Search Results for: dha

Farmers in India Laud State Restrictions of Glyphosate

Cornucopia’s Take: The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has restricted the use of glyphosate and other herbicides to safeguard soil microbial activity, water, and human health. The new rules will also curtail the illegal production of genetically engineered herbicide tolerant (HT) cotton, which has not been approved for commercial use. ‘Threat to crops and carcinogenic’:… Read more »

Golden Rice Flops

Cornucopia’s Take: Virtually all of the genetically modified cultivars commercially available provide different advantages to conventional farmers (like being able to spray a crop with herbicides, for weed control, that would otherwise kill the plant). Golden Rice was one of the few promises of GE food that would have some benefit to eaters. Evidently, it… Read more »

Saving Heirloom Rice in India

Cornucopia’s Take: The new varieties of rice pushed in India for decades now are tasteless, provide less nutrition, require high inputs of pesticides and fertilizer, and do not grow well in India’s changing climate. Conservationists and farmers are wisely saving and growing heirloom varieties for practical reasons. Why India’s farmers want to conserve indigenous heirloom… Read more »

Will Someone New at the Helm of the USDA’s National Organic Program Steer the Ship Towards Congress’s Intent — Protecting Farmers and Consumers?

by Linley Dixon, PhD, Senior Scientist and Mark A. Kastel, Codirector, The Cornucopia Institute Miles McEvoy Source: USDA On September 10, Miles McEvoy resigned from the position of Deputy Administrator at the USDA, running the National Organic Program.  He has held the post since early in the Obama administration.  Included in his resignation letter was… Read more »

Pro-Industry Journalism Casts Doubt on Real Science

Cornucopia’s Take: When scientific findings have regulatory consequences, the science is all too often subject to corporate spin. In this case, herbicide manufacturers have a vested interest in a regulatory conclusion that glyphosate is safe when used per label directions. The independent science says otherwise. For a good explanation of the corporate methodology and mythology at… Read more »

Food Allergies are Expensive and Not Always Understood

Cornucopia’s Take: Food allergies and intolerances are a terrible burden to the afflicted. Cornucopia has reported on carrageenan, a common food ingredient which makes people ill, and DHA which sickens some infants from formula. Pesticide exposure is another possible culprit for food sensitivity.  Cornucopia recommends a whole food, organic diet. A simple diet also helps… Read more »

Top 10 USDA Organic Crimes

Dear good food advocates, I’ve always said that the organic seal is the best guide to good food when you can’t talk to the farmer directly. I still say that, and I mean it. If you follow the work we do at Cornucopia, you know we’re vocal watchdogs of organic policy because we want to… Read more »

Sikkim in India Has Been Declared Organic—Now What?

Cornucopia’s Take: Certifiers and organic wholesalers are, so far, the major beneficiaries of India’s efforts to shift agricultural practices to organic in Sikkim. As in the U.S., certification is expensive (farmers in the U.S. are eligible for cost sharing from the USDA), although it is mandatory in Sikkim. India’s First Fully Organic State Faces Many… Read more »

Nutritionally-Enhanced GM Crops? Too Bad About the Deformed Butterflies

The Ecologist by Claire Robinson / GM Watch Field of canolaSource: Massmo Relsig It looked like such a good idea: take the pressure off wild fish stocks by growing GM oilseeds that produce health-enhancing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, writes Claire Robinson. But as a new study has established, those fish oils, novel in terrestrial ecosystems,… Read more »