Posts

Biofortified: Write First, Ask Questions Later

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This blog post is a revision of a yesterday's that you can read here.  At the time I was amazingly  disappointed, betrayed and angry.  It provoked an overly emotional response that I don't like in retrospect.  I leave it here in the interest of transparency.  Today's article on Biofortified makes a number of false claims, and they have made a tremendous mistake.  They made a very public admonishment of me and alleged conflicts of interest that they construe as  ethical misconduct.  However, a simple analysis of the facts provides a very different view.  Sadly, we live in an age where the first response is to erect a punishing website, rather than reach out and have a discussion about the situation.  Karl Haro von Mogel and Anastasia Bodnar really missed an opportunity to raise a higher discussion about the fine line between commitment to transparency and the commitment to confidentiality.  Here are the facts: 1.  In May of 2017 a law firm contacted me and asked

Anonymous Public Records Requests for Harassment

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I've written a lot about public records requests, which ultimately are a good thing and ensure transparency in public servants.  However, I do believe that the current rules far overstep their original spirit, and the process is massively abused at massive taxpayer expense-- with the intention of harassing and harming public employees.   When you have access to all of someone's email, you can cherry pick the message you'd like to tell.  The internet loves sensationalism and scandal, and is not so excited about the boring realities.  The Latest Batches Over the last month my institution has produced about 50 MB of my email and other docs as PDFs.  It is a substantial number of pages, most of it going to author and documentarian Jeffrey Smith. But there have been anonymous requests as well .  Yes, you do not even need to say who you are or what you seek to peek voyeuristically into the private conversations of academic professors that just want teach and do research. 

Environmental Working Group -- Cereal Killers or Food Terrorists

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Just because an organization creates a report does not mean the report should be considered seriously.  In fact, it should be reviewed with a keen eye and great skepticism. This is not a blog about glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicides (including "Roundup" for example).   It is a blog about how fear mongers work, and strive to harm trust in perfectly good food. It is about Food Terrorism.  Food Terrorism I wrote about this in my Foreword to the book The Fear Babe . While many object to the use of the word terrorism , it is a perfect moniker for what is happening around us.   Terrorism is defined as coercion or intimidation to achieve political or ideological gains.  This is exactly what the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is doing.  Again.  Deliberately deceiving the public to advance their agenda.  The timing was perfectly coordinated to fit with the widely-publicized jury verdict in California.  Bogus Standards The EWG claims to have found the herbi

When Robots Attack, You've Lost the Debate

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I enjoy a spirited discussion.  But how do you do that with a robot? What if the robot is doing the dirty work of a corrupt activist organization and you are the topic du jour ?  As a 30-year public scientist I’ve enjoyed educating the public on the science of genetic engineering. That raises the ire of those sworn against the technology. As their arguments continue to crumble and time shows that they have been deceiving the public for decades, their numbers thin. So now they have employed robots for scientific slander.   Such is the case over on Twitter, where an account named @NoGMOVerified spews vitriol, seemingly pulling stories from a substantial archive and pumping them into tweet space. The majority of their messages are just the usual drivel, but it gets personal.  This account exists solely to spread false information, including a daily dose of smear about Yours Truly. Is it ethical for Twitter to allow continued, targeted harassment?   I've reported the &q

Mutagenesis vs Genetic Engineering

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EU Scientists Weep ... and the Activists Cheer

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Today in the most recent reminder that governments are not to be trusted with scientific decisions, the Court of Justice of the European Union has decided handed down a ruling that they don't understand science.   They have affirmed that gene edited crops are to be treated the same as transgenic crops.  This means that they will never be approved for use in the EU. Friends of the Earth = Enemies of Progress Why does an organization that has a good record of standing up for many important environmental and social issues, make the tremendous mistake of fighting technology?  However, crops featuring genetic innovations due to mutagenesis are just fine.  In other words, treat plant materials with radiation or chemicals to break chromosomes, rearrange chunks of DNA or change thousands of sequences in unknown ways -- that's good!  No testing, no environmental assessment, no labels.  But if you make a single base change out of billions of bases, and you know what th

Write for Plant Cell Extracts

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The articles in The Plant Cell represent the most novel and significant findings in plant genomics and cellular and molecular biology.  But the articles are so damn dense!  Can we help synthesize key findings in a way that helps better communicate the important work, and train new authors to write for public audiences?  That's the job of Plant Cell Extracts!   If you are interested in distilling a paper we will help with the process.   1.  Pick a paper to write about.  2.  Contact me at kfolta at ufl.edu  3.  We brainstorm ways to tell the story in a relatable way 4.  You write 5   A crack team of editors gives it a hard edit 6.  You fix 7.  We publish!  You are the author, all efforts are made to ensure we retain your voice and you maintain all discretion to accept/decline suggestions.  Why? It is easy-- 500-1500 words is a breeze It is important -- we need to be more effective at sharing the science and the significance It shows you care about publ