By the time genetically engineered seeds came along, the practice of buying new seeds every year had been common place for more than half a century. There were and are a few reasons for this: Firstly, by the 1930s, commercial hybrid crop varieties began to proliferate. When one replants second Read more…
One of the common criticisms of commercially available Genetically Engineered (GE) seeds is the idea that they have led to an increase in pesticide use. In actuality, it turns out that they’ve corresponded to a decrease in total pesticide use, but this is attributable primarily to insect resistant GE crops, and critics Read more…
You may at some point have heard people speak of glyphosate as being “less toxic than caffeine or table salt.” What they’re referring to when they say that is what we call its LD50, which a standard way of quantifying acute toxicity. A substance’s LD50 is the dose at which Read more…
Bringing up pictures of doctors smoking cigarettes is a common tactic used by anti-GMO activists and other critics of “mainstream” science to cast doubt and mistrust on matters of scientific consensus by implying that a world wide scientific consensus can realistically be bought off by corporations, and insinuating that that Read more…
One question that comes up a lot with regards to the safety of genetically engineered crops is whether or not they might produce allergens. The concern is that, by moving genetic material from one organism to another, an allergen might inadvertently be moved from one organism to another as well, Read more…
In July of 2014, the British Journal of Nutrition published a 343 study meta-analysis which has been used as justification for concluding that organic foods are more nutritious than their conventionally grown counterparts. In a nutshell, its most relevant claims are that organic produce contained lower pesticide residues, higher anti-oxidant Read more…
