Articles (NYR Natural News)

A week ago the European Parliament voted on legislation that was largely publicised as a GMO ‘opt out’. The pro-GM lobby and biotech spin was that the new legislation would give Member States that did not wish to plant GMOs the option to remain GM-free. There’s been a lot of disingenuous hand-wringing about how this […]

It was a slow news day. You could tell because of the headline “Miranda gets her man” which graced a couple of the newspapers. The reference was to the fate of the lead character in the denouement of a TV comedy show. The other headline was both more interesting and more revealing of the conventional medicine […]

As we are all winding down – or trying to – for the holidays it’s a good time to reflect on health and well-being and what those words actually mean. Achieving “good health” is now one of the single biggest preoccupations in modern society. But what exactly is “good health”? In typical Western fashion we […]

By now everyone has read THAT comment. The one where Dame Vivienne Westwood apparently suggested that if people couldn’t afford organic they should “eat less”. Maybe you were outraged. But I can guarantee you weren’t there to see and hear what really happened. I was. Dame Vivienne was part of a delegation which took a […]

Most things in our world are ruled by natural cycles – even, it appears, the lifecycle of a toxic chemical. Looking forward in science in part requires looking back and evaluating trends and using these to predict future outcomes. In a new study, researcher Rolf Halden, PhD, from Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, has used […]

A recent trip to the supermarket revealed a new ‘surprise’: Coca-Cola Life At first I thought the bright green can was some obscenely early Christmas promotion, but instead it revealed itself to be a lower calorie – as opposed to no calorie – version of the iconic soda, sweetened with a mixture of sugar and […]

We hear it so often that it has almost ceased to be meaningful: you are what you eat. But what does that really mean? You don’t have to be a ‘foodie’ to understand that there is more to food culture than just counting calories, salt, fat sugar and additives. In my mind it speaks to […]

The message about meat, and especially meat reduction, is a tricky one to get right. We still live in a world where putting meat on the table is seen as an outward expression of affluence and a commendation of how well you are ‘providing for your family’. And yet from an environmental perspective, our increasing […]

I enjoy a good laugh. So it was with some wry amusement – at least at first – that I read the coverage of the Rothamsted field trials of GM camelina here in the UK last week. According to the ‘science’ correspondent of the Telegraph: “The first genetically modified crops, enriched with nutrients to improve […]

At the risk of looking like a green caricature, I’ll admit it. I sometimes hug trees. As a city dweller I so value my local parks – big and small – and nearby nature reserves. They are little islands of peace and space and breathable air where I can walk and sit and think and recharge my […]