Articles

The UK government is determined to bring GMOs to England’, writes Pat Thomas, and changes in EU rules mean this could happen as soon as next year. The way to keep them out is people power – so go ahead and declare yourself ‘GM FREE ME’! By Pat Thomas I believe in people power. It’s […]

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 […]

The organic world has been celebrating a rare ‘win’ this week. A new analysis has found that, compared to conventionally grown crops, organic crops contain higher levels of certain antioxidants, lower levels of pesticides and lower levels of the heavy metal cadmium. According to the scientists, eating organic food could boost a person’s antioxidant intake […]

I believe in trusting your gut – and I’m not just talking about intuition. Our guts are remarkable. They comprise a nervous system every bit as sensitive and sophisticated as your brain – which is why the gut is sometimes referred to as the ‘second brain’. In the last decade or so scientists have discovered […]

They were the pictures that shocked the world. Laboratory animals riddled with tumours after consuming both GM maize and its associated herbicide Roundup The 2012 study by Séralini et al, published in the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology, caused a scientific storm and triggered an orchestrated campaign by pro-GM lobbyists and scientists to discredit it. […]

It’s always a good day when you hear that levels of a particular toxin that harms children are going down. Earlier this year a report out of Monroe County, New York, showed that levels of lead in children there were declining. This mirrors a national downward trend which suggests that levels of this neurotoxic ‘heavy […]

There’s a riveting book doing the rounds at the moment. You may think you’ve heard it all before. In moments of exhaustion or relative lulls in the onslaught of health and environmental problems we face, you may even wonder whether the anger and angst directed at so-called “authorities” is justified. Then along comes the cheerfully […]