A new study published in an alternative agriculture journal has gained widespread attention by claiming that organic farming not only could adequately feed the world, it might even yield more food and require less farmland. It is a truly sensational claim. In science, the more sensational the claim, the more robust the evidence needed to support it. This time, the evidence doesn't stack up. In fact, the evidence fell so far short that the journal that published the paper also published not one, but two scathing and dismissive "editorial responses" in the same issue. This is anything but a ringing endorsement. [...]

If you think that organic food is safer, healthier, more nutritious, and is more eco-friendly, you might be surprised to learn that virtually all of these claims are largely hype. As for taste and quality, those depend on far more than using manure fertilizer or natural pesticides. That’s the gist of The Truth About Organic Foods, a provocative new book by CFACT Advisor Alex Avery, who serves as Director of Research and Education for the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues. The book is a dispassionate examination of the organic pseudo-religion’s odd origins and unscientific basis. Chapter by chapter, it [...]

There's a new children's book out, telling kids that vicious food-mongers are trying to make them obese with fast food. That's such a pathetic scare! Any food can make you fat if you eat too much. Chew on these real-world food risks that tormented and killed our ancestors in centuries past: The ergot fungus killed many thousands of people during the Little Ice Age of 1400-1850. Summers were often short and cold. Rye and wheat often had to be harvested while still wet and subject to mold. The countryside ate bread made from the moldy grain because they had nothing else [...]

When voters recently hit the polls November 2nd, the selection of their President and Congressman weren't the only items on the ballot - at least for residents in three California counties.  Among the items they voted on were three initiatives to ban the use of genetically modified foods.  Unfortunately for the measures' advocates, all three ballot measures went down to lopsided defeat. Citizens in Butte rejected Measure D by 61 to 39 percent.  In San Luis Obispo, Measure Q went down 59 to 41 percent.  And in Humbolt County, Measure M was defeated by 65 to 35 percent.  All three referenda, designed [...]

Recently the Research Institute for Organic Agriculture published a highly publicized study comparing two types of organic farming with two types of conventional farming. Initially (and to the delight of enviros everywhere) newspaper reports claimed conventional farming to be the loser in at least 2 categories: That is, in its economic and environmental efficiency.However when one pulls up the weeds from the research, one quickly discovers that reporters are playing fast and loose with the facts in order to show that organic farming is indeed more 'efficient.' The research actually, in fact, points to an entirely other direction.Advocates of organic farming [...]

     Imagine, somewhere between night and dawn, a family is aboutto embark on a big cookout.  The menu:  A heap of homemade potatosalad for starters, followed by some juicy barbecued chicken, andcapped-off with an old favorite -- Aunt Mabel's fresh strawberryJello mold.  Nothing unusual about this summer shindig, right? Well, not if you consider that the fixin's will be made frompotatoes that have sat in a corner of the pantry sinceThanksgiving, from chicken guaranteed to be salmonella-free, andfrom strawberries that have graced the bottom shelf of therefrigerator for over a month.  No, this is not a picnic hosted byRod Serling in [...]

 That some would be angry about the creation of safe food would seem, on the surface of it anyway, to be quite puzzling. Yet unfortunately that’s exactly the case with some anti-biotech activists who are opposing a science that not only improves crop quality and food production, but also has positive effects on the environment.     The Worldwatch Institute, for one, made its hopeful predictions several years ago that genetically engineered seeds will be used by a lot less American farmers in the year 2000. Gratefully, the exact opposite happened with biotech plantings having increased in 2000 and every year since. This [...]

 Those who are trying to keep up with all the over-sensationalized cancer-causing foodstuffs in our pantries need to update their lists. Scientists have just revealed yet another beloved snack for us to avoid: Potato chips.     Technically it is the acrylamide in the potato chips that’s the villain. Researchers from Stockholm University allege that frying or baking carbohydrate-rich foods forms acrylamide and this is a “probable human carcinogen” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.      So it’s time to toss the chips and eat celery with our hot dogs…right?      Well, maybe not. According to Steve Milloy of the Junk Science [...]

     Disposable diapers, SUVs, plastic shopping bags, styrofoam cups, and teak furniture.     These, of course, are all items on many people's environmental boogylist. But it appears there is now a new consumer product that some are willing to vent outrage over: Namely, the corn dog.     Yes, that's right, the corn dog has now come under fire because of its environmental impact on Mother Earth.  What's truly surprising about this latest fuss is that it's a "vegetarian" corn dog produced by the Kellogg Co. that's creating all the hullaballoo. And what's its crime? Well it's not the fact that it's "vegetarian," which would seem like [...]