Blog
Have GMO crops cut herbicide use? A tale of two conflicting studies
We have planted millions of acres of genetically-engineered (GE) crops, a vast majority of which are resistant to herbicides. In ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s GMO process-based crop regulations are a great way to kill innovation
In 2002, Europe establishing a new regulatory agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to resolve its regulation problems regarding ...
GMO labels likely to boost consumer fear of biotech crops—and food prices
Colin Carter and Aleks Schaefer just published an interesting new study in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, which powerfully shows that mandatory ...
Plant breeding evolution: How manipulating crops helped build civilization
Humans have been breeding plants for millennia. Our ancestors began to domesticate plants (and animals) at least 10,000 years ago, allowing ...
Why there’s little hope of ending public disagreements over GMOs and food safety
[L]ook out into the future to the year 2050. Do you think our future food conversations will be more or ...
Glyphosate and cancer—revisited
I’ve already written about this topic back in 2015. Much of the information below is from that original blog post, ...
Viewpoint: Here’s how the New York Times botched an op-ed about placebos
As part of the continuing decline of the New York Times, we have this new op-ed by Steve Petrow, a writer ...
Mandatory genetically engineered food labels could reduce consumer fears, opposition to biotechnology, food scientists claim
Science Advances (the open-access version of Science Magazine) just published a paper I co-authored with Jane Kolodinsky from the University of Vermont. ... Several years ago, I ...
Golden Rice misinformation: FDA debunks Michael Pollan, Independent Science News
On May 24, 2018 the FDA approved Golden Rice for consumption in the USA, a curious move, because we will ...
Viewpoint: What Charles Mann’s ‘Wizard and Prophet’ book gets wrong about food and agriculture
I've been reading Charles Mann's latest book Wizards and Prophets, which was released earlier this year. ... While I thought the ...
Podcast: Has the GMO debate reached a turning point?
For more than a decade now, environmentalist groups have waged a successful campaign against biotechnology in agriculture. Playing on the ...
Viewpoint: UK’s Guardian again gives anti-GMO activist Carey Gillam platform to spread misinformation and fear about Roundup weedkiller
[Carey Gillam's] second recent article in the Guardian says that the herbicide formulation Roundup is more toxic to human cells than glyphosate ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the belief that GMOs are key to feeding the world’s hungry
Industrial agriculture and biotech interests have built entire campaigns saying that we “need” genetically engineered organisms to “feed the world” ...
Viewpoint: House Democrats’ ‘glyphosate-is-dangerous’ report shows liberals can be science deniers too
The discussions around agricultural technologies, especially herbicides, are nuanced and complex. So if someone gets the basic information completely wrong, ...
Viewpoint: California judge blocks spraying of citrus-killing Asian psyllid, courting disaster
“Judge Orders California Agriculture Officials to Cease Pesticide Use" ... The judge’s decision is so scary because he just indefinitely ...
‘The taste of pesticides in wines’: Dissecting Gilles-Eric Seralini’s latest ethically and scientifically questionable study
The notorious Gilles-Eric Seralini published a paper recently called “The Taste of Pesticides in Wines.” As a part of the ...
GMO peace treaty: Mark Lynas lays out 7 steps to stop the fighting
The following is part of a speech by environmental writer and activist Mark Lynas at the 2018 Oxford Farming Conference [W]hat ...
Viewpoint: Use Amazon Smile to support real charities—not Non-GMO Project’s fearmongering
Many people will turn to the Internet this year for holiday shopping, with Amazon being a popular choice. Savvy shoppers ...
Organic food helps you get pregnant? Media outlets fall for ‘activist science’
[Editor's note: Terence Bradshaw is a research associate at the University of Vermont. He has a PhD in plant & soil science.] ...
Science Moms hit back at anti-GMO group’s Monsanto ‘shill’ accusations
[Editor's note: Alison Bernstein, Anastasia Bodnar, Jenny Splitter, Kavin Senapathy, Layla Katiraee, and Natalie Newell are part of a group called Science ...
Video: How glyphosate herbicide enables no-till, environmentally friendly farming
[Editor's note: Jake Freestone is the manager of an arable and sheep LEAF Demonstration Farm in Tewkesbury, England.] [N]o-till or zero-till, ...
Viewpoint: Attacks against ‘Monsanto shill’ illustrate ridiculous claims of anti-GMO lobbyists
[Editor’s note: David Zaruk is the Risk-Monger. He has been an EU risk and science communications specialist since 2000, active ...
Rich people care more about perceived ‘naturalness’, environmental impact than lower-income food buyers
[Editor’s Note: Jayson Lusk is a food and agricultural economist and head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University.] ...
Many consumers mistakenly believe organic and non-GMO labels are interchangeable
[Editor’s Note: Jayson Lusk is a food and agricultural economist and head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University.] ...
Butterfly phobia: The one food label this dietitian says is best to avoid
[Editor's note: Nicole Rodriguez is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.] Every day is Election Day - at the grocery store. Here's ...
Viewpoint: Mayo Clinic’s embarrassing embrace of ‘alternative’ and ‘complementary’ medicine now includes nutrition
[Editor's note: Kevin Klatt is a PhD candidate in nutritional sciences at Cornell University.] The prestigious Mayo Clinic regularly gets itself ...
Viewpoint: Farmers not trapped into annually buying patented GMO seeds
[There] is one myth that often gets used as a criticism against genetic engineered crops. This myth usually takes the ...
Wine grapes case study: How modern crop management has led to dramatic reductions in pesticide use
[Editor's note: Steve Savage is a plant pathologist who has been working in agricultural technology for over 35 years.] Grapes grown ...