Genetically engineered (GE) corn and cotton expressing Bt toxins for insect control came on the market in 1996. The most contentious public policy and regulatory issue prior to approval was whether and how the biotech-seed companies should prevent the emergence and spread of insects newly resistant to Bt toxins. For more on the debate over […]
Read More, References, Comment »
In an in-depth piece that ran in The Oregonian and online at Oregon Live, writer Julia Rosen with High Country News tells the sorry tale of how glyphosate resistant creeping bentgrass meant for high-dollar golf courses has become a thorn in the side of high-desert farmers and ranchers along the Oregon-Washington-Idaho border. Starting in the 1990s, two […]
Read More, References, Comment »
As reported by the Agri-Pulse news feed, a new report is out about consumer acceptance of GMOs, and the results are conflicted and it is easy to figure out why. On one hand, a survey led by an economist at the University of Vermont’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences found that opposition to GMO […]
Read More, References, Comment »
In an important dietary shift that has been a long time coming, following a three-year phase out period on June 18, 2018, artificial trans fats are now officially banned in the U.S. food supply. These altered vegetable oils, which have been partially hydrogenated to extend the shelf life of some processed foods, have long been linked […]
Read More, References, Comment »
Reuters and CBC News report that Japan and South Korea have banned Canadian wheat and flour imports following the discovery in the summer of 2017 of a stand of GMO wheat on roadside in Alberta. The wheat, which was identified after it survived herbicide spraying, was a genetic match to a small trial crop of resistant […]
Read More, References, Comment »
The myth of “substantial equivalence” between GMOs and non-GE crops (called “isolines”) takes yet another hard science hit. A team of researchers in Mexico City has published their meta-analysis of genetic data on rice, canola, maize, sunflower, and pumpkin. They looked at wild, GMO, and non-GMO cultivated varieties of these five crops, analyzing phenotypic change. […]
Read More, References, Comment »
The seductive, but corrosive impact of mythology will be a recurrent theme as historians explain the rise and fall of first-generation genetically engineered (GE) crop technology in the U.S. Here are just a few of the myths that arose along with the new crops: GE corn will affix its own nitrogen. Herbicide-tolerant crops will reduce […]
Read More, References, Comment »
Thanks to Peter Melchett for his provocative blog on why, across the EU, the government, farmers, food industry, and consumers are all pulling in the mostly same direction to grow the volume and quality of home-grown organic food. Lessons learned from the efforts of many individuals, companies, and organizations in the EU are worth heeding […]
Read More, References, Comment »
In the latest in the ongoing saga of the new dicamba-tolerant crops and their herbicides that won’t stay where they are sprayed, a document review investigation by the St-Louis Post Dispatch reveals that Monsanto’s own science played a key role in how the use restrictions were set. EPA had originally proposed a larger, more comprehensive, […]
Read More, References, Comment »
When the Crispr-Cas9 system to target DNA for genetic engineering (GE) was first identified, it was seen as a game-changer. Crispr-Cas9 is a natural defense mechanism used by bacteria to protect them from viruses that works at the cellular level by targeting and removing viral DNA. Scientists first began to see its potential for GE […]
Read More, References, Comment »
