Publication archives

Jul 8, 2014

WEBINAR: TTIP and GMOs

Karen Hansen-Kuhn

On June 16, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack cautioned European Union members against raising health or safety risks when banning the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The debate over GMOs is intensifying as agribusiness on both sides of the Atlantic attempt to weaken standards on genetically modified organisms and their labeling through a new trade agreement.

Jun 27, 2014

Reforming for international financial stability vs. the TISA counter-reformation

Dr. Steve Suppan

On June 19, Wikileaks posted the April 2014 draft text of the financial services annex of the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). The Wikileaks posting shows governments, above all the U.S. and EU trade negotiators, in their traditional role of trying to open markets for the big banks and other financial firms.

Jun 23, 2014

Synthetically modified organisms aren’t “natural” at all

Dr. Steve Suppan

Synthetic biology is “Still in [the] Uncharted Waters of Public Opinion,” according to a recent focus group study by the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. That’s not surprising since the technology involved sounds like something out of science fiction.

Jun 3, 2014

Measuring Success: Local Food Systems and the Need for New Indicators

Jim Kleinschmit

Emily Barker

Dennis Keeney

In agriculture, policymakers, analysts and researchers often use a set of indicators to assess whether a farming system, or new technology, is succeeding. The most common indicators focus on increasing “yield,” often of a singular crop or animal unit, within large-scale production systems.

Publication archives