genetics and society
pronald | August 12, 2013Petition | Global scientific community condemns the recent destruction of field trials of Golden Rice in the Philippines | Change.org.
pronald | May 16, 2013On Saturday, May 18, the second international "Fascination of Plants Day" will take place under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organization (EPSO). Join in to see for yourself how fascinating plant are. Show your support for plant science, which is critical for sustainable food production, biobased medicines, and energy. There are 54 countries participating in the Fascination of Plants Day, with over 650 institutions involved and 950 events planned!
Check out this interactive map that shows all of the participating countries.
Here at the University of California, Davis, the…
pronald | March 8, 2013A Rebuttal : Collide-a-Scape.
Keith Kloor;: "When I drew attention to the piece via Twitter yesterday, there was near instantaneous shock and outrage to it from some scientists. Others also shook their heads in disbelief. "
Read on
pronald | February 25, 2013Mark Lynas » Golden promise: How ‘biofortification’ could soon be saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
pronald | February 22, 2013Finally, after a 12-year delay caused by opponents of genetically modified foods, so-called “golden rice” with vitamin A will be grown in the Philippines. Bu for 8 million kids, the wait was too long.
GM food: Golden rice will save millions of people from vitamin A deficiency. - Slate Magazine.
pronald | February 9, 2013Greg Jaffe, Center for Science in the Public Interest, addresses myths on GE crops. What You Need to Know About Genetically Engineered Food - Greg Jaffe - The Atlantic.
pronald | February 3, 2013Respected writer Jared Diamond recently published an overall excellent opinion piece in the New York Times discussing how we often obsess about the wrong things, while failing to watch for real dangers.
Jared Diamond’s Guide to Reducing Life’s Risks - NYTimes.com.
Many of us in the Plant biology community were quite surprised at one phrase buried in an otherwise excellent article:
'It turns out that we exaggerate the risks of events that are beyond our control, that cause many deaths at once or that kill in spectacular ways — crazy gunmen, terrorists, plane crashes, nuclear radiation, …
pronald | December 7, 2012A Presidential committee today released a report calling on the Federal Government to launch a coordinated effort to boost American agricultural science by increasing public investments.
The report was initiated at the request of Catherine Woteki, the Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics, and Roger Beachy, former Director of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
The report has several interesting observations and important recommendations that, if implemented, would enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of US and global agriculture.
Their recommendations…
pronald | November 18, 2012Tomorrows Table: What does GMO really mean?
For years, journalists, television producers and newspaper reporters that write about genetically engineered crops, have used the term “GMO” (genetically modified organism) to describe these new crop varieties. The marketing industry has taken to writing “GMO-free” on their products, as a way to increase sales to consumers fearful of the genetic engineering process.The problem is that the term GMO is misused and misunderstood.Take, for example, a recent story on Voice of America about a newly developed rice variety that is tolerant of flooding.…
pronald | November 15, 2012The Tech Awards, presented by Applied Materials, honors individuals, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies who are using technology to significantly improve human conditions in 6 awards categories.
The technology used can be either a new invention or an innovative use of an existing technology.
NBC will be livestreaming the awards ceremony tonight from the Santa Clara Convention center.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/as-seen-on/The-Tech-Awards-2012-177952…
This year's categories are: Environment, Education, Young Innovator, Health, Economic Development, and Sustainable Energy.…
pronald | October 26, 2012New Earth Archive – The New Earth Archive Booklist.
Raoul and I are honored that Tomorrow's Table was selected as one the top 25 powerful and influential books of 2012 that educate, inspire, and drive change
Each year they identify 100 powerful and influential books on topics like climate change, biology, sociology, economics, politics, psychology, philosophy, and many, many other areas. With the help of their readers, they then identify the 25 that have the power to inspire college readers to change the world. The 6 Criteria below are what was used in selecting the top books for each year’s…
pronald | October 18, 2012"The tactics of the Dr. Oz show fall short of even the lowest standards of media and medical ethics."
via Letter to Dr. Oz Show Producers by Bruce Chassy, PhD | Academics Review.
pronald | October 14, 2012The use of poor information to promote an initiative aimed at creating an informed consumer is a defining flaw of the Proposition 37 campaign.
via Hiltzik: Junk science and Proposition 37 - latimes.com.
pronald | September 24, 2012The ‘Frankenfoods’ debate is coming to your dinner table. Just last month, a mini-war developed in Europe, when the European Union’s chief scientist, renowned biologist Anne Glover, said that foods made through genetic engineering, such as soy beans—about 80 percent of US grown soybeans have been genetically engineered —are as safe as organic or conventional foods.
It’s a wholly uncontroversial comment—at least among scientists. But it set off the usual scare mongering from Friends of the Earth, and other like-minded advocacy groups that finds all genetically engineered (GE) foods and crops…
pronald | September 20, 2012Recently, a number of very informative article about global food security, genetically engineered crops and the CA labeling initiative have been published. Here I provide links to a few:
Food Crises and Technological Phobia « Biofortified.
GMO Crops: To Label Or Not To Label http://j.mp/S3ie0i
Scientific and Academic Community Responds to CA initiative on#GMO Labeling http://www.noprop37.com/press/scientific-and-academic-community-responds-to-qualification-of-ballot-measure-mandating-labeling-of-genetically-engineered-foods/ …
Stop worrying; start growing - Fagström &al (2012) - EMBO…
pronald | September 4, 2012ScienceDebate 2012 | Obama, Romney Answer Top American Science Questions.