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.
Activist group in Ghana calls for non-GM solutions for food security issues
The Civil Society Network in Ghana, a group of non-governmental bodies, says government should address the wider causes of food ...
Ukraine farmers demand fewer restrictions on GM crops
(Summary) Farmers in the Ukraine are fighting back against government proposals to ban genetically modified organisms, Agrimoney reports. Despite heavy restrictions ...
Israeli biotech company promises high yield crops without genetic modification
Kaiima Bio-Agritech, a Galilee-based enterprise that aims to boost global crop yields without the aid of genetic modification, says it ...
GMO plants could be ‘green factories’ for vital omega-3 fish oils
Scientists at the UK's Rothamsted Research have developed a variety of Camelina sativa (flax) that produces Omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid ...
New Hampshire lawmakers aren’t buying anti-GMO scare tactics
(Summary) Grace Boatright, legislative director of the National Grange, a non-profit organization that advocates for rural agriculture, praises New Hampshire ...
Steve Savage: USDA should deregulate Arctic Apples
(Summary) Steve Savage, agriculture scientist specializing in plant pathology, recently came out in support of the deregulation of the genetically ...
Indonesia: Agriculture Minister calls for acceptance of GMOs
Indonesia must adopt genetically modified crops if the world’s fourth-most-populous nation wants to achieve self-sufficiency in food staples like corn, ...
Oregon gears up for GMO labeling fight
Opponents of a ballot initiative to label genetically engineered food in Oregon have gone to court with their objections to ...
Call for single, centralized body to regulate GMOs across Africa
(Summary) "Africa needs a centralized body to help it overcome the lack of scientific capacity," says a study in the ...
With Mayor’s veto of anti-GMO bill on verge of being upheld, bill supporters force Kauai Council to postpone vote
(Summary) Faced with the the prospect that there were not enough votes on the Kauai County Council to overturn Mayor ...
Anti-GMO vs. pro-GMO: Can they agree on anything?
(Summary) Tamar Haspel of the Washington Post spoke to several organizations that had a wide variety of opinions about genetically modified food--from ...
Chinese state media kick into high gear to ease GMO food fears
China's state media are working overtime to persuade the public that genetically modified food is safe, apparently softening up the ...
Head of UK Rothamsted–‘oldest agriculture science center in the world’–urges more GMO field trials
(Summary) Maurice Moloney, head of UK's Rothamsted Research, the "oldest agriculture science center in the world," speaks to Nature News about his ...
Maine’s GMO labeling efforts in question after New Hampshire rejects labeling bill
Legislation in Maine that would require food producers to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients has been dealt a ...
Canadian anti-GMO fear US approval of non-browning GM apple
Groups against genetically engineered apples that don't brown say they're staging a series of events in British Columbia and Alberta ...
St. Louis Post-Dispatch supports reasonable, useful GMO labeling
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has released an editorial in favor of GMO labeling. "Humans nature assumes the worst," they wrote, "particularly ...
Anti-GMO activism forces countries to use unregulated chemical and radiation techniques to breed new varieties
(Summary) When countries reject genetically modified organisms because of unsubstantiated claims of health risks, agricultural companies in those countries are ...
Battle lines drawn in Mexico’s GMO debate: Scientific advancement vs. generations of tradition
After pioneering the cultivation of corn thousands of years ago, Mexico must overcome the weight of history to give the ...
Activists petition against GMOs in Ghana
A delegation of members of the Convention People’s Party UK & Ireland as well as concerned Ghanaian citizens delivered a ...
Some anti-GMO concerns not unique to GMOs, but to unsustainable farming in general
(Summary) Kevin Bonham of Scientific American responded to several anti-GMO, pro-labeling arguments in his latest blog post. He addressed concerns over ...
OR Senator Jeff Merkley: ‘GM salmon is too risky’
(Summary) Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has spoken out against genetically modified salmon, which the Food and Drug Administration is considering ...
Statistical inference and ambiguity aversion: Making sense of the GMO debates
(Summary) Marc Bellemare, assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture at the University of Minnesota, said in his latest blog ...
‘Good for nature, good for you’? Not so fast: Breaking down the myths of organic farming
(Summary) "Organic fruits and vegetables were, on average, no more nutritious than their cheaper conventional counterparts," Henry Miller said on ...
Crop scientist: Glyphosate safe, does not interrupt nutrient uptake in roots
In a response on GMO Answers, the industry created website that allows anyone to ask questions to scientists about GMOs, ...
Unpublished study showing GMOs cause sterility in hamsters touted by anti-GMO acitivists
A Russian study claiming that hamsters who consume genetically modified soybeans give birth to sterile offspring should not be taken ...
Fourat Janabi discusses his transformation from anti-GMO activist to supporter of GMOs
Fourat Janabi, author of "Random Rationality: a Rational Guide to an Irrational World," sat down with Green State TV to discuss ...
Kenyan scientists want ban lifted on GMO imports
A group of scientists want the speedy lifting of a ban on importation of Genetically Modified (GM) foods. Outlawing GM ...
