Genetic Engineering
GMO = Genetically Modified Organism
GMOs are created in a lab, by inserting a gene from one organism into another unrelated organism, producing plants and animals that would never occur in nature. No long-term safety studies have been done on humans, but animal studies link the consumption of GMOs to an increase in allergies, kidney and liver disease, ADHD, cancer, infertility, chronic immune disorders and more.
Imagine a world where algorithms are used to optimize growing conditions on every fertile square metre of land, where food is treated like a strategic asset and food transit routes are militarized, many foods are grown in petri dishes, vats, and bioreactors. This may sound like science fiction. But the "4th industrial revolution" is already sweeping through food systems.
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Bees provide the crucial ecosystem service of pollination, but are under threat, with 37% of EU bee species with known trends exhibiting population declines. One apparent cause of these declines is pesticides. Pesticide usage is pervasive, with 4.1 billion kilograms of active ingredient applied globally in 2017, nearly double the amount used in 1990.
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Around the world, the deadly dangers of a weedkiller called paraquat are well known. When working with the highly toxic herbicide, farmers and other users take care not to splash or spill even small amounts of the product, heeding regulatory warnings that just a tiny amount – if swallowed – will kill them.
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Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., is a physicist and activist who works tirelessly to defend the environment and protect biodiversity from multinational corporations. Her life's work has culminated in the creation of seed banks that may one day save future generations' food sovereignty, but how she got there is a fascinating story, chronicled in the documentary "The Seeds of Vandana Shiva."
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At least five countries — Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile and the U.S. — have approved a variety of maize genetically modified (GM) with a genome editing technique called CRISPR, without subjecting the crop to the risk assessments and regulations for GM crops. Other countries could soon follow.
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Bayer-Monsanto have announced that they will not be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $20.6 million verdict awarded to former school groundskeeper, Dewayne Lee Johnson, who proved that their glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup causes cancer.
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In this interview, Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., discusses the importance and benefits of regenerative agriculture and a future Regeneration International project that we’ll be collaborating on.
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OCA readers who are not email subscribers to Organic Bytes, but who are among our 1.2 million followers and friends on Facebook may have noticed that we now, for the first time in 20 years, are being forced to publish two different editions of Organic Bytes, one that is uncensored (for our email subscribers), and one that is censored, for our Facebook readers and social media followers. You can find the uncensored versions of Organic Bytes (including back issues) on our website along with our ongoing comprehensive coverage of COVID-
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An article on Japan's gene-edited tomato specifically mentions the post-Brexit UK as a possible target for the experimental product. The article also mentions the developer Sanatech Seed's commercialisation plan, which centres on deliberate contamination via free distribution of the seeds to home gardeners in Japan.
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Whether you’re excited about new meat alternatives, or you’d rather eat regenerative and organic grass-fed beef, we can all agree on one thing: Fake meat, like all
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