Chemicals & Pesticides
Pesticides are substances that prevent, destroy, repel, or reduce the severity of pests. Pests are living things that occur where they are not wanted or that cause damage to humans, crops, or animals. Pests can be insects, rodents, unwanted plants, bacteria, viruses, or different types of fungus. Pesticides can vary in how toxic they are to humans and the environment. Some are persistent in the environment, animals, and birds, lasting for years; others break down soon after they are released. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants licenses, or registrations, to pesticides that it has found do not pose unreasonable risks to human health and the environment; it has registered at least 865 pesticides, which are used in thousands of pesticide products.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
What do the latest studies say about IARC’s lone conclusion that glyphosate could cause cancer? Faulty memories, statistical bias undermine conclusion
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is used to control many types of plants worldwide. The International Agency for Research ...
Viewpoint: Free speech vs science—Should colleges invite anti-GMO speakers they know spread misinformation?
In the face of climate change, the expectation for evidence is doubled because of the dramatic implications ...
FDA reports 38% decline in animal antibiotic sales since 2015, easing public health concerns
For several years, an area of focus for those of us involved in farm animal care has been a commitment ...
Viewpoint: Science losing out to anti-glyphosate hysteria, farmers in a quandary as there are no alternative weedkillers as effective
Confirmation [in January] by the U.S. [EPA] that glyphosate is not carcinogenic is welcome, but .... it doesn’t matter. What ...
Viewpoint: Anti-chemical ‘activist-legal complex’ fuels public fear of scientific innovation
In his Farewell Address, President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex, a partnership between the military and defense industry that ...
East Africa faces two plagues: Once-in-a-generation insect infestation and swarms of European activists trying to block the only effective tool, pesticides
European activists are putting lives at risk in East Africa, turning a plague of insects into a real prospect of ...
Public views pesticides as ‘bad industrial chemicals’. Here’s how farmers can turn that fear into support for sustainable farming
The online conversation around pesticides is expected to explode by 212 percent over the next two years, despite the fact ...
Bayer and BASF hit with $265 million verdict for damages jury concludes were caused by dicamba weedkiller
A jury ruled against Bayer and BASF SE in a crop-damage case, awarding $265 million to a Missouri peach farmer ...
Weedkiller breakthrough? Bayer developing new herbicide to help farmers tackle glyphosate-resistant weeds
With stakes in the fight against tough-to-control and resistant weeds at an all-time high, Bayer is adding a new tool ...
Bayer faces ‘almost impossible’ task of ending glyphosate-cancer litigation while its Roundup herbicide remains in stores
Bayer faces an extraordinary challenge as it tries to settle tens of thousands of claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes ...
Viewpoint: ‘Dicamba Debacle’ stirs questions about the future shape of ‘industrial, intensive agriculture’
The dicamba debacle gives a chance to answer key questions about industrial agriculture with rare specificity ...
California attorney general sides with Bayer glyphosate cancer plaintiffs, challenges appeal of $78.5 million verdict
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed an amicus brief in Johnson v. Monsanto, arguing against preemption of state laws requiring ...
Podcast: ‘There’s no safe level of pesticides’? ‘Don’t eat what you can’t pronounce’? Food Science Babe takes on popular nutrition tropes
“Don’t eat what you can’t pronounce… Synthetic chemicals are more dangerous than natural chemicals… Chemicals in food are killing us… ...
Viewpoint: Dicamba debacle trial forces a reevaluation: Was Monsanto a ‘bonafide bad actor’?
The toll on farmers is infuriating enough. But there could be widespread damage to the environment as well ...
Bayer appeals last year’s $86 million California Monsanto Roundup glyphosate-cancer trial verdict
Bayer AG has asked a California appeals court to overturn an $86 million verdict that found it was responsible for ...
Viewpoint: Fact-checking anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva’s ‘Poison-Free, Fossil-Free’ food lecture
The event was a missed opportunity to have the more nuanced discussion that such an important topic deserves ...
As many as 85,000 glyphosate-cancer lawsuits ‘significantly’ closer to settlement after federal trials suspended
Bayer AG’s federal court cases in the U.S. about the Roundup weedkiller have been pushed back at the request of ...
French court rules sweet grapefruit, barley, wheat and 2500 crops, developed by mutagenizing seeds with toxic chemicals or gamma rays yet often sold as organic, are GMO, must be labeled and cultivation banned
Mutagenesis is a process where new strains of food and products are created using chemicals and radiation in the lab ...
Podcast: Crop damage caused by dicamba raises questions about how EPA will handle Bayer’s request to re-approve herbicide in late 2020
Every summer for the past three years, the phones have been ringing like crazy in the Office of the Indiana ...
Dicamba trial: Bayer contends peach farm damage occurred before drift-prone Monsanto herbicide hit the market
In all-day testimony on the eighth day of the trial, [farmer Bill] Bader said as long as dicamba is sprayed ...
With Roundup-cancer settlement looming, activists revive conspiracy claim that glyphosate surfactants threaten human health
The narrative of underdog cancer victims unmasking corporate villains isn't backed up by the evidence ...
‘Maladapted’ EU regulation hinders non-toxic biopesticide development, despite growing farmer demand
Biological pesticides are rapidly gaining attention as a sustainable and viable environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. However, they are ...
Viewpoint: Almond growers driving bees to ‘extinction’? Challenging the latest pollinator decline scare story
The policies of greens are a greater threat to wildlife than high-yield agriculture ...
Dicamba on trial: Peach farmer testifies Monsanto knew its drift-prone herbicide would damage his 1,000-acre operation
Since 1970, Bill Bader has worked on peach farms in Dunklin County, Missouri, just north of the Arkansas border. Bader ...
Post-Brexit rules on glyphosate, neonicotinoid pesticides may reveal UK’s willingness to break from EU regulations
Post-Brexit regulation of controversial pesticides including glyphosate and neonicotinoids could be test cases for how far the U.K. is prepared ...
‘Monsanto on the attack’: How an aggressive defense contributed to the ‘dicamba debacle’
It's pretty clear that the ag industry has a problem. But what is the nature of it? ...
Farmers cheer EPA rulings on glyphosate, neonicotinoid pesticides, while activists pan them as concessions to industry
In a move heralded by farmers but panned by environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to reapprove ...
Farmer vs farmer: After tens of thousands of acres of crop damage, what are we to make of the ‘dicamba debacle’?
For dicamba, even more than most ag issues in recent history, the devil is in the details ...
