Biotechnology

Chipotle Starts Identifying GMO Ingredients

Today on the GMO beat, Grub Street has news that burrito juggernaut Chipotle has begun identified genetically modified ingredients on its website. The restaurant has built its brand on the strength of local and organic, and this is a bold move, considering that many of its ingredients are fried in G ... More >>

Agit Crop

Whole Foods Announces It Will Require GMO Labeling by 2018

GMO transparency has become a hot-button issue in the country for the past few years, and even though California's Prop. 37 was defeated last November, a few other states are moving toward legislation requiring labels on any genetically modified foods sold in supermarkets. Today Whole Foods Market t ... More >>

Taste Testing Chipotle's New Hodo Soy Tofu Burrito

Chef Tyson Cole of Austin's Uchi & Uchiko makes a good point in naming Chipotle as one of the most important restaurants in the country in Bon Appetit. "Why? Their utilization of sustainably sourced goods, food made fresh daily, and, with thousands of locations, their overall reach," he's quoted as ... More >>

GE Salmon is Close to Being Approved: Let the FDA Know Your Thoughts

Over the holidays, the U.S. Food and Drink Administration took one step closer to approving genetically engineered salmon for public sale. The agency released a report saying that the fish wasn't likely to pose a threat to the environment or to the people who eat it. These GE salmon, called AquAdvan ... More >>

New Study Shows Voter Support for Genetically Modified Food Labeling in California

A new study has just come out that shows that 67% of voters continue to support the labeling of genetically modified foods, despite the defeat of Prop. 37 in last November's election. The controversial Prop. 37, which would have required a label on any genetically modified food sold in California, w ... More >>

Washington State Could Be First in Country to Pass GMO Labeling

It's been a few months since California residents voted down Prop. 37, the controversial initiative in last November's election that would have required labels on any genetically modified food sold in the state. Now Washington state, of recent gay marriage and pot legalization approval, might be the ... More >>

GMO Labeling: Looking to the Future Post-Prop. 37

All You Need to Know About GMOs: The Rap Video

So there's been a lot of talk about genetically modified crops these past few weeks in light of Prop. 37. And maybe you've been nodding along in conversations, pretending you have a comprehensive grasp on the whole GMO issue, but really don't know much about the crops beyond the fact that they're, u ... More >>

Despite Prop. 37's Defeat, the Fight for GMO Labeling Soldiers On

Proposition 37, the California initiative to label genetically modified food, was defeated last night with a 53% majority vote against the proposed labeling law. But just because this battle was lost, those behind the Yes on 37 campaign say the war is far from over. The group is focusing on the 4.3 ... More >>

Three Things I Learned When I Forced Myself to Learn About Proposition 37

By now you've probably heard that a major food fight is going down on the state ballot on Tuesday. If passed, Proposition 37 would require a label on any genetically engineered foods and food products sold in California -- an unprecedented move that could end up shaping food policy on a national lev ... More >>

FBI to Announce Development in Case of Daniel Andreas San Diego, Vegan Bay Area Bomber

Doesn't like meat​Authorities say they have some big development in the unresolved case of Daniel Andreas San Diego, the vegan animal liberationist who is wanted for the 2003 bombings of a biotechnology firm and a nutrition and cosmetics company in the Bay Area. FBI officials told reporters that S ... More >>

Congress Attempting to Stop the Frankenfish

This is not AquaBounty's GM salmon. It is also not PhotoShopped. Good god.​For years, SFoodie has been hearing about the development of AquaBounty's AquAdvantage giant farmed salmon, which are bred to produce growth hormone continuously throughout their lives so they reach market weight much faste ... More >>

Hey Food Activists: Can We Get a Ban on GMOs and BGH?

PCC Farmland Trust​California's food activists are on the verge of gaining a ban on the import of shark fins. And starting next July, sale of foie gras in this state will be illegal. We care about animal welfare here; we passed a law regulating the size of chickens' cages. But perhaps becaus ... More >>

San Francisco's $2.8 million Corporate Welfare Tab

Matt Smith illustrationUp with corporate welfare!​Gov. Jerry Brown has moved to cut public money thrown at enterprise tax zones, which provide breaks to companies in certain disadvantaged areas, including San Francisco's financial district and SOMA.But San Francisco companies are veritable corpora ... More >>

Genetically Modified Beets at the Center of Food Safety Debate

Fact: Beet deregulation would be a boon to Schrute family farms ​Beets are not always the preferred vegetable on one's plate, but they are considered among the healthier foods we eat -- until they're not.Food Safety groups are challenging beet growers who are attempting to plant genetically engine ... More >>

With Rice Paddy Art, Japanese Village Creates Tourist Bonanza

Shiho Fukada/New York TimesImages are "painted" using thousands of rice plants genetically engineered to have different hues.​In Inkadate, a village in rural northern Japan, rice is not just an important crop, a staple, it's a medium for intricate, colorful paddy art that might make Christo or ... More >>

Did Elena Kagan Shill for Monsanto on GMOs?

arcticpenguin/FlickrIs the Supreme Court nominee Roundup Ready?​Over at The Atlantic's online presence, Barry Estabrook, a former contributing editor for Gourmet, has a bone to pick with President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. Some critics may question Elena Kagan's position on battlefield ... More >>

What To Do? Wednesday's Pick: Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson @ Booksmith

​Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson @ Booksmith How to Defeat Your Own Clone: And Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution author Kyle Kurpinski didn't get lucky with a popular humor Tumblr, or a witty Twitter feed, or an auspicious Foursquare check-in near a HarperStudio book editor desp ... More >>

Clone War

The Poor News Bears

City College budget cuts complicate Hollywood ending for student bioengineers.

To the Moon

Eating Unnaturally, Naturally

Chief Scientific Officer Resigns from S.F.-Based State Stem Cell Agency

Marie CseteThe chief scientific officer at California's stem-cell agency has announced that she will step down from her position in a little over a month.Marie Csete, who had been at the San Francisco-based California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for slightly more than a year, has so f ... More >>

Synthetic Biology Debate

Playing God

Art Grown, Not Manufactured at Yerba Buena's BioTechnique Opening

Onward, Christian Lawyers

Why lawsuits filed by anti-abortion activists may be a blessing in disguise for the California stem cell institute

Bioscience Warfare

UC professor Tyrone Hayes found that a highly profitable weed killer causes sexual abnormalities in frogs. Then he found out how nasty a biotech multinational can be.

An Irreverent Death

Meyerhold may be the best home-grown play since Angels in America

Best Sports Equipment

Sports Basement

Palookaville

In S.F.'s political fight game, all the contestants are ignoring a national biotech debate that could put the local economy down for the count

The New Defenders

An explosion of federal funding has Bay Area researchers at the forefront of America's counter-terrorism program. Will the money make us safer - or just make science a military secret?

Who Owns Your Clone?

A San Francisco firm thinks it's time people started copyrighting their DNA

A.I.: Artistic Intelligence

Ten visual artists explore the connection between real life and the virtual world

Genes Without Frontiers

The so-called gene chip could revolutionize the way we treat cancer patients. That is, if biotech firms don't keep it out of doctors' hands.

Science of the Lambs

Buying Dolly the duplicated sheep has brought researchers at the Bay Area's Geron Corp. to the threshold of remarkable frontiers in transplants and cloning. Do we want to follow their lead?

The Merger's Tangled Web

As They Lay Dying

Breast cancer activists rage at Genentech for withholding an experimental drug