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.
Australia set to reduce regulations of CRISPR gene editing to speed up crop research
Australia is set to reform how it regulates new genetic engineering techniques, which experts say will help to dramatically speed ...
European court recommends gene-edited crops be exempt from EU GMO laws
Gene editing technologies should be largely exempted from EU laws on GM food, although individual states can regulate them if they ...
CRISPR food coming soon: USDA decision speeds up regulatory process for gene-edited crops
In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the green light to a version of the plant Camelina sativa, an important oilseed crop that ...
Burkina Faso abandons insect-resistant GMO cotton, suffers lower yields
As Burkina Faso farmers predicted, their nation has lost its standing as Africa’s largest producer of cotton since halting the ...
Glyphosate herbicide harms human gut microbiome? ‘Not biologically plausible’
[O]n numerous occasions I have heard glyphosate critics argue that glyphosate should be opposed because it might alter the microbiome ...
Viewpoint: GMO, conventional or organic? Let farmers decide
When one disparages farms that are organic or ones that use full-on technology, this does not take into consideration the ...
Are genetically engineered Arctic apples safe to eat?
The Arctic apple is the juiciest newcomer to produce aisles. It has the special ability to resist browning after being ...
EU braces for landmark decision on whether CRISPR, other New Plant Breeding Techniques will be regulated as GMOs
UPDATE: The European Court of Justice's advocate general has said gene editing technologies should be largely exempted from EU laws ...
‘Sabotage’ of field trials by anti-GMO activists causes seed company to reconsider research in France
Limagrain, the world’s fourth-largest seed maker, will consider moving its research activities out of France if field trials in its ...
Can ‘public good’ GMOs change the conversation?
Today, as technology is becoming more accessible and less expensive, smaller labs and researchers are able to produce GMOs at ...
Uganda’s Minister of Science: Country will be better off with GMO law
Uganda’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Elioda Tumwesigye, has said Uganda should embrace science and innovation for faster economic ...
Viewpoint: Russia Today’s ‘fake news’ about GMOs is a strategic attack by Putin on US science and technology
On Sunday [Jan. 7], CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a segment on the propaganda role of Russian news network RT, or ...
11 states join Monsanto in lawsuit against California’s glyphosate cancer warning
Monsanto Co has gained the support of 11 states in its fight to stop California from requiring the company to ...
Preventing GMO gene flow: Scientists design synthetic species that can’t breed with wild counterparts
Genetically modified organisms could potentially do a lot of good for the world, like ending the spread of diseases, or maybe ...
As climate heats up, can drought-tolerant GMO crops help prevent famine and conflict?
When most of us think about the threats posed by climate change, events like floods, droughts, intense storms and hotter ...
Non-GMO, organic, gluten-free: Are food labels overwhelming consumers?
Editor's note: The following is part of an editorial by Capital Press, a website covering agriculture in the US West Foodies, ...
Viewpoint: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni should trust country’s scientists—not activists—on GMO safety
Editor's note: Arthur Makara is the executive director of the Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Development in Uganda When [Uganda's] President ...
Public controversy over GMOs exposes divide between scientists and consumers
Editor's note: The following is from a Q&A with Nancy Cox, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, ...
Plant evolution: Compact genomes and tiny cells helped flowering plants take over the world
When people consider evolutionary events related to the origin and diversification of new species and groups, they tend to emphasize ...
Hardware chain Bunnings Warehouse pulls neonicotinoid insecticides over bee health concerns
A controversial pesticide allegedly linked to bee deaths will be pulled from [Australian, New Zealand, and UK hardware store chain] Bunnings' ...
‘Organic GMOs’: Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak on how genetic engineering can reduce pesticide use and protect the environment
[Genetic engineering] is a powerful tool that can help us farm responsibly and sustainably by minimizing damage to the environment and ...
CRISPR crops—exempt from GMO regulations—reaching US market in record time
CRISPR–Cas9-edited plants can be cultivated and sold free from regulation, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making increasingly clear ...
GMO water? ‘Raw water’ company falsely claims purified tap water ‘doesn’t have capacity to reproduce life’
The New York Times reported earlier this week on a new trend: "raw water." Several companies around the country are ...
Monsanto seeks Brazilian approval to test controversial weed-controlling dicamba herbicide-resistant GMO soy seeds
The Brazilian unit of seed and agrochemicals maker Monsanto on Thursday [Jan. 11] said it will run field tests with ...
Rwanda begins process of legalizing GMO crops
Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) has drafted a law governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Rwanda which will soon be ...
New generation of GMO crops could dramatically boost biofuel production
Plant biomass contains considerable calorific value but most of it makes up robust cell walls, an unappetising evolutionary advantage that ...
Viewpoint: Ketel One’s non-GMO vodka is a prime example of food label madness
Karen Caplan is the CEO of Frieda’s Specialty Produce Non-GMO vodka? Really? When I saw this ad, I realized it’s finally time ...
