Chemical Controversies
UK farmers have ‘deep concerns’ over potential EU neonicotinoid ban, survey shows
British arable farmers have deep concerns regarding the European Commission's proposal to ban all outdoor uses of neonicotinoid seed treatments ...
Talking Biotech: Using GMO insects instead of pesticides to fight diamondback moth, other crop-killing pests
Cornell entomologist Tony Shelton: Using GMO insects to control diamondback moths—a global pest that quickly evolves resistance to insecticides ...
Viewpoint: Time for reassessment of ‘privileged’ organic industry as national program head steps down
[Editor’s Note: Hank Campbell is president of the American Council on Science and Health.] For the last 17 years, the United ...
European Food Safety Authority report on glyphosate herbicide copied parts of Monsanto document
Glyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto’s $4.75bn a year RoundUp weedkiller brand and a battle over its relicensing has ...
Lack of controls at US ports and fumigation of imports feed doubts about ‘organic’ label, USDA finds
Bogus “organic” products may be reaching the United States because of lax enforcement at U.S. ports, according to a new ...
Politics infuses pending EU decision over glyphosate reapproval
The European Commission stands ready to insert a clause referring to biodiversity in the glyphosate renewal proposal if it is ...
Ugandan journalist: How do you report on crop biotechnology when critics spread misinformation?
Genetic engineering could help Uganda combat some of its toughest food security challenges. But anti-GMO activists' misinformation campaigns are standing ...
Syngenta CEO: Sustainability—not whether something is ‘organic’—should be food standard
[Syngenta chief executive Eryk Fyrwald] suggested neonicotinoid pesticides were not as dangerous as was being suggested. While France has confirmed ...
Monsanto-Bayer merger now unlikely until 2018
German drugs and pesticides group Bayer said on Tuesday it was now likely to be early next year before it ...
Did GMO connection prompt Gates Foundation to halt support for corn-aflatoxin breakthrough?
When Gates Foundation reviewers rejected a researcher's bid for new funding, one of the reasons cited was a concern over ...
Dietitians challenge fears of ‘excessive chemicals’ in conventional foods
[Editor’s note: Mindy Hermann, MBA, RDN, is president of Hermann Communications in Somers, New York; Michael P. Holsapple, PhD, is ...
GMOs protect bees by reducing use of more toxic pesticides
[Editor’s note: Michelle Miller is the Farm Babe, an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker and writer, who lives and works with ...
‘Food Evolution’ movie tackles ‘frankenfood’ myths by putting GMOs in global perspective
[Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy] and his fellow producer, Brooklynite Trace Sheehan, decided to delve into one issue: GMOs, or genetically ...
Canadian glyphosate opponents take aim at usage by local governments
In the last two weeks, the [Canadian] municipalities of Upper Miramichi, Moncton, and Petitcodiac have all started to question the ...
Viewpoint: Mayo Clinic’s embarrassing embrace of ‘alternative’ and ‘complementary’ medicine now includes nutrition
[Editor's note: Kevin Klatt is a PhD candidate in nutritional sciences at Cornell University.] The prestigious Mayo Clinic regularly gets itself ...
Cornell’s Tony Shelton: Scientist behind GMO moth in activist crosshairs
[Cornell University Professor Tony Shelton] admits to being disappointed by the “misinformation” directed at his research to find a non-insecticidal ...
Ecologist: ‘Heavily scrutinized’ glyphosate not a ‘highly toxic chemical’
[Editor’s note: Frank Hassler is chief ecologist with Good Oak Ecological Services, which works to provide sustainable landscaping and land ...
Will France’s rejection of glyphosate reauthorization block Europe’s proposed re-approval?
Major concerns now hang over the future use of glyphosate in the EU with the move by France not to ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO online series promotes fear and ‘less sustainable’ farming
Works like the recently released "GMOs Revealed" are making it more difficult for new agricultural techniques to gain widespread acceptance ...
How glyphosate-resistant weeds led to Monsanto’s dicamba herbicide crisis
[In] the 1990s, Monsanto began selling a series of patented, genetically modified, “RoundUp”-ready seeds. Monsanto had altered crop seeds...to be ...
Viewpoint: Organic industry misleads consumers with fear, unethical sales tactics
[Editor’s note: Michelle Miller, the "Farm Babe", is an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker and writer.] While acting like the “little guy” ...
How the Netherlands became a high tech farming center
Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry “Twice as much ...
Italy’s GMO corn ban unlawful, European Union court rules
The European Union court ruled Wednesday (September 13] in favor of an Italian activist farmer who has defied his nation's ...
Glyphosate herbicide not an ‘endocrine disruptor’, European Food Safety Authority concludes
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has concluded that the world's most used pesticide, glyphosate, does not have endocrine disrupting ...
Record number of pesticide misuse claims by Iowa farmers due to dicamba drift problems
Nationally, 2,242 farmers say dicamba has damaged an estimated 3.1 million acres, a University of Missouri report shows. Iowa ag leaders ...
Non-patented, non-GMO herbicide resistant rice in development
A consortium of scientists led the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore has identified a novel mutant of rice which ...
Video: How insect-resistant Bt GMO eggplant rescued Bangladesh’s staple crop
[Editor’s note: Pamela Ronald is plant pathologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Genome Center and the Department ...