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Author Archives: GDS
A century later, we find out…
These two items appeared in separate sections of the NY Times yesterday: There was an obituary for Elizabeth Whelan, who started the American Council on Science and Health back in 1978. This was an industry-supported initiative claiming to represent “Science, … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology, Food, Public Health, Regulation
6 Comments
The Right to Farm Right
I’ve got an idea: why don’t we Missourians follow up on passing our ALEC-supported ag-gag law with a full-blown amendment to the state constitution to shield industrial agriculture? That way, even if someone risks being officially listed as a terrorist … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Food, Industrial Agriculture, Regulation
Tagged agriculture, corruption, factory farming, small farms, virginia
7 Comments
Theme Park Farming in Japan
[A different version of this post appeared as the inaugural “Notes From The Field” on the website for Culture and Agriculture.] Those of us interested in farming talk about “indigenous knowledge” a lot, but several years ago Paul Richards suggested … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Food, Industrial Agriculture, Japan
Tagged agriculture, farming projects
3 Comments
Dutch Treat
We now know the “best and worst places in the world to eat,” courtesy of Oxfam. The best is the Netherlands; the worst is Chad. (Here is an explanation of their analysis, and here is where you can explore their country-specific … Continue reading
GM Grass Goes Yard
The grass seed company Scotts Miracle-Gro announced at its shareholder meeting this past week that they would be having employees testing genetically modified grass seed in their yards. Is that legal? Yes. Because it’s been approved as environmentally safe? Nope; … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology, Regulation
Tagged biotechnology, environmental toxicology, gene flow, genetically modified, pesticides
11 Comments
Overpopulation and the Small Farmers of Oakwood
Speaking of overpopulation: I found Oakwood chapel. I was in England in May and I spent a day tracking down this little chapel that played such a fateful role in Western ideas on population and food. Oakwood (or Okewood) it … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Population
Tagged agriculture, malthus, malthusian, overpopulation, population
6 Comments
Overpopulation? Don’t Bet On It.
If you are concerned with overpopulation, you may have noticed that The Bet is back in the news. The Bet involved Paul Ehrlich who, for those of you too young to remember, was the Stanford biologist who scared the bejeezus … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Food, Population
12 Comments
The Myriad Case on Gene Patents: 3 Things to Know
15 Apr 2013: The Myriad case on “human gene patents” was argued at the Supreme Court this morning and it’s a big day for Intellectual Property. Here are 3 things you should know: 1. It’s not really about human genes. … Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology, Intellectual Property
5 Comments
Bt Cotton is Failing; Blame the Farmers
Of all the GMO controversies around the world, the saga of Bt cotton in India continues to be one of the most interesting and important. In the latest chapter, reported by the Business Standard, cotton yields have dropped to a … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, India
Tagged agriculture, biotechnology, bt, bt botton, cotton, genetically modified, india, Monsanto
53 Comments
This is Your Brain on GMO’s
Last week British anti-GMO activist Mark Lynas took to the podium at a conference to apologize (or apologise) for having spent years “ripping up GMO’s.” Now he has decided that Genetically Modified Organisms are “an important technological option” and that … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology
Tagged agriculture, biotechnology, genetically modified
10 Comments
fieldquestions 