Genetic Literacy Project – Bias and Credibility

These sources consist of legitimate science or are evidence based through the use of credible scientific sourcing.  Legitimate science follows the scientific method, is unbiased, and does not use emotional words.  These sources also respect the consensus of experts in the given scientific field and strive to publish peer-reviewed science. Some sources in this category may have a slight political bias but adhere to scientific principles. See all Pro-Science sources.

• Overall, we rate the Genetic Literacy Project Pro-Science based on evidence-based reporting of scientific information related to genetics and GMOs.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: PRO-SCIENCE
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 2012 by Jon Entine, the Genetic Literacy Project is a non-profit that promotes public awareness and discussion of genetics, biotechnology, evolution, and science literacy. According to The Genetic Literacy Project (GLP), the goal, “through our website and outreach efforts, including the dissemination of educational materials, organizing public and private conferences and initiating briefings with regulators and government officials, is to prevent legislative overreach grounded in ideology rather than science, help in the creation of reasonable ethical and religious oversight of biotechnological innovation, and encourage cooperation among academic and industry researchers, all in an effort to promote the public interest..”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The GLP is part of the Science Literacy Project (SLP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Funding and revenue are derived through donations and grants. They are transparent and list top donors for the 2018-2019 fiscal years as follows:

• John Templeton Foundation: $267,687
• Winkler Family Foundation: $120,000
• Charles Koch Foundation, Technology & Innovation Group: $68,500
• Charles Ohrstrom: $17.000
• Kayser Family Foundation Fund of the DuPage Foundation: $10,000
• The Bader Family Foundation: $10,000
• Perry Hackett: $2,500
• The Modzelewski Charitable Fund: $2,500
• Peter Treadway: $2,500
• Individual donations: $10,861

Analysis / Bias

In review, the Genetic Literacy Project website publishes news and information on the fields of GMOs, genetics, evolution, and biotechnology. They publish original science reporting that is low biased and properly sourced, such as this How evolution could thwart the new COVID vaccines and what we can do to prevent that. They also aggregate news related to their fields from sources such as the American Society for Microbiology and the American Council on Science and Health.

Further, they publish commentary-based information related to science such as this, criticizing Mike Adams from the Natural News pseudoscience network Mike Adams: Natural News, “everyone’s favorite über-quack #1 anti-science website”—”even the quacks think he’s a quack.” Finally, the website is pro-GMO with an Anti-GMO Advocacy Funding Tracker that shows who and how much money is spent to advocate against GMOs. According to the Media Bias Fact Check Pseudoscience Dictionary, GMOs are proven to be safe, and those who are promoting these dangers are promoting pseudoscience. In general, this is a pro-science organization.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate the Genetic Literacy Project Pro-Science based on evidence-based reporting of scientific information related to genetics and GMOs. (D. Van Zandt 12/15/2016) Updated (11/18/2022)

Source: https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/