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.
Interview with Science Babe who took down Food Babe
Earlier this month, you probably would't have heard of Yvette d'Entremont, aka Science Babe. But after posting a Gawker article ...
Thousands of illnesses linked annually to organic foods
The World Health Organization used its annual World Health Day to focus on issues of food-borne illnesses and safety risks ...
EU to streamline GMO import process, opening possible clearance of 19 products
The EU plans to simplify the import approval process for controversial genetically modified foods and animal feed, allowing member states ...
European science academy links neonics to harm of many beneficial insects, not just bees
An influential European scientific body said on Wednesday that a group of pesticides believed to contribute to mass deaths of ...
US biotech regulations need serious weeding
The “corporate culture” at USDA toward the regulation of genetically engineered plants is unscientific, self-interested and inimical to progress in ...
Genebanks house 30 bean varieties that beat the heat of global warming
Amidst fears that global warming could zap a vital source of protein that has sustained humans for centuries, bean breeders ...
American Farm Bureau reinforces opposition to mandatory GMO labeling
The scientific consensus supporting GMO food production is overwhelming. It shows no signs of flagging. So it’s more than a ...
Judge hears suit in Hawaii over claims of GMO crop dust blown on residences
There are southwest Kauai residents who can't enjoy simple things in their homes, such as just sitting on a couch ...
Second battle over GMOs: Will Europe regulate gene edited crops as GM products?
The U.S. plant-breeding company Cibus is proudly rolling out its first crop created with an innovative precision gene-editing technology: herbicide-tolerant ...
Svalbard Global Seed Vault guards mankind’s food supply in case of crop apocalypse
On the Svalbard island of Spitsbergen, one of the remotest places on Earth, mostly covered with ice and hundreds of ...
Activists at “alternative Nobel Prize’ declare ‘GMOs are false miracles’
Food safety is this year’s theme for World Health Day, an annual health awareness day held each April 7 and ...
County ballot measure in Oregon would limit university GMO research in crops, cancer, bioenergy
Shawn Mehlenbacher, the Oregon State University hazelnut breeder who developed varieties resistant to deadly Eastern Filbert Blight, says a Benton ...
Germany considers GMO ban despite endorsement of GM crops by Germany’s scientists
Germany’s national academy of sciences has strongly endorsed genetically modified (GM) crops as the Bundestag – Germany’s lower house of ...
Food Babe conundrum: Responding to scare mongering while addressing legitimate fears
We live in an age where lots of people have become suspicious of many things tagged by activists–and the media–as ...
Food fraud: Detective tests food for presence of GMOs, pesticides and more
Mansour Samadpour makes his way through the supermarket like a detective working a crime scene, slow, watchful, up one aisle ...
Journal ‘pollution’ contributes to mistrust of science, GMOs
The scientific community is facing a 'pollution problem' in academic publishing, one that poses a serious threat to the "trustworthiness, ...
Fears of GMO baby formula drive moms to buy contaminated breast milk online
Shoes, groceries, furniture, plane tickets—we’re used to being able to buy pretty much whatever we want online. If a pair ...
Audio interview: Zimbabwean regulatory official lauds multiple uses of GMOs in health, agriculture
National Biotechnology Authority registrar and chief executive officer Jonathan Mufandaedza spoke to NewsDay at the regional biotechnology training workshop at ...
Science Babe vs. Food Babe: Debunking Vani Hari’s overuse of word ‘toxin’
Vani Hari, AKA the Food Babe, has amassed a loyal following in her Food Babe Army. The recent subject of ...
More voices of farm moms needed in GMO conversation
U.S. farmers make up approximately 1.5 percent of the population. They are the most credible source of information about production details, the ...
Organic sales have plateaued following rapid growth
According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, total organic product sales by farms and ranches in the U.S. have increased ...
Precision breeding tailors genome for fresher flowers
A pot of pretty petunias will practically sell itself, but petunias don’t retain their beauty for long. A joint Israeli-American ...
GMOs have health benefits not health risks
GM apples and potatoes were recently approved in the U.S. and Canada, but with some pushback from companies due to ...
Kevin Folta sets example on how to have civil conversation on GMOs
Dr. Kevin Folta, professor and chairman of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida, recently came to lecture ...
Argentine farmers accuse Monsanto of power play over GMO royalties
Argentine farmers, who have been confronting the government over export duties since 2008, are accusing the local branch of agribusiness ...
Would GMO labeling cause $500 increase in grocery bill?
A study by Cornell University Professor William Lesser found that if GMO labeling is required in New York, a family of ...
Political right not alone in scientific illiteracy: Left disregards science on GMOs, vaccines
It is tremendously ironic that the political left, which frequently attacks the right’s denial of evolution, is much more likely ...
