In the debate about GMO crops, the “threat of genetic contamination” is often raised as a reason to reject the technology. Is this threat real? Does it justify acts of [ … ]
Tag: biotechnology
Genetically Modified Food Is Actually Already Labeled If You Know A Few Rules
Back in 1995, I was party to some discussions about whether about-to-be-released GMO crops should be labeled at the consumer level. It was clear that a failure to do so [ … ]
Way Too Much Angst About GMO Crops
From what I read on various blogs and comment streams, there is WAY TOO MUCH ANGST OUT THERE about GMO crops. Too much angst because every significant panel of scientists [ … ]
The Ethics of Selling Crop Seed: Part 2 – GMO Seed
[social_buttons] This is a followup post that will attempt to address some additional, wide-spread myths about the commercial sale of seed. In this case the topic with be “GMO” seed [ … ]
Rehabilitating Bio-Fuels Part 2: Interesting Second Generation Options
[social_buttons] My previous post retraced the precipitous decline in the reputation of biofuels that occurred between 2006 and today. In this post I’m going to talk about just a few of the [ … ]
Are Large, For-Profit Corporations Intrinsically Less Ethical?
[social_buttons] In the comment streams on my blog posts there is a recurrent theme from one segment of the respondents – they have a deep distrust in the large companies [ … ]
CBS Television: Exploiting Fear for Profit and “Entertainment”
[social_buttons] Last Monday the popular show “CSI: Miami” ran a segment in which a young woman dies and it turns out to be because of a GMO corn developed by [ … ]
Food Supply Worries of an Agricultural Scientist, Part 3: Climate Change
[social_buttons] I’ll come back to the Mycotoxin issue soon. Instead, I’ll talk today about my serious worries about Climate Change. People involved in world agriculture have no patience with [ … ]
An Agricultural Scientist’s Food Supply Worries Part 2: Vomitoxin
[social_buttons] I need to be very careful in what I say about this topic because it would be easy to scare people beyond what is rational. I could also also [ … ]
What Does an Agricultural Scientist Worry About in the Food Supply (Part 1)
[social_buttons] Lots of people in America are worried about their food – usually not about having enough food, but mostly about things that might be in their food that could [ … ]
Celebrating the Life of a Scientist that “Fed the World”
[social_buttons] Dr. Norman Borlaug passed away this weekend at 95. He left behind an amazing legacy of contribution to humanity. It is likely that he saved more human lives than [ … ]
McDonald’s “Pesticide Conundrum” and the Solution it Will Probably Not Pursue (Part 2)
[social_buttons] This is a follow-up to a previous blog about a pesticide reduction commitment that McDonalds has made and why that will be challenging in terms of their potato supplies [ … ]
Raising an Ethical Issue in the Farming Technology Debate
[social_buttons] The Image above is corn growing in Zimbabwe. There was a scholarly article published late last year by Dr. Robert Paarlberg entitled “The Ethics of Modern Agriculture.” I would encourage [ … ]