scientists say
An air of resignation characterized reactions …. to the government's surprise ban on all genetically modified organism (GMO) trials in ...
GMO Free label movement spins out of control—Now it’s on cat litter and condoms
From acai to condoms, companies are capitalizing on anti-GMO fervor, with misleading labels. At bus stops all over my neighborhood are ...
Video: Space-inspired ‘speed breeding’ fast tracks improvements in food crops
Technology first used by NASA to grow plants extra-terrestrially is fast tracking improvements in a range of crops. Scientists at ...
Consumer fear of GMOs and political overreaction adversely impacts smallholder farms
Three letters can quickly turn lackadaisical shoppers at a farmers market, diners at a restaurant or families at dinner tables ...
Vitamin-fortified Golden Rice moves one step closer to commercialization in the Philippines
A variety of Oryza sativa (rice) genetically engineered using recombinant DNA technology, Golden Rice contains beta carotene, an antioxidant which ...
New GMO rice variety could cut arsenic exposure in food
Arsenic accumulation in rice grains is one of the serious agricultural issues in India. To address this, researchers at Lucknow-based ...
USDA, FDA approval of lab-grown protein likely to spur ‘all-out development’ of clean meat products
The virtual super nova of interest in clean meat has arrived at the regulatory stage. The FDA and USDA are ...
First federal glyphosate-cancer trial slated for February 2019
A U.S. judge overseeing the federal litigation against Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit over glyphosate-based weed-killers allegedly causing cancer on [November ...
Bayer appeals $78M verdict in landmark Monsanto glyphosate-cancer lawsuit
Agribusiness giant Monsanto on [November 20] appealed a $78 million verdict in favor of a dying California man who said ...
Americans more skeptical of GMOs now than in 2016, Pew report shows
Americans are closely divided over whether genetically modified foods are worse for one’s health than foods that are not genetically ...
Argentina could be first country to plant GMO wheat, engineered for drought resistance—if regulators approve
“We mustn't do what other countries have already done; we must do what no other country did," the CEO of ...
Plants engineered to ‘recycle’ toxins could boost crop yields nearly 50 percent
Can you imagine the entire population of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom and France going hungry? ...
8 pressing questions about GMOs, human health and the environment
[W]hen the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) sent ... its latest report, stating that, “Biotech crops ...
How The Non-GMO Project Is Adapting To A Gene-Edited World
the Non-GMO Project is a non-profit and non-governmental certifying organization created by the owners of two natural foods grocery stores ...
Viewpoint: Why a Thanksgiving dinner using GMO ingredients is safer and healthier than an organic meal
Thanksgiving is upon us, which means families across the U.S. will soon be enjoying the most mouth-watering of meals. This ...
USDA, FDA announce plan to split regulatory oversight of lab-grown meat
The Agriculture Department and FDA laid out new details on [November 16] about how the two agencies plan to split ...
In boon to poor farmers, Ghana poised to introduce GMO crops
Though the nation already imports genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Ghana is ready to introduce genetically modified (GM) crops into its ...
Lab-grown fish? How biotechnology might save the endangered bluefin tuna
For several years, biotech companies have been promising “clean” meat, “cell-based” meat, “cultured” meat — whatever you want to call ...
Faster GMO crop import approvals in China could boost Brazil’s already record-breaking soy exports
Brazil’s record soy exports to China could grow further, an Agriculture Ministry official told Reuters …. as the Asian nation’s ...
Soil salinity cuts crop yields worldwide, but salt-tolerant crops are on the horizon
Soil salinity [affects] large areas in the world and millions of farmers are faced with decreasing yields and many are ...
Glyphosate-cancer lawsuits spur farmers to embrace ‘precision farming’ to help reduce chemical inputs
American juries are well known for the generosity of their awards in civil cases .... So Bayer, a German chemicals ...
10 African countries passed plant breeding protection laws to boost food security. Will Ghana join them?
Scientists, politicians and farmers are urging the government of Ghana to pass new laws that will strengthen the local seed ...
California judge orders expedited trial for couple alleging glyphosate caused their cancer
A California judge on [November 15] granted an expedited trial in the case of a California couple suffering from cancer ...
Gene-edited foods are coming, but how will they be regulated, and will consumers eat them?
The next generation of biotech food is headed for the grocery aisles, and first up may be salad dressings or ...
‘Secret Ingredients’: Expert says the latest anti-GMO ‘shockumentary’ is clever, provocative—and wrong
We’ve all see this in a science classroom or conference: The monotone reading from a prepared script, coupled with PowerPoint ...
New plant breeding strategy could counter blight pathogen that wreaked havoc during Irish potato famine
Scientists .... have shed further light into the mechanisms through which the potato blight pathogen interacts with plant cells to promote disease ...
How GMO crops can be engineered to ‘rehydrate’ after intense drought
Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan have found that the protein NGA1 is critical for ...
