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.
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Sustainable wheat: New GMO variety could reduce need for fertilizers, preserve phosphorus
One of the troubles with agriculture is the need for farmers to apply fertilizer. The plants don't soak up all ...
When genetic engineering is the environmentally friendly choice
The newest generation of genetically engineered crops, using CRISPR gene editing, can help farmers fight pests with only minimal changes ...
Turkey approves GMO corn, soybeans for animal feed
Turkey’s Biosecurity Council has approved the use of three types of genetically modified soybeans and one type of genetically modified ...
US honey bee population rose 3 percent in last year as colony collapse disorder concerns ease
The number of U.S. honeybees, a critical component to agricultural production, rose in 2017 from a year earlier, and deaths ...
What happens when public realizes organic foods grown using pesticides, more prone to contamination?
Here are some shockers about how the “organic foods” phenomenon is costing you more, making foods less safe and costing ...
Monsanto glyphosate case: Select documents suggest company tried to influence public debate over weed killer
Documents released [August 1, 2017] in a lawsuit against Monsanto raised new questions about the company’s efforts to influence the news media ...
Viewpoint: Canadian monarch butterfly and bee populations thrive as glyphosate use increases
What happened to the monarchs? The popular story is that genetically modified crops and an evil herbicide called glyphosate (also ...
GMOs are not an either/or debate
On the one hand, GM crops can help us feed poor people in far-flung parts of the world by making ...
Food Evolution interview: Could ‘pro science’ documentary inspire a pro-GMO food movement?
Food Evolution director Scott Hamilton Kennedy talks with the Genetic Literacy Project about the film's funding, and challenges the "ruthless ...
Oyster crackers deception: Dissecting Westminster Bakers’ Non-GMO label scam
[Editor's note: James Cooper holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Ohio State University.] So what does that mean for oyster ...
Viewpoint: How the Monsanto-Bayer merger threatens livelihoods of rural America
[Writer Austin Frerick lives in Winterset, Iowa and is a former economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.] Iowa ...
Food Evolution director Scott Hamilton Kennedy: ‘I wanted to reset the debate’ over food and farming
Oscar-nominated director talks with the Genetic Literacy Project about the reaction his documentary has received, both from GMO critics and ...
House Democrats push for neonicotinoid insecticide ban in next farm bill
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wants to include a ban on pesticides linked to declining bee health in next year’s farm ...
High cost of biotech seeds drives one farmer to switch some acreage to non-GMO
In 2014, [farmer Nathan] Reed fought for financial breath even after skinning inputs one by one...With an eye on cost ...
Indian scientist: Promoting ‘rich man’s’ organic food’ and delaying insect-resistant GMO eggplant hurts poor
Chairman of Review Committee for Genetic Manipulations (RCGM) Dr B Sesikeran ... said by stalling Bt brinjal [eggplant], India has only done more ...
Podcast: NY Times reports glyphosate in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. What’s the science?
Biologist David Oppenheimer, nutritionist Shelley McGuire: Pro-organic group's glyphosate analysis no substitute for peer-reviewed science ...
Why one anti-GMO farmer switched to genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant seeds
Greg Guenther is now an enthusiastic user of genetically modified seed, despite steering clear of it in the mid-1990s, having ...
Chipotle got rid of food with ‘scary-sounding chemicals’—So why are customers getting sick?
[Editor's note: Joseph Perrone is the Chief Science Officer at the Center for Accountability in Science.] [Spring 2017], Chipotle reinforced its ...
‘Chemicals’ not biggest threat to food safety—and 9 other myths about modern farming busted
Next time you’re at the grocery store, consider these 10 modern myths about the most ancient occupation. 4. A pesticide ...
Kenya could become first country to approve GMO bridal bouquet ‘baby’s breath’ flowers
Baby’s breath, a staple of bridal bouquets, could become Kenya’s first commercially grown genetically modified (GM) flower. By introducing genes ...
India’s cotton farmers turn to black market herbicide-tolerant GM varieties to improve yields
The cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops with new transgenic traits such as herbicide tolerance (HT) is spreading fast in ...
How EU could make GMO crop regulations more scientific
In recent years, the EU legislation on genetically modified (GM) crops has come under severe criticism. Among the arguments are ...
Behind the NY Times glyphosate fiasco: Why anti-GMO activists turned on Ben & Jerry’s
The pile-on against Ben & Jerry's — "outed" for having traces of glyphosate in its ice creams — seems like ...
Agronomist: No amount of data will satisfy ‘anti-biotech extremists’ peddling precautionary principle
[Tim Durham is a professor of agronomy and agricultural science at Ferrum College in Virginia.] The [precautionary principle, or PP] ...
Studies claiming serious GMO crop risks published mostly in low quality journals and riddled with conflicts of interest, bad science
[Editor's note: Miguel Sanchez is Executive Director of ChileBio. Wayne Parrott is a professor of Crop Science at the University of ...
Parts per billion trace amounts of glyphosate herbicide found in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
A growing number of foods commonly found in kitchens across America have tested positive for glyphosate, the herbicide that is ...
Herbicide-tainted Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? NY Times falls for anti-science group’s dubious attack on glyphosate
The Organic Consumers Association uses junk science testing organization to claim ice cream contains trace parts-per-billion of glyphosate—at least tens ...
