2019 a harrowing ride on the ag & food rollercoaster While the screams elicited from those clutching their seats were not of terror or excitement, but rather of shouts of frustration or just heavy sighs of the bone-weary and exhausted, the weather in many places caused untold anxiety and stress Read more…
Greenpeace forced to pay over $250,000 Greenpeace was founded in Canada in 1971, with an objective of using science to support and advance environmental causes and policies. Greenpeace Canada states their value is to use “non-violent creative action to pave the way towards a greener, more peaceful world, and to Read more…
Being indoors doesn’t mean you’re safe from air pollution. Canadian’s spending 90% of their time indoor, which means indoor air quality should be a growing concern for us Canadian. Being indoors so much exposes ourselves to volatile organic carcinogens (VOCs) like chloroform and benzene, which can have negative effects on our health. Research has recently genetically modified an ivy plant to help reduce such VOC exposure, yet its a long way from being your future houseplant.
Could insect resistant trees mitigate forest fires? One of the most significant results from climate change in the forestry sector has been the migration of insects, like the spruce wood budworm and mountain pine beetle. Warmer winters have allowed both of these insects to spread into areas where they previously Read more…
Moving from random, untargeted mutagenesis to specific, targeted mutagenesis Humans have been breeding plants for millennia. Our ancestors began to domesticate plants (and animals) at least 10,000 years ago, allowing nomadic tribes to become stationary and form communities as they no longer had to pursue their food. Only in the Read more…
How foreign governments & eNGOs are playing politics over a handful of GM wheat kernels In mid-June 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported that a few GM wheat plants had been detected in southern Alberta, amounting to no more than a handful of seeds. Using Canada’s science-based risk Read more…
Gene Editing and Plant Biotechnology Gene editing technologies have emerged from the broader field of agricultural biotechnology, sometimes referred to as the gene revolution of agriculture. Gene editing allows for single gene-specific mutation, while standard mutagenic breeding resulted in tens of thousands of gene mutations. Mutagenesis has been used in Read more…
Manipulative marketing campaign cast doubts about government risk assessments Two weeks ago, Stonyfield Farms launched a marketing campaign that champions lies and misperceptions surrounding food, its safety and the experts that determine food safety. If you haven’t seen the ad, kids are provided with scripts loaded with false statements about Read more…
Will disease devastate spud production? The ease of growing and storing potatoes allowed it to spread around the world and onto our cultural menu. The delicious spud, McDonald’s #1 selling items are their French fries (and Big Mac, together accounted for 75% of worldwide sales in 2007), reached European cuisine Read more…
Is Halloween a front to sell more of a sugary GM plant? What is scarier? The ghosts and goblins that come to your door tonight trick or treating or the candy you’re handing out that likely has sugar in it that comes from a GMO plant? Well, some would have Read more…