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This is bullet-proof human skin - made from spider silk and goat milk. Yes, really. Jalila Essaidi is testing the limits of human endurance, and it starts by having to milk spider-goats. Spider goats are otherwise innocent-looking goats that have been genetically engineered to produce milk packed with the protein made in spider's silk. (There is no definitive proof that this also gives them a propensity to skitter up walls or hide out in your sock drawer, but I think it does.) Once the goats are milked, Essaidi spins the protein into fiber that is ten times stronger than steel,...

The chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three. The deal, which is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny, allows the new company — to be called DowDuPont -- to rejig assets based on the diverging fortunes of their businesses that make agriculture chemicals and plastics. Dow and DuPont have been struggling to cope with falling demand for farm chemicals because of falling crop prices and a strong dollar, even as their plastics businesses have thrived thanks to low natural-gas...

Donald Trump is blaming an intern after he seemingly took a shot at Iowa voters in a Twitter post Thursday insinuating that the reason Ben Carson is now beating him in the early voting state is because GOPers are eating too much genetically modified corn. “#BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa,” Trump seemingly quoted a fan on Twitter. “Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? #Trump #GOP”

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Biotech seed giant also gives a downbeat forecast for its fiscal year, as quarterly loss widens ___ Monsanto Co. , buffeted by a slumping global farm economy, outlined plans to slash 12% of its workforce and restructure its business as it reported a larger quarterly loss. The biotechnology-seed maker plans to cut 2,600 jobs while “streamlining and reprioritizing” commercial and research efforts as it grapples with declining crop prices that have pinched incomes for farmers, its main customers. Monsanto projected earnings in its fiscal 2016 that fell below analysts’ expectations. The St. Louis company also Wednesday unveiled a new stock-buyback...

Would take away a state's rights once and for all to require labeling of GMO foods. 70 bills have been introduced in over 30 states to require some sort of labeling of genetically engineered (GE) or genetically modified organisms (GMO).1)http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/issues/976/ge-food-labeling/state-labeling-initiatives#  Although very few of these bills or initiatives have passed into actual law, and many have been challenged in court, a new congressional bill would take away the state’s rights once and for all to require labeling of GMO foods.H.R.1599 2)https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1599/text, ironically labeled the  Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 has been renamed the DARK (Deny Americans the Right...

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money. Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency .... fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments,...

Beekeepers. Physicians. Organic farmers. Preschool teachers. Parents of autistic kids. Those were some of the groups represented Saturday in a march against the controversial biotech and agricultural giant Monsanto, which is often cast as Public Enemy No. 1 by those opposed to genetically modified foods. As many as 500 people — many dressed like bumblebees and butterflies — filled Justin Herman Plaza around noon and then marched down the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf. Many held signs with slogans like “Evil Seed of Corporate Greed” and “GMOs Cause Autism and Cancer.”

In a first for a major restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill on Monday will begin serving only food that is free of genetically engineered ingredients. “This is another step toward the visions we have of changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” said Steve Ells, founder and co-chief executive of Chipotle. “Just because food is served fast doesn’t mean it has to be made with cheap raw ingredients, highly processed with preservatives and fillers and stabilizers and artificial colors and flavors.” In 2013, Chipotle was the first restaurant chain to indicate which items contained genetically modified organisms,...

Monsanto Co said on Wednesday it reached a settlement with U.S. wheat farmers who sued the seed company over market disruption after unapproved genetically engineered wheat was discovered growing without oversight in Oregon. Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" wheat, which was never approved by U.S. regulators and which the company said it stopped testing a decade ago, was found growing in an Oregon farmer's field in 2013. The company had said all the experimental grain was destroyed or stored away. South Korea and Japan temporarily halted purchases of U.S. wheat after the announcement on fears the unapproved wheat, engineered to withstand Roundup...

