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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‘Crop of the century’: How GM soybeans unseated ‘king corn’ in the US—with help from China
[Editor's note: 78 percent (91.4 million hectares) of the world's soybean acreage, is genetically modified.] With planting almost complete, soybeans are ...
European Union rejects attempt to block full ban on neonicotinoid insecticides
MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] have rejected an attempt by UK Conservative MEP Julie Girling to oppose a full ...
Plight of the monarch: Threatened by more than the loss of milkweed food supply
Anti-GMO critics often blame the herbicide glyphosate for monarch butterfly population declines, as it kills the insect's habitat--weeds. But a ...
‘Food Evolution’ review: Film shows fear of GMOs in rich countries hurts African farmers
The Food Evolution documentary, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy and narrated by pop astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, navigates ...
NY Times on Food Evolution movie: ‘In a world desperate for safe, sustainable food, GMOs may well be a force for good’
The scientific method is under siege, and not just from naysayers who dismiss climate change or fear vaccines. G.M.O.s — ...
How GMOs help farmers achieve more sustainable ‘conservation agriculture’
[Editor's note: Michelle Miller, the Farm Babe, is an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker and writer, who grows row crops, and raises ...
Everything you need to know about the evolving fiasco over IARC’s glyphosate cancer designation
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed research data regarding Monsanto’s glyphosate weed killer, also known ...
Sustainable farming debate: Food choice has greater impact on environment than how it’s grown
[Editor's note: Michael Clark is a PhD student in natural resources science and management at the University of Minnesota. David Tilman ...
Do GM crop regulatory delays, trade disputes threaten global food security?
[Editor's note: Stuart Smyth is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan.] Genetically ...
Brazil’s approval of GM sugarcane sets off debate over country’s biodiversity
A genetically modified (GM) cane variety that can kill the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) has been approved in Brazil, to ...
Honey bees could be shielded by probiotics from toxic effects of pesticide exposure, study finds
In a new study from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University, researchers have shown that probiotics can potentially protect ...
Video: Nina Fedoroff’s TED talk on how CRISPR could control the Zika virus without pesticides
How did the Zika epidemic become so widespread across the Americas? How do we stop mosquitoes from spreading the virus ...
Marion Nestle: ‘GMO propaganda’ film Food Evolution quoted me ‘out of context’
[Editor's note: Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. She is featured ...
Talking Biotech: Anti-GMO activists say Food Evolution is an ‘agrichemical conspiracy’—Who’s behind the documentary?
Scott Hamilton Kennedy, director of Food Evolution, addresses baseless claims that new GMO documentary is "Monsanto propaganda" ...
‘Billion-dollar pest’: EPA approves first ‘gene-silenced’ insect-resistant RNAi crops
EPA recently registered four products containing a new and innovative plant-incorporated protectant (PIP) called SMARTSTAX PRO that will help U.S ...
Organic industry-funded anti-GMO group US Right to Know calls Food Evolution film ‘chemical industry propaganda’
[Editor's note: Stacy Malkan is co-director of US Right to Know. Read the GLP's profile of USRTK here.] Some industry messaging ...
Nina Fedoroff: USDA, FDA proposals intended to streamline biotech crop regulations don’t offer needed relief
[Editor's note: Nina Fedoroff is an American molecular biologist. She was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2007 and served ...
WHO’s IARC: Why we did not consider evidence glyphosate herbicide is safe
[Editor's note: Read the GLP's coverage of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Reuters article.] The IARC Secretariat ...
Lesson from BPA: Banning glyphosate herbicide won’t make us safer
For years, opponents of glyphosate have argued the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup is harmful for your health. ...
10,000 times more pesticides ‘naturally’ in plants than synthetic residue on food
The word pesticide is misunderstood, nearly to the same extent as the word chemical. People have been led to believe, ...
US farmers skeptical of organic industry ‘task force’ cracking down on fraudulent imports
[May 2017], The Post reported that three enormous shipments of “organic” corn and soybeans - large enough to constitute a ...
Malaria weapon: Genetically engineered fungus with spider, scorpion venom
A research team from the University of Maryland has genetically engineered a fungus with spider and scorpion toxins to enhance ...
Scientists criticize IARC for withholding data showing glyphosate herbicide does not cause cancer
According to a new Reuters investigation, Aaron Blair, the scientist who led IARC's [the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a ...
Talking Biotech: Toxicologist on flawed approach of IARC’s glyphosate evaluation
University of Guelph toxicologist Len Ritter: 40-year history of safety assessments challenge IARC's "probable carcinogen" finding ...
Will GMO-wary public embrace gene-edited food crops? ‘It’s more social science than science’
Green stalks have only just begun to sprout in the test fields where biotech giant DuPont Pioneer is planting rows ...
WHO’s IARC under fire for ignoring exculpatory data on glyphosate: Should it be reformed or abolished?
Independent scientists challenge IARC's use of 'hazard' rather than 'risk' analysis--its operating premise that a substance should be ‘labeled’ carcinogenic ...
Glyphosate herbicide ban could cost UK farmers $1.2 billion, reduce tax revenue
New figures show the potentially devastating impact of a ban on glyphosate to the British economy and the agricultural sector, ...
