Category Archives: Agriculture

Putting the Germ into Germany

Posted on June 29, 2011 by GDS

A truly frightening outbreak of E. coli food poisoning appeared in Germany in May.  Within a month it had infected more than 2,400 people in 13 countries across Europe, killing 23. The toxic strain of E. coli is being called O104:H4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food, Industrial Agriculture | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Feeding Hungry Indians

Posted on June 16, 2011 by GDS

News today in the Bombay press about India’s worrisome food imbalance. Too much food. It seems that India’s “buffer stocks” have more than 30 million tons of wheat and rice over what they want or can handle.  Having sucked down … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food, India, Population | 17 Comments

Why We Eat So Much Meat: Beef, Bombs, and Convenience

Posted on June 9, 2011 by GDS

Why we eat so much meat is a question that keeps coming up, as well it should.  The real reason is that…. well to cut to the chase, there are a lot of reasons, big and small, general and specific.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Food | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Golden Rice, soon. Or not.

Posted on May 30, 2011 by GDS

We have a new E.T.A. on Golden Rice. Well, sort of: the institutes in the Philippines that have been conducting field tests since 2008 say they may be able to submit the needed data for regulatory approval by 2013 in … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food, Intellectual Property | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Do Not Read: GM Cotton and Indian Farmer Suicide

Posted on May 13, 2011 by GDS

More in the news this week about Indian cotton farmers killing themselves. Mainly cotton farmers. Mostly deep in debt. One every 30 minutes. According to some, the underlying cause is the spread of being genetically modified Bt cotton. It has … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, India | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

10 Billion People and Paul Ehrlich’s Taxi

Posted on May 6, 2011 by GDS

When the U.N. announced its global population projection of 10 billion by 2010 a few days ago, it was hard not to think back on Paul Ehrlich.  Prof. Ehrlich was the butterfly researcher whose books and TV appearances scared the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Food | Tagged | 5 Comments

Gone are the Days when the Ox Fall Down?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by GDS

Last year my daughter’s boyfriend sent us a bottle of red wine from a biodynamique winemaker in the Loire Valley, along with a note explaining that “he uses a horse named Joker to plow fields and transport grapes.” A slightly … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture | Tagged | 3 Comments

GM Eggplant and Ayurveda in India

Posted on April 29, 2011 by GDS

India may be the world’s most closely-watched arena for the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops, but it has allowed only one of these crops so far — cotton.  Until recently it looked like its first GM food crop would … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food, India | Tagged | 5 Comments

Blood type: Bt

Posted on April 27, 2011 by GDS

A new study by toxicologists and obstetricians looks in the bloodstreams of a sample of Canadians for pesticides associated with genetically modified foods (new acronym alert: PAGMF).  They studied pregnant women, their fetuses (actually umbilical cord blood after delivery), and … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments