Herbicides containing glyphosate are the most heavily used worldwide. A comprehensive account of the use of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) is available in an article published by Environmental Sciences Europe in February 2016 (1). This article examines the last 40 years of GBH use. Data sources on US applications of glyphosate include the US Department of…
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the herbicide formulations most commonly used on genetically engineered (GE) crops. For nearly a decade, glyphosate has been far and away the most widely and heavily used pesticide in the US and globally. In 2015, US farmers and ranchers applied enough glyphosate to spray about three-quarters of a pound…
Through sanitation, better nutrition, medical care and many other advances, we naturally expect that children’s health should continually improve over time. However, this has not been the case in recent years. Many childhood diseases are on the rise and the rate of change is too rapid to be explained by genetic change. Thus, we turn…
By Belinda Martineau, PhD Some Ag-Biotech history Twenty years ago, before crops genetically engineered to be herbicide-tolerant were commercially available, one of the big concerns environmentalists had about the use of agricultural biotechnology was that it would lead to “super weeds.” Their apprehension stemmed from biotech products in the industrial pipeline at the time, such…
In the US, genetically engineered (GE) organisms are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Department of Agricultural (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since the first commercialization of GE foods, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has produced three major reports addressing the applications, risks, and benefits of GE…
Since the discovery of the structure of DNA and of the fact that one could engineer bacteria, plants, and animals using “recombinant” techniques to express genes moved from other organisms, much of biology and genetics research has been transformed. This remarkable technology has attracted billions in investment by private companies and confronted society with exciting…
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the systemic herbicide formulation Roundup®, as well as in several generic “glyphosate-based herbicides” (GBHs). These herbicides are applied around the world to most of the acres where genetically engineered (GE) crops are grown, and glyphosate is now the most heavily used pesticide active ingredient in the world. In fact,…
Recent studies confirm our clinical experience: 43% of children in the United States have a chronic illness, a percentage that rises to 52% when obesity is included as a disease.[1] Here we list some of the childhood diseases on the rise. We cannot conclude that any of them are related to GE food, though there…
The science of genetic engineering is rapidly evolving, and it is changing the environment, agriculture and food manufacturing and consumption in profound ways. New applications of existing tools to genetically modify plants and animals are under development around the world. Novel and more precise genetic engineering methods will open new horizons for commercial applications, while…