Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Written by Steve Savage In 2008, the National Agricultural Statistics Service of USDA conducted a detailed survey of Organic agriculture in the US. Participation rates were high with Organic growers, so the data is quite reliable. What it showed was probably surprising to many. After at least three decades of “rapid growth,” Organic now accounts…
For most conferences, once the attendees head home the action is over. There isn’t much collaboration or communication until the next conference. Happily, this isn’t the case for the Global Conference on Biofortification. Check out the conference blog for an opportunity to share your ideas on the “Proposed Framework for Biofortification“. Just leave a reply…
Written by Steve Savage Last week I attended the San Diego version of the “Rally to Restore Sanity.” I’m glad I did. Even in this Southern California bastion of political conservatism, there were at least 200 people meeting at Dick’s Last Resort to watch the DC event and to encourage each other that we are not…
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In Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon I discussed exactly what Aqua Bounty was asking permission from the FDA to do, as well as the environmental, animal welfare, and human health concerns associated with the AquAvantage fish in comparison to non-transgenic farmed salmon. The Center for Food Safety has a “new” document to bring…
As occurs each year, the Norm Bourlag World Food Prize Lecture was accompanied by a poster session. There were posters on a variety of subjects but one in particular caught my eye. A student had a literature review presented as a poster on the subject of whether genetic engineering can help meet food needs in Africa,…
One important concept that is used in most countries to regulate products of genetic engineering is substantial equivalence. The way to determine substantial equivalence is comparative assessment. What do substantial equivalence and comparative assessment mean? Depending on the source we use, we might find different definitions and different opinions of how useful they are in…
Written by Kevin Folta Last night I woke up in a fog, face down on the couch, fully dressed with my work clothes on. It was 3:44 AM and the artifacts around me described the scene. A partially eaten salad, my glasses crooked on my head, a laptop with an exhausted battery and the television…
Written by Kevin Folta The last talk of the IHC2010 session on transgenic plants and public policy was Dr. Carmen Popescu. Her first words hit me in the chest like a sledge hammer and I’ll save them for the conclusion of this entry. Dr. Popescu is a scientist in Romania, working at one of the…
In discussions about GMOs, both proponents and opponents make logical fallacies and claim that the other side is making logical fallacies. Sometimes arguments seem compelling even though they are based on faulty logic. In this post, you can find some common and not-so-common logical fallacies conveniently listed in alphabetical order. Most of this post was…
In 2010, Monsanto donated $4 million worth of seed to Haiti. This post aims to answer scientific and intellectual property questions that have been raised.