Tag: biofortified

Oxfam should get serious about malnutrition: Africa needs roads and nitrates

A recent UK Times opinion piece by rational optimist Matt Ridley has really hit the nail of the head about food security, linking together many issues that are repeatedly tackled at this website. The value of fertiliser. The needs of Africa. The tragedy of NGOs that harm  people they want to help. Problems and delays caused by…

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Nature and human activity are inextricably intertwined — in the Anthropocene

Nothing affects global food security as much as synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Nothing underlines the inadequacy of organic farming for meeting current food and feed demand while sparing forests as much as the global accounts on the nitrogen cycle that is an essential part of all life on the planet. These facts of life are captured succinctly by…

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What Europeans should have read about pathogenic E. coli in 2007 to have helped avoid the current food safety crisis

E. coli can survive for a long time on composted soils Germany is fatally sick. There is a lethal elephant in the room.  This is that elephant: “Use of animal wastes in fertilization of fresh fruits and vegetable plots significantly increased the risk of E. coli contamination in fresh produce grown in semi-organic and organic…

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Natural GMOs Part 83: Natural biology comes with no guarantee of safety

Scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli, grown in culture and adhered to a cover slip: Image: National Institutes of Health (part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services)/Public domain. Natural GMOs can be really really bad and fundamentally unsafe, because Nature is not scrutinised by any human regulatory agency, and many natural GMOs…

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There are a lot of different ways for Bt proteins to get into our food

The insect pest protection protein called Bt deployed in many genetically manipulated crops is hitting the news again. Since Marcel Kuntz’ posting on the alleged detection of this protein Bt  (variety Cry1Ab) in tissues of women, including pregnant women, as claimed by Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc, discussion of the Aris-Leblanc scientific paper making this…

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Bill Gates speaks out about helping small farmers gain access to reliable markets

Chicago Council on Global Affairs Speech May 24, 2011, Prepared Remarks by Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Thank you, Representative Granger, for that kind introduction. Everyone here is grateful for your long-standing leadership on global health and development issues, and we look forward to helping you as you…

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Initial field test results on GM poplars: bioethanol yield is almost doubled

Initial field test results GM poplars: bioethanol yield almost doubled 19/05/2011 VIB News, Belgium ​Nancy, France, May 19, 2011 – The yield of bio-ethanol from the wood of GM poplar trees from a VIB field trial is up to 81% higher than non-modified poplars VIB-UGent researcher Wout Boerjan presented these results at the international conference…

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