Best of 2014: Writings on GMOs

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The conversation around GMOs dominated food policy circles in 2014. In terms of popularity and traffic, nearly anything I wrote about biotech crops dwarfed writing on any other subject. So rather than letting writing on GMOs unfairly overshadow other pieces that I thought were equally worthy, I’m breaking out the subject of GMOs into it’s own retrospective. The Non-GMO list can be found here.

1. What the Haters Got Wrong About Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Comments on GMOs
This post unravels the three most repeated misconceptions about biotech crops.

2. About Those Industry Funded GMO Studies …
How much does industry funding determine the outcomes of research on biotech crops?

3. GMOs: An Introduction
Just what it sounds like.

4. A Hard Look at Naturally Modified Organisms
This short bit of satire was surprisingly popular.

5. A Principled Case Against Mandatory GMO Labels
How could anyone possibly be opposed to a little label? This is why.

6. Contemporary Selective Breeding. Cow Edition.
The first part of series of posts with the aim of bringing people up to speed on how sophisticated and directed selective breeding is, even without the use of recombinant DNA.

7. The Ethics of the Séralini Retraction and Charges of Conflict of Interest
Why The Hastings Center for Bioethics was wrong in their critique of the Séralini retraction.
See also Round Two: Sherman and Fugh-Berman Respond

8. The 10 Minor Realizations That Flipped My Thinking About GMOs
A little bit of context goes a long way.

9. Contemporary Selective Breeding. Plant Edition.
The second in series attempting to disabuse people of a naive view of selective breeding.

10. 3 Ways to Move the Goal Posts on GMOs and Defend Your Position Without Getting Caught (very often)
You probably don’t even realize you are doing it.

Other posts of note published elsewhere:

Skepti-Forum.org: Marc Brazeau’s 500 Words | When the Food Movement Does Not Move
A brief history of how my position on GMOs evolved. (Warning it’s over 1200 words.)

The Genetic Literacy Project: (Practically) No one is anti-science — encouraging dialogue on GMOs

The Genetic Literacy Project: Why advanced farm technology scares us

The Genetic Literacy Project: On “Superweeds” and Their Relationship with Biotech Crops

The Genetic Literacy Project: Synthetic biology’s revolutionary and often disquieting impact on our food system

The Genetic Literacy Project: The low fruit has been picked. High impact crop breeding is hard, arduous work.
Excerpted on FAFDL.org

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