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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
UK science advisor: Agricultural pesticides important, but better regulations needed to limit environmental impacts
The assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is ...
Tale of two neonicotinoid bumble bee studies—And how science can be massaged
Are neonics dangerous for bees? Two studies published on the same day reached sharply different conclusions. Guess which one got ...
Viewpoint: ‘Blistering’ USDA organic report suggests ‘movement’ needs major reforms
The USDA report detailing poor oversight by the agency’s National Organic Program challenges the belief that consumers can trust organic ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
‘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 ...
