Category: Syndicated

Michael Dimock, Roots of Change discusses sustainable Ag and biotech seeds

Consumers are asking us many questions about biotech seeds and traits. They want to know why some farmers may choose to use them and what the long-term implications are not only for our health but also for the farming/ranching industry. All of the challenges and issues facing the agriculture industry are very complex and multifaceted….

Syndicated

Where roses are mauve and zebrafish glow

The day your son asks for a genetically engineered glow-in-the dark zebra fish and your wife desires a mauve rose may be the day that public acceptance of plant and animal genetic engineering has finally arrived. Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that a new variety of rose, genetically engineered to be an…

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Jules Hoffman and Bruce Beutler share the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Two great scientists, Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffman, who have changed the way we view the immune response of plants and animals, have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Tragically, Dr. Ralph M. Steinman of Rockefeller University, who discovered a new class of cell, known as dendritic cells, which are key activators of…

Syndicated

What makes an organically grown strawberry environmentally friendly?

Strawberries are a particularly pest prone crop. To control these pests, more than 9.5 million pounds of pesticides, including over 3 million pounds of methyl bromide, a toxic ozone-depleting chemical is applied each year. Methyl bromide is also associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in farm workers. We all like strawberries, but this…

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Polycultures in Modern Ag?

Written by Matt DiLeo The September issue of CSA news has a nice (open access) article entitled: “Do polycultures have a role in modern agriculture?” Some key caveats: * While diverse plant mixtures have been associated with many benefits, high biomass yield (i.e. what farmers get paid for) is usually not one of them. * It’s…

Science

Evolution of Fruit Shape in Tomato

Written by Matt DiLeo Someday you’ll be able to use CAD software to draw up what you want a plant to look like and the software (containing detailed growth models) will tell you what genetic constructs you need to bring it into the world… But for now we barely understand how natural morphological variation is…

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What would Rachel Carson say about genetically engineered crops?

Generalizing about “GMOs” is almost completely useless. Each food we eat and each farm is so different that the genetic technologies and farming practices needed to optimize sustainability must be different too. That is why each crop (GE or conventional) must be looked at on a case-by-case basis, using science-based evidence. I recently wrote a…

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Myths about eggplant (brinjal) as medicine are holding up Indian release of GM brinjal, but brinjal is not a medicine

Book available as pdf for free download (see link below) Previous posts at GMO Pundit have covered GM insect protected eggplant being developed as a new crop variety in India. This insect-protected crop, making use of Bt protein trait, could avoid a large amount of current synthetic pesticide spraying in India and prevent many poisoning…

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Natural GMOs Part 105. Comparing more ancestors clarifies family relationships of a nasty germ

Genome and plasmid comparisons of Enteroaggregative E. coli strains, Rasko and others NEJM 2011, illustrated by comparisons of the main chromosome, and two plasmids, one encoding antibiotic resistance, including extended spectrum beta-lactamase, the other (pAA) encoding enteroaggregative virulence traits. An amazing amount of genetic analysis has been rapidly published about the huge recent outbreak of…

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Major NGO gets it right. Global agriculture faces a challenge. But with will and goodwill we can freeze the footprint of food.

At last the Pundit is seeing a major NGO (namely the WWF) say many of the things that he has been trying to popularise for several years at GMO Pundit and elsewhere. As we peer into the future of this planet, globally farm management faces an immense challenge. Indeed we do. The mindless chants by…

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