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Videos on GMOs and Genetic Engineering

CATEGORY:  SPECIES, GENETIC ENGINEERING — 04.DEC.2014

Quirks and Quarks

Genetically Modified Chestnuts — A century ago, the American Chestnut was a tremendously important species in the forests of Eastern North America, representing more than a quarter of all forest trees in a swath from Georgia to Ontario. But a fungus introduced on imported Asian chestnut trees turned out to be catastrophic for the American Chestnut, killing billions of trees and essentially wiping out the species by the 1950s. Breeding a blight-resistant tree has proved laborious and difficult, so now a research team has developed a genetically modified American Chestnut that uses a gene from wheat to resist the effects of the fungus. Lead researcher William Powell explains.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   10:08

GP comment:  As GMO applications go, this would seem to be one of the less objectionable ones. But beware anytime a GMO proponent says "this is for the people and for the environment." And Powell's additional assertion that GM technology is more targeted and sensible than standard hybridization is completely specious.

Original Show Pub Date: 22.Nov.2014

CATEGORY:  AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT (GMOs) — 16.OCT.2014

Food Sleuth Radio

Failed Promises and Real Risks of GMO Crops — Raymon Seidler is a former senior scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency. Decades ago, he led the first team to study the environmental and health impacts of newly introduced GMO crops. He explains how we have ignored risks in favor of broad market penetration; in particular, plans for containing the unintended contamination of organic and non-GMO crops with GMO genetic material have been utterly inadequate. Pesticide use has also risen, not fallen as the industry promised.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   28:15

GP comment:  He's right—we should stop talking about labeling GMOs and begin the conversation about banning them.

Original Show Pub Date: 02.Oct.2014

CATEGORY:  AGRICULTURE, CHEMICALS, GMOs — 01.SEP.2014

One Radio Network

Together, We Can Protect Our Food, Our Farms, and Our Environment — Colin O'Neil and Larissa Walker of the Center for Food Safety talk about a variety of food and farm issues. Topics include the new 2,4-D-resistant GMO crops; toxic pesticides associated with cancers and birth defects; importance of honey bees to large-scale agriculture; effects of chemicals on honey bees, native bees, and other critical beneficial insects; neonicotinoid pesticides as a particular problem for bees.
Go to page  |  Download/listen   52:13

GP comment:  Nice to hear the "buzz about bees" give native insects equal weight for a change.

Original Show Pub Date: 18.Aug.2014

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