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.
Whole Foods GMO labeling requirements could alienate food suppliers
With its voluntary GMO-labeling program that will be introduced in full by 2018, Whole Foods “will no doubt bolster its ...
Are GM seed companies engaging in ‘cigarette science’?
Anti-GMO activists often like to accuse the biotech industry of conspiring a “cover up” akin to the tobacco industry’s cover-up ...
Fascinating science behind development of Bt eggplant
Bt eggplant, which is genetically modified to produce an insecticidal protein, is safe to consume and can protect eggplant from ...
Fear of pesticides and GMOs may drive out Kauai’s biotech industry
Kauai’s GM seed industry, which plays a “significant” role in Kauai’s economy, has been facing obstacles recently—namely the fear of ...
China Food Fight: GMOs in crosshairs as grassroots suspicion of US simmers
The anti-GMO sentiment in China has been gaining traction as many activists “describe their cause as patriotic.” Students looking for ...
Concerns raised over ‘Franken-carnations’
The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has raised concerns over the use of ornamental carnations in ...
Anti-GMO activists continue to promote retracted Séralini study
The anti-biotech community “has simply dismissed that the scientific integrity of the now-retracted [Séralini] study was ever in doubt,” writes ...
Former EPA scientist: GMOs are not an improvement
The promise that genetic modification of crops is an “immensely beneficial technology” is “inaccurate, misleading and biased,” writes Ramon Seidler, ...
Ghana has ‘no option’ but to adopt GM technology
Ghana will adopt the use of genetically modified crops, says the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Joe ...
Grocery industry calls on FDA to define ‘natural’ to include GM food
The Grocery Manufacturers Association has called on the Food and Drug Administration to define the ‘natural’ claim on food labels ...
Venezuela targeted in activist fight against GM crops in South America
Venezuela is on the “front lines” of a significant resistance in South America to genetically modified crops. While several South ...
View from France: Can Europe overcome its reflexive anti-GMO bias?
Genetically modified organisms have almost become taboo in Europe. There is only one GMO cultivated in the European Union--Mosanto's MON810 ...
What happened when an organic farmer visited the ‘evil empire’ Monsanto?
After organic farmer Rob Wallbridge wrote a blog post earlier this year about the acrimonious tenor of the national debate ...
Brazil reevaluating sterile seed technology; Anti-GMO groups hype ‘terminator’ scare
Brazil reconsidering its ban on so-called “terminator” seeds, which are genetically modified to be sterile and cannot produce offspring. Under ...
EU court annuls approval of paper-making Amflora GMO potato
Europe's second-highest court overturned a decision by the European Commission to allow the cultivation and sale of the Amflora genetically ...
Anti-GMO bill puts Connecticut in scientific ‘Hall of Shame’
Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy celebrated the signing of Connecticut’s bill that could eventually require the labeling of foods containing GMO ...
Hawaii County’s Bill 113 ‘needlessly stigmatizes’ papaya farmers
“Bill 113 needlessly stigmatizes our papaya farmers…it penalizes them as well,” writes Michael Shintaku, professor of plant pathology at the ...
Farmers say they do not feel ‘forced’ to buy GM seeds
Farmers do feel that they have a choice whether to buy GM seeds or not. A popular argument used by ...
Are GM foods with ‘foreign’ genes still vegan?
An issue in relation to genetic modified of crops often brought up by vegans and vegetarians is “What about inserting ...
Russia to allow cultivation of GM crops
The first harvest of genetically modified seeds in Russia will take place in 2016. In September of this year, Russian ...
How to write like an angry internet ‘expert’ on GMOs
Researching genetically modified food “gave me so many examples of bad science that I could have spoken for three hours ...
‘Mommy blogs’ and parenting sites take over the fight against GMOs
Radical environmental groups initially led the charge against genetically modified food, but today, some of the most vocal and influential ...
Agriculture industry ‘under assault’ by anti-GMO movement
The agriculture industry in America, “a vital piece of this economy,” is “under assault in a way that will harm ...
Nobel Laureate Richard Roberts: protesting GM crops is a ‘crime against humanity’
Nobel Laureate Richard J. Roberts said that protesting the use of genetically modified crops is a “crime against humanity" while ...
Hawaii weed lovers alert: Anti-GMO bills threaten ‘Maui gold’ marijuana growers with up to $25,000 per day fine
If Maui County follows the trend of anti-GMO legislation that is sweeping across Hawaii, marijuana growers will be vulnerable to ...
Pakistan: Yields on Bt cotton 20 percent higher despite lower pesticide use
Researchers in Pakistan published a study that showed that Bt cotton, which is genetically modified to produce a protein that ...
NYU’s Marion Nestle promotes anti-GMO book, slams ‘corporate control’ of food supply
Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of “Eat, Drink, Vote,” ...