The World Health Organisation’s cancer agency has declared that one of the UK’s most widely used weedkillers is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.Amateur gardeners and professional farmers have been urged to “think very carefully” about using the popular herbicide Roundup, which contains glyphosate. A summary of the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) report, published in The Lancet Oncology, said that the herbicide had been detected “in air during spraying, in water, and in food”.It had also been detected “in the blood and urine of agricultural workers, indicating absorption”....The IARC's report said that its use has increased sharply with the...

One of the world’s most popular weed killers—and the most widely used kind in the U.S.—has been labeled a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The decision was made by IARC, the France-based cancer research arm of the World Health Organization, which considered the status of five insect and weed killers including glyphosate, which is used globally in industrial farming. […] The new classification is aimed mainly at industrial use of glyphosate. Its use by home gardeners is not considered a risk. Glyphosate is in the same category of risk as things like anabolic steroids and...

A new study from the School of Medical Sciences at Australia’s University of New South Wales points to profound brain changes that junk food causes, making a junk food habit “more deadly than war, famine, and genocide”. “We observed that rats fed a cafeteria diet for 2 weeks showed impaired sensory-specific satiety following consumption of a high calorie solution. The deficit in expression of sensory-specific satiety was also present 1 week following the withdrawal of cafeteria foods. Thus, exposure to obesogenic diets may impact upon neurocircuitry involved in motivated control of behavior.” "the consumption of junk food overrides this natural...

Neil Young is seeking a new source for his daily latte. The rocker announced on his website this week that he's boycotting Starbucks over the coffee company's involvement in a lawsuit against the state of Vermont's new requirements to label genetically modified ingredients.

Agriculture business giant Monsanto Co. reported a wider-than-expected loss Wednesday for its fourth quarter on higher expenses, including a one-time legal settlement. The company’s earnings forecast for 2015 also fell short of analysts’ expectations as Monsanto said it expects “continued industry headwinds.” […] The loss came despite higher sales of the company’s two key business units, genetically-engineered seeds and herbicide. …

Why does Barack Obama refuse to take even the most basic steps to protect Americans from Ebola? Even though it has already been demonstrated that Ebola can be brought over to the United States by a passenger on an airplane, Obama refuses to do anything that would even restrict air travel from nations where Ebola is spiraling out of control. Back in September, Obama said that it was "unlikely" that any individual with Ebola could get through the "extensive screening" at our airports and pose a threat to the general population. But he was wrong. That has already happened. And...

Representatives of the international coalition No Patents on Seeds! from France, Germany and Spain have filed an opposition against a European patent held by Monsanto on conventionally bred tomatoes (EP1812575). The patent claims tomatoes with a natural resistance to a fungal disease called botrytis. The original tomatoes used for this patent came from the international gene bank in Gatersleben, Germany. It was already known that these plants had the desired resistance and they were simply crossed with other tomato plants. Monsanto then produced a cleverly worded patent in order to create the impression that genetic engineering had been used to...

According to the wire service, Monsanto mulled a takeover of its $34 billion seed and herbicide rival, in part, to move its legal headquarters to Switzerland. It’s a move known as corporate inversion and it has the power to shield money held overseas from Uncle Sam’s tax collectors.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry probably shouldn't have attempted to make the case that gay people can "decide not to" be gay despite genetic predisposition, he conceded Thursday, offering no semblance of an apology but trying instead to rally attention back to his message about jobs and the economy. "I got asked about an issue," Perry, a Republican, explained during a lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "And instead of saying, 'You know what? We need to be a really respectful and tolerant country - to everybody - and get back to talking about: Whether you're gay or straight, you...

I’m retelling this story not to cause sheer outrage or bring down shame and fire on one school in one instance, but to let you know definitively that Monsanto representatives could visit a school near you to teach a class. And you need to know what they are saying… It happened in at least one instance and with a fairly interesting method of leaving lasting impressions on 12-year-old 7th graders. I know Steve from Facebook and he posted videos of his stepson after coming home from school one day in late May to tell the family that four Monsanto representatives...