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.
Viewpoint: Challenging claims of a global bee health crisis
[Editor’s Note: Howard Minigh is the President & CEO of CropLife International, a trade association of agrobusiness companies.] First, there ...
Dozens of ‘mysterious’ chemicals lurking in our ‘all natural’ fruits and vegetables?
Rutin, glycine, and beta carophyllene: if you saw these words on an ingredients list, you'd probably presume the food was ...
Video: How plants use natural chemicals and other defenses to protect against pests
For the most part, plants appear to be harmless and passive organisms at the lowest rung of the food ...
French farmers warn glyphosate pesticide ban would halt conservation agriculture
[France’s Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot] reiterated Paris’ opposition to the re-authorisation of Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup. A vote on the ...
Kevin Folta sues NY Times, reporter Lipton for ‘malicious’ 2015 profile labeling scientist Monsanto ‘lackey’
In a complaint filed [September 1st, 2017] in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, [University of ...
EPA mulling 2018 partial ban on dicamba spraying because of drift concerns
The U.S. environmental agency is considering banning sprayings of the agricultural herbicide dicamba after a set deadline next year, according ...
New York farmer’s sustainability comparison—7 advantages of conventional farming over organic
[Editor’s Note: Tim Durham’s family runs Deer Run Farm on Long Island, NY. He holds a degree in plant medicine ...
Video: Successful Kenya GMO corn field trials show 40% yield increase compared to conventional corn
KTN News Kenya posted a news segment broadcasted from the site of a current GM maize field trial. Supporters of ...
Genetically engineered crops could protect themselves by sterilizing pests
Plants are among many eukaryotes that can 'turn off' one or more of their genes by using a process called ...
Podcast: How agriculture spurred the domestication of wild cats
Geneticist Eva-Maria Geigl: Early grain farms attracted rodents—and wild cats that were social enough to hunt them near human settlements ...
GMO moths may be only way to control pesticide-immune cabbage-killing diamondbacks
NPR reports that as of now, the [diamondback moth], which cause billions of dollars in damage to [cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli ...
Are sperm counts declining? What’s the role of ‘endocrine disruptors’?
The science community is divided over whether reports of declining sperm counts in men is actually occurring. One explanation--exposure to ...
Fall armyworm threatens Nigerian crops; genetic engineering offers only long-term solution
Nigeria remains Africa’s largest [corn] producer, growing nearly 8 million tons annually. It is closely followed by South Africa, Tanzania, ...
How biotechnology is making farming more sustainable
[Editor's note: Randy Krotz is the CEO of US Farmers and Ranchers.] There are some things that GMOs allow us ...
What’s a ‘natural’ food? Lawsuits mount as FDA lags on creating label standard
More than a year after the Food and Drug Administration signaled that it would soon nail down exactly what the ...
The story behind Monsanto’s dicamba weedkiller fiasco
The problem...is that dicamba has drifted from the fields where it was sprayed, damaging millions of acres of unprotected soybeans ...
Monsanto shill alert: Does industry funded GMO research bias findings?
Can consumers trust "independent" studies funded by corporations that have found genetically modified foods safe? Anti-GMO activists say 'no.' But ...
Some farmers, activist critics concerned agri-business mergers could increase costs, reduce biodiversity
Three mega-mergers of agricultural chemical and seed companies are reshaping global food production and prompting fears of higher costs for ...
Judge tosses suit claiming Quaker Oats misled customers because its 100% natural cereals contain glyphosate
A federal judge has tossed a high-profile lawsuit accusing Quaker Oats of misleading shoppers with 100% natural claims on products ...
Uganda: From scorching drought to ravaging worms, poor pay the price for missing out on a biotech solution
The food and famine crisis is finally bringing to a head the clash between anti-GMO activists, mostly European based, and ...
Next generation Golden Rice could be driven by CRISPR gene editing
Rice breeders today develop improved varieties from genetic breeding stock that has been advanced through thousands of generations and over ...
Syngenta CEO overseeing ChemChina merger believes introducing GMOs to Europe near hopeless
[Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta’s current CEO], joined Syngenta in 2016, after many years in senior management with US-based chemical companies, most ...
Viewpoint: Current GMO crops help farmers more than poor global consumers
A Professor of Geography at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dr. William G. Moseley, has written a short, compelling ...
Vulnerable system? What if world’s breadbaskets experience crop failure at same time?
Less than 25 percent of Earth’s cropland produces nearly 75% of the staple crops that feed us. Are globalization and ...
Turning human ‘biosolids’ into fertilizer raises health concerns
New research suggests [that using sewage as fertilizer, also known as 'biosolids'] could be a problem, as contaminants are now ...
Challenging idea organic fruits, vegetables more nutritious, better for the environment
[Editor’s Note: Emma Beckett is a molecular nutritionist at the University of Newcastle’s School of Medicine and Public Health] Many ...
Twist on truth: Knowledge, such as on GMOs, can lead to a rejection of the scientific consensus
[A] new study out [August 22nd] joins a number of earlier ones in indicating that scientific knowledge makes it easier ...
