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The Queen of Beans
26 September 2013
With the growth in
global demand for soybeans comes an increasing need for responsible soy
production. Laura Foell, a director of the United Soybean Board, has been
farming soybeans for more than two decades. In her experience, transgenic crops
are an important tool for making soybean production more sustainable. |
 Read
the complete article
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Peer Review – Where you thought it ended? That’s just the beginning!
22 July 2013
A Guest Article by Dr.
L. Val Giddings, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation |
“This is a peer-reviewed study!”
In the increasingly heated battles waged lately by crusaders against
innovation in agriculture, such assertions are increasingly thrown down like
a gauntlet. The intent is to negate findings by regulators and scientists
around the world that crops and foods improved through biotechnology are
safe. These advocates argue passionately that “paper X”, published in a
scientific journal after being reviewed by anonymous scientists and an
editor, is sufficient to overturn the findings of hundreds of previously
published reports to say nothing of the vast experience accumulated through
the consumption of trillions of meals derived from biotech improved crops
since they first entered the marketplace in the mid 1990s. When these papers
are criticized by scientists post-publication, cries of censorship and
persecution inevitably arise, and are routinely coupled with claims that the
critics are bought and paid for by vested corporate interests. But the
noisemakers overlook something fundamental about the culture of science:
where they thought peer review ended -is really where it gets going ...
Read
the complete article
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Africa’s path to self-sufficiency
5 July 2013
Africa is facing huge challenges through population growth,
land-scarcity and climate change. But instead of relying on outside
help, African countries are increasingly focusing on their own
strengths.
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An important aspect of this development is the focus on the research and cultivation of genetically-modified crops. Many African countries see these crops as an opportunity to deal with domestic pests, diseases and drought, and as an opportunity to increase the agricultural output significantly. Therefore, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and other countries in Africa are investing in biotechnology to find creative solutions for future challenges.
More information
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Without GM crops European agriculture will not
achieve sustainability goals
30 April 2013 |
The European Union cannot meet its goals in agricultural
policy without genetically engineered crops (GMOs). That's
the conclusion of UK and Spanish scientists who published in
Trends in Plant Science. Based on several case studies the
report shows that the EU is undermining its own
competitiveness in the agricultural sector as well as that
of its humanitarian activities in the developing world.
Although agricultural sustainability is a key program of the
common agricultural policy (CAP) the current strategies in
fact hamper the development of key technologies to achieve
those objectives. As a consequence, European agriculture
will become almost entirely dependent on the outside world
for food and feed and scientific progress.
Report
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'GM plants could contribute to an agriculture
that is both profitable and advantageous for the environment in Switzerland'
19 March 2013 |
This is the conclusion of a report by the
Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. It follows on from a
Research Programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (NRP
59), which demonstrated that the cultivation of GMPs does not
entail any environmental risks that do not also exist for
conventionally bred plants.
Report (in German, English summary on page 7)
Numerous scientists have found deficiencies in the
experimental design and analysis of the study. They criticize that
such “Pseudoscience” may cause severe damage to the credibility of
science.
China has delayed the introduction of genetically-modified rice and corn
as it tries to head off public fears (Source: Reuters)
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