Garden Detective

There's one more GMO food to add to the Frankenfood pile: corn engineered to withstand drought.

Monsanto’s genetically engineered, drought-resistant corn variety -- appetizingly named "MON 87460" -- was deregulated last week by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which means it's cleared for sale and likely will end up in your supermarket produce department soon. Oh, and you...

Past installments: Read the entire GMO series

I think I've established how I feel about GMOs, but really, I do try to keep an open mind. It just seems a bit hypocritical that a natural sweetener like stevia isn't approved as a food item by the FDA because not enough is known about it, despite it having been used as a natural sweetener in Japan for more than 40 years. Japan has shunned all...

Past installments: Catch up on the GMO series

Genetic engineering is nothing new; what's new is the rate at which biotech foods are being approved. High-profile GMO opponents like natural health physician Dr. Joseph Mercola; founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology, Jeffrey Smith; and writers Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman have been warning deaf ears for years. Earlier this month,...

New here? Catch up by reading part 1

Genetically modified beets joined the ever-growing roster of genetically modified plants to gain U.S. approval on Feb. 4, after nearly 2 years of contentious debate. The approval comes with some strings attached (4 miles to be maintained between male plants and other commercial crops, labeling criteria, and restrictions on planting in California...

Since the beginning of time, people have been sticking seeds into holes, watering them and watching them grow. It really isn’t rocket science. It used to be that the biggest fruit-and vegetable-gardening decisions were whether to grow pumpkins or watermelons, organic or conventional, heirloom or hybrid. But “progress” and technology have changed all that, and created a problem...