Chemical Controversies
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.
Do GMOs, pesticides cause cancer? The Amish would say ‘no’
Amish farmers may not get cancer as much, but it's not because they don't use pesticides or GMOs. In fact, ...
Crops and chemicals: What does the future hold for GMOs and pesticides?
[Editor's note: The following is a Q&A with Paul Vincelli, a plant pathology professor at the University of Kentucky.] Farmers are ...
State bans of dicamba herbicide could increase soybean, cotton prices
Efforts to ban the herbicide [dicamba] could benefit the prices of agricultural products such as soybeans and cotton. At the ...
EU delays vote on whether to extend license for glyphosate herbicide
Health experts from European Union countries [were] expected to discuss whether or not to extend the license for herbicide glyphosate ...
Trace amounts of neonicotinoid pesticides found in 75% of honey samples worldwide—’far below’ levels dangerous to humans
A new study has found traces of neonicotinoid chemicals in 75% of honey samples from across the world. The scientists ...
Brazil regulator says Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto could be ‘detrimental to competition’
A unit of Brazil’s competition regulator Cade said the $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. by German life sciences firm ...
Guided evolution of wheat and other grains could feed growing population
Can we breed wheat and other cereal grains with the ability to fertilize themselves? Researchers report promising results that could ...
Are ‘free-from’ (gluten, GMO) food labels informative—or misleading?
What could be conceptually simpler than labeling a food product? You tell the customers what’s in the product, or maybe ...
UK environmental groups ramp up effort to ban ‘bee-harming’ neonicotinoids
Environmental group Friends of the Earth has released a YouGov survey showing that over three quarters of the UK public ...
Calls to ban glyphosate, neonics highlight need to ‘protect science’, say French corn farmers
At a meeting hosted on Wednesday [27 September] by CEPM, the maize lobby in Europe, maize farmers stressed the need ...
Why Indian farmers are buying unapproved herbicide-resistant GMO cotton seeds
If market and industry estimates are true, Indian farmers have, in the current kharif season, bought and planted about [350,000] ...
Viewpoint: Conventional farmers take better care of soil health than media portrays
[Editor’s Note: Amanda Zaluckyj is a practicing attorney and farmer's daughter who shares her family's story at The Farmer's Daughter ...
European Commission works to garner support for glyphosate herbicide re-authorization
The European Commission is exploring ways to bridge the gap between different member state requests regarding the re-authorization of the ...
Scientist who found no glyphosate in breast milk faced anti-pesticide activist attacks
[Editor's note: Karl Haro von Mogel has a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.] ...
Monsanto glyphosate lobbyists barred from EU parliament
[Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)] have decided to bar lobbyists for Monsanto, the US agrochemical company, from the European ...
Decoded fall armyworm genome could aid fight against destructive corn pest
Until now limited to America and the Caribbean, Spodoptera frugiperda [also known as the Fall Armyworm] is estimated to cause ...
Uganda on track to pass ‘biotech bill’ that should pave way for GMO crop commercialization
Uganda’s long-awaited national Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill was delayed again yesterday, but is likely to be passed next Tuesday [Oct ...
Viewpoint: Restrictions on GMOs a ‘catastrophe’ for Australian farmers
Onerous and expensive regulations have denied farmers’ access to new and existing Genetically Modified (GM) crop varieties and reduced their ...
Italy expected to vote against EU renewal of glyphosate herbicide
Italy intends to vote against the [European] Commission’s proposal to renew for 10 years the market authorization for glyphosate, the active ingredient ...
Many weed scientists reject summit with Monsanto to discuss mounting dicamba herbicide crisis
Monsanto Co. invited dozens of weed scientists to a summit this week to win backing for a controversial herbicide but ...
GMO that’s not all GMO: Monsanto’s rootworm-fighting corn seed uses RNA interference
The EPA's relatively quick approval of a new Monsanto seed trait drew criticism from anti-GMO groups that complained about a ...
Syngenta settles with Minnesota farmers in GMO corn lawsuit
Syngenta AG reached an in-trial settlement with a group of about 22,000 Minnesota farmers who claimed the company carelessly marketed its ...
French farmers protest government’s opposition to extension of EU’s glyphosate herbicide license
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reiterated Paris would vote against the European Commission’s proposal to extend for 10 years the license ...
Opposition to Sri Lanka’s glyphosate ban grows as tea farmers turn to alternate pesticides
With the ban of the weed killer glyphosate without scientific evidence, some planters have started using alternative chemicals, running the ...
Challenging food movement: Small, organic farms not key to fixing food system
[Buying food from small, local, organic farms] cannot fix that chemical-intensive system that crowds out biodiversity, depletes the soil, pollutes ...
Hulu acquires exclusive rights to stream Neil deGrasse Tyson-narrated GMO film ‘Food Evolution’
Hulu has acquired the exclusive US [Video-on-Demand] rights to Food Evolution from Academy Award-nominated director Scott Hamilton Kennedy. The highly ...
Monsanto’s dicamba herbicide crisis divides farmers on pesticide regulations
Farmers planted a new kind of seed on 25 million acres of soybean and cotton fields this year. Developed by ...
