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.
India’s biotech regulator greenlights GMO mustard—But hurdles to commercialization remain
India's central biotech regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), on Thursday [May 11] cleared the genetically modified (GM) Mustard for ...
American Veterinary Medical Association joins 275+ organizations in endorsing safety of GM foods, opposes mandatory labeling
Given the safety of genetically modified organisms and genetically engineered foods, mandatory labeling of GMO and GE foods and food ...
Nigeria’s environment minister: We must ensure country does not become ‘dumping ground for GM foods’
The Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril has tasked regulatory agencies in the country to ensure that Nigeria ...
GMO disease fighters: Zika-destroying GM mosquitoes may soon be joined by GM moths to quash cabbage and kale pest
A half-inch-long moth that devours kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts may not inspire the same fear as a Zika-carrying mosquito, but ...
Varroa mites—‘leading culprit’ of honey bee losses—hitchhike to nearby hives to spread disease
As the managed honey bee industry continues to grapple with significant annual colony losses, the Varroa destructor mite is emerging ...
If biofortified crops are goal, both genetic engineering and conventional breeding necessary
[Dr Swati Puranik, of the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University in the UK] and her ...
Merchants of doubt: US Right to Know’s latest smear targets public-service-focused Canadian scientist
A familiar pattern is emerging, and if you love science and respect scientists it should give you chills. This week ...
New generation GMO soybeans: How genetic tweaking might offset detrimental impact of rising temperatures
Published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, this study found the modified crop yielded more when subjected to both increased ...
CRISPR race: Gene editing’s lower costs, regulations open door to more competition, improved crops
Monsanto ... is investing in gene editing in an effort to keep an edge over rival suppliers of high-tech crop seeds ...
GMO corn that shuts down carcinogenic fungal toxin could be healthcare boon in developing countries
Amid the GMO debate, one researcher is striving to use genetic modification to not just improve crop health, but potentially ...
Do real farmers think of Monsanto as ‘the oppressor’?
[Editor's note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, is an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker and writer ...
US Right to Know calls Canadian researcher and university Monsanto ‘sock puppets’ — But finds no financial ties
The University of Saskatchewan and one of its well-known professors are acting like "sock puppets" for agri-business giant Monsanto, says ...
CRISPR Chardonnay? Gene-edited grapes could fend off mildew, reduce pesticide use
Chardonnay is among the most popular and recognizable wines in the world. The grape’s genes essentially have been passed down ...
Legal wrangle puts brakes on new strawberry that’s ‘bigger, brighter and stays sweeter longer’
Two retired food scientists are locked in an epicurean feud with the University of California over the fate of the ...
Dangerous GMO petunias? Bright orange-red flowers pulled from UK shelves
Garden centres [in the UK] have been ordered to withdraw orange petunias from sale over concerns that they may be ...
Agriculture secretary Perdue: Non-GMO and organic labels ‘all about marketing’
Newly confirmed agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue said labeling food as organic and free of genetically modified organisms (GMO) is mainly about ...
How to reduce pest tolerance to insect-resistant GM Bt crops? Breed the plants with conventional ones
Insect pests that are rapidly adapting to genetically engineered crops threaten agriculture worldwide. A new study published in the Proceedings ...
Florida sheriff’s office offers free GMO testing–of heroin to ‘protect’ drug users
If you’re worried about genetically modified organisms in the drugs you’re taking, the Martin County [Florida] Sheriff’s Office has an ...
How a permanent ban on neonicotinoid insecticides would impact UK farmers
The world’s most widely used insecticides could be banned for use on all field crops [in 2017], if proposals are ...
Infographic: Global GM crops reduced farm chemical usage and CO2 emissions in 2016 boom year
[T]he International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual report showcasing the 110-fold increase in adoption ...
Pamela Ronald reinvents rice: Drought-resistant varieties show progress
Pamela Ronald stands in front of two rows of rice plants, sprouting from black plastic pots, in a stifling greenhouse ...
Bombing of Monsanto’s Italian research facility highlights how anti-GMO rhetoric inspires terrorists
Based on the reports, an individual threw Molotov cocktails at a Monsanto research facility in Italy over the Easter Weekend, the ...
Dow Chemical tripled lobbying since 2008, outstripping other agricultural and biotech firms
Dow Chemical has poured money into lobbying efforts over the last decade as other corporate giants have remained steady or ...
Cargill’s Non-GMO Project partnership highlights food companies’ ‘unwillingness to educate consumers’
[Editor's note: Julie Gunlock is a policy director at the Independent Women's Forum and runs the organization's Culture of Alarmism ...
Do farming and chemicals hurt overall honey bee health? Much the opposite, concludes independent study
While recent media reports have condemned a commonly used agricultural pesticide as detrimental to honey bee health, scientists with the ...
Global GM crop area rebounded in 2016 — increased 3% to new high of 457 million acres
Plantings of genetically modified (GMO) crops rebounded in 2016 from a decline the prior year, led by increased sowings in ...
Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts’ $4 billion dollar solution: GM moths could fight cabbage and broccoli pest, reduce insecticide use
The deadline to submit comments to the USDA on the proposed field trial of the GM diamondback moth is nearing, ...
