• Monsanto sued for poisoning Argentine farmers

A 55-page complaint filed in court alleges that those chemicals caused conditions to develop that include cerebral palsy, epilepsy, spina bifida, congenital heart defects, Down syndrome, missing fingers and blindness.

• Monsanto's Roundup is Causing DNA and Cellular Damage

The research comes shortly after Monsanto's all-too-popular Roundup has been shown to be killing off human kidney cells - even at low doses. Scientists demonstrated in the research that Monsanto's 'biopesticide' Bt, in addition to Roundup, cause direct toxicity to human cells. They found that at only 100 parts per million (ppm), the biopesticide led to cell death, while it only took 57.2ppm of Roundup to kill half of the cell population in their research. Turns out that the amount of Roundup shown to cause this damage is 200 times below agricultural use.

• The Rainbow Of Food Dyes In Our Grocery Aisles Has A Dark Side

Artificial dyes aren't just making your Yoplait Light Red Raspberry yogurt blush and your Kraft Macaroni and Cheese glow in the dark. They are causing behavioral problems and disrupting children's attention, according to a growing number of scientific studies.

• High-Fructose Corn Syrup

1. Cancer Cells Love Fructose & It Has Been Linked to Pancreatic Cancer.

Apparently, cancer cells have a special attraction to fructose, according to recent research from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate," the study, which was published in the journal Cancer Research, found. This seems to explain what researchers found previously, that pancreatic cancer is linked to fructose intake:

"[These findings] have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth," Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote.

1. High-Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Liver Disease

"A new study suggests that for those with nonalcoholic fatty liver, drinking a lot of beverages sweetened with fructose may do the same thing as liquor," a study by Duke University researchers published in March in the journal Hepatology found.

Compared to subjects who drank the least fructose beverages, those who drank the most were significantly more likely to have the hepatic scarring that will more often progress to cirrhosis or liver cancer. And older subjects who regularly consumed fructose beverages showed more signs of liver inflammation. After they stripped out the effects of age, gender and body-mass index, the researchers also found that the heavy fructose drinkers also have lower levels of HDL (or "good") cholesterol.

• New Study Confirms: Organic Food is Far Healthier Than Conventional

Recently the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA) reviewed existing research on the nutritional content of organic produce concluded that there was no difference, nutritionally, between organic and non-organic produce. The FSA study did not examine the reasons most often given by consumers of organic produce, namely benefits to the environment, farm workers, and consumer health due to lower chemical use.

Yet the AFSSA review calls the FSA's conclusions into question. After conducting an "up-to-date exhaustive and critical evaluation of the nutritional and sanitary quality of organic food," French researchers concluded that organic produce is clearly nutritionally superior.

Organic produce contains more minerals, such as iron and magnesium, than non-organic produce, and higher levels of antioxidants such as phenols and salicylic acid.

PS: I know why I felt the need to say all this.

edit:

Do you think there is a role for biotechnology in agriculture? What is that role?

There are good uses of biotechnology. There should be more research in the understanding of genomics. Marker assisted breeding and conventional genetics have been powerful solutions.

Unfortunately, the huge emphasis on GM crops is blinding us from seeking better, more sustainable options.

Genetics is beautiful. It allows us to gain so much knowledge about plants. Instead we hear that GM is biotechnology.

It's a question of who controls the science. Today we have privatization of science and technology where the focus is on developing products that generate the biggest profit. Food that is privatized may not be good for human health or the environment and won't contribute to global food security. Plants aren't a factory for profit.