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.
‘Game changer’ herbicide that could supplement glyphosate developed from anti-malaria chemical
Researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have used chemicals destined to develop new treatments for malaria as a ...
LA Times: Food Evolution GMO movie persuasive not polemical, ‘potentially revolutionary’
Calm, careful, potentially revolutionary, "Food Evolution" is an iconoclastic documentary on a hot-button topic. Persuasive rather than polemical, it's the ...
Harmful, beneficial or no effect? Flawed European bees and neonicotinoids study could be misused to support ban
A widely-discussed 3-country study showed no clear impact of neonics on bees. Why did the authors appear to explain away ...
Hollywood Reporter on Food Evolution: ‘Polished and provocative’, challenges ‘enviro-activist orthodoxy’
THE BOTTOM LINE: A polished and provocative call for activists to be as scientifically minded as they believe they are ...
Independent health agencies disagree with IARC’s glyphosate cancer designation
The list of [Proposition 65] labeled substances [in California] includes marijuana smoke (but eating marijuana is fine, by California standards), ...
GMO rice that could reduce synthetic fertilizer usage developed by Indian scientists
New GM rice developed by [India's] National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR) can improve uptake of natural Phosphorus from ...
Organic crop farming in US slides even as demand for organic food increases
The time is ripe for Jeff Bezos to work his business acumen on an area of the US food system ...
Backlash to flawed ‘landmark’ European neonicotinoid study: Inconclusive data suggest both health benefits and harm
Upside down news: A backlash by independent scientists has begun to emerge, challenging sensational accounts of a 'landmark' European field ...
Opinion: Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio and foodie movement push expensive, counterproductive farm policies
Tom Colicchio wants every child to taste an apple by the age of three. That’s just one of the many ...
Following controversial neonicotinoid study, researchers warn replacement pesticides may be worse for bees
Two large-scale studies published Thursday [June 29] suggest that common pesticides may harm bee colonies. In some cases, the pesticides ...
French PM rejects ag minister’s plea, green lights 2018 neonicotinoid insecticide ban
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe weighed in on a row between his environment and agriculture ministers ... to rule that ...
Beepocalypse not now: Canada’s honeybee colonies up 10% in 2017 to record high
On Canadian farms, almost 800,000 honeybee colonies are in active duty this year. That’s about 10 percent more than in ...
Green Revolution 2.0: Agricultural technology ‘moonshot’ could change future of food
The first meeting of “Science Breakthroughs 2030” just convened to discuss the key advances essential for revolutionizing food and agriculture ...
Food Evolution director defends documentary as pro-data, pro-science
[Scott Hamilton] Kennedy goes deep here with his answers to Salon’s questions, judiciously explaining what others might consider blasphemy. ...
Prince Charles: ‘Future of humanity’ may depend on organic farming
Prince Charles has warned that the ‘very future of humanity’ may depend on organic farming. Speaking as he celebrated the ...
California’s Prop 65 listing of herbicide glyphosate as carcinogen goes into effect July 7
Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co's popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California's list ...
Opinion | Putin’s ‘sock puppets’: How Russia ‘uses’ anti-GMO activists to undermine crop biotech and science
In its promotion of 'fake news,' Russia is committed to undermining US technological advantages by using anti-GMO activists to spread ...
‘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 ...
Opinion: Food Evolution movie gets science right—but that won’t likely convince ‘GMO-averse people’
[Editor's note: Keith Kloor is a freelance writer and adjunct journalism lecturer at New York University.] Unfortunately, there’s no good ...
Genetically engineered natural insecticides? RNAi crops with built-in protection hit the market
DvSnf7 dsRNA is an unusual insecticide. You don’t spray it on crops. Instead, you encode instructions for manufacturing it in ...
Gene ‘silencer’: GM crop technology could help stop spread of herbicide resistance
Introducing genes for herbicide resistance into a crop permits it to be sprayed with weedkiller that really does then kill nothing ...
‘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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 — ...
