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.
Monsanto expected to raise bid for Syngenta as competing offer appears imminent
Monsanto Co., and its advisers are working flat out to accommodate Syngenta's qualms about regulatory hurdles to a deal whose ...
Genetic engineering could fix deadly banana virus
You might be glad you stored those 18 black bananas in your freezer ("in case you want to make muffins"), ...
Greenpeace, leader of anti-GMO movement in India, faces precarious future
The first year of Modi Sarkar has been disastrous for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country. Including Greenpeace, about 9,000 have ...
Why seed saving and traditional farming may not be the most sustainable way to farm
Trying to protect farmers’ rights to save seeds only has an economic importance in low productivity systems where the benefits ...
New genetic editing techniques on canola trying to bypass opposition to GMOs
Cibus is a San Diego-based biotech company that alters canola DNA to produce beneficial traits, but not through transgenics. They send a molecular ...
Is anti-biotech mandatory labeling lobby now acknowledging GMOs are safe?
Two competing federal bills are working their way through Congress that would override the mishmash of state-by-state GMO labeling laws. One of ...
Will naturally GMO sweet potatoes change public perceptions of genetic engineering?
One of the world's most important staple crops, the sweet potato, is a naturally transgenic plant that was genetically modified ...
Government approval next step in GM revival of American chestnut
Until recently, the best strategy for saving the American chestnut has involved creating hybrids with the smaller and less impressive—but ...
Study claims organic farmers earn more than non-organic counterparts
Growing organic food can be significantly more profitable than traditional farming, netting organic farmers 22 percent to 35 percent more than their conventional counterparts, ...
Would Monsanto-Syngenta merger trigger reorganization of seed business?
The new mega-corporation formed in the proposed deal between Monsanto and Syngenta would be “the world’s largest seed and crop ...
‘Quack science’ NaturalNews website blames glyphosate for Beau Biden’s cancer death
Yes, glioblastomas (and other forms of brain cancer) are nasty tumors. They’re one of the kinds of tumors that, admittedly, ...
Glyphosate has led to phasing out of toxic herbicides
One of the common criticisms of commercially available Genetically Engineered (GE) seeds is the idea that they have led to an ...
Is agroecology the key to feeding the world?
Developing alternatives to predominant systems takes time. The encouraging news is that progress is underway. Around the world, communities are ...
Lesson to India? Bangladesh got GMO approval by challenging ‘devious’ environmentalists
Bangladesh Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury has set an example by politically challenging extreme environmentalists and private-enterprise-hating ideologues, which is in ...
GMOs needed to avert global water shortages
The UN’s annual World Water Development Report, published last March, warned that unless the balance between demand and supplies is ...
Vermont medical centers ditch GMOs over alleged safety concerns
University of Vermont Medical Center serves two million meals a year, and is a national leader in purchasing, preparing and ...
By implying GMO ingredients less safe, labeling fails test for rationality
The gratuitous controversy continues over whether foods from plants and animals that have been genetically engineered should be labeled as ...
Embracing GMOs presents psychological challenges to average consumers
Think of a science denier, and you might picture someone arguing that climate change isn't real or vaccines cause autism ...
Why state by state GMO labeling laws won’t work
Over the past few months, there have been several big stories on the labeling of GMOs. The one factor that stands ...
WHO body looks for links between 2,4-D herbicide and cancer
The World Health Organization is set to examine a widely used pesticide and agribusiness is bracing for bad news, less ...
Proposed Costa Rican GMO moratorium prompts worried letter from U.S. ambassador
The United States is expressing its concern over a proposed 15-year moratorium on the cultivation of genetically modified crops and ...
Florida newspaper encourages readers help monarch butterflies by planting milkweed
Once the spectacular black-and-orange monarch was one of the most prolific butterfly species in North America. Its range stretched from ...
Taco Bell, Pizza Hut go natural, but no one knows what that really means
Last week, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut both announced they are going natural. Goodbye Yellow-5. Ciao trans fat. Sayonara unsustainable palm oil. “Today’s ...
Neil Young’s new anti-GMO song confuses science on Starbucks, Monsanto
Veteran rocker Neil Young, one of the founders of Farm Aid, is releasing a new album called “The Monsanto Years,” ...
Glyphosate’s environmental and health risks should be addressed by regulators
Monsanto's herbicide glyphosate -- trade name RoundUp -- which is used on most genetically engineered crops (also known as GMOs), ...
Seattle Times: USDA’s GMO verification smarter than mandatory labeling
Many consumers want to know whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients, and some businesses are responding with the help of ...
Cattle breeders develop genetically superior embryos for countries with less productive cows
Cows, like humans, take about nine months to carry a calf to term. But in the 1970s, American cattlemen began ...
