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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Video: Missouri farmer creatively complies with ‘ridiculous’ requirement to destroy GE petunias
Blake Hurst, a greenhouse grower in Northwest Missouri and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, recently received a letter telling him ...
IARC glyphosate bombshell: Scientist who lead review of herbicide withheld data showing no cancer link
When Aaron Blair sat down to chair a week-long meeting of 17 specialists at the International Agency for Research on ...
Can CRISPR gene editing revive promise of GMOs to provide hardier, more nutritious, better tasting crops?
Using CRISPR to add—or remove—a plant trait is faster, more precise, easier, and in most cases cheaper than either traditional ...
Organic industry forms ‘anti-fraud task force’ following discovery of ‘contaminated’ USDA-certified imports
A task force convened by the Organic Trade Association will get to work [June 2017] on developing a best-practices guide for ...
Canada delays neonicotinoid insecticide ban decision until at least December 2017
Health Canada won’t issue a final decision on whether it will ban imidacloprid [until at least December 2017], says a ...
Will Trump continue Obama-era ‘streamlining’ of crop and animal biotech and gene-editing regulations?
[Editor's note: Hank Campbell is president of the American Council on Science and Health.] President Donald Trump spent a great deal ...
Are farm chemicals to blame for Iowa’s sick oak trees?
Iowa’s state tree is under stress. Visible damage to oak trees in recent years may be caused by farm chemicals, ...
Dissecting MIT computer scientist Stephanie Seneff’s claim that glyphosate herbicide causes autism
[Editor's note: Josh Bloom is director of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. He ...
Nature editorial: USDA and FDA need to ‘harmonize’ gene-edited plant and animal regulations
In January [2017], two US agencies proposed the first substantial overhaul in 30 years of how they regulate genetically altered ...
Could a mushroom save honey bees from Varroa mites?
What is killing honey bees? The most prevalent cause of death is due to infestation by the invasive Varroa mite, ...
Video: Dietitian Abbey Sharp’s hilarious look at the GMO debate
[Editor's note: Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), food writer and blogger, and founder of Abbey's Kitchen Inc.] Did ...
EPA to investigate ‘glyphosate review-related matters’ after allegation of Monsanto collusion
The inspector general for the Environmental Protection Agency is initiating a probe into possible collusion between a former high-ranking EPA ...
‘Gut punch’: Canadian farmer takes attacks against GMOs personally
[Editor's note: Andrew Campbell is a dairy and crop farmer near London, Ont.] Our corn and soybeans are mostly genetically ...
Talking Biotech: ‘Know GMO’ documentary fights food fears, misinformation with science
Filmmaker Nick Saik's 'Know GMO' documentary builds dialogue on food science and farm technology ...
Climate change may speed up pest’s tolerance of insect-resistant GM Bt corn
Climate change might be great news for pests looking to munch on genetically modified crops, researchers propose. In particular, researchers ...
Activists fan concerns about CRISPR ‘off target’ effects in gene-edited crops and foods. Are they right?
Off-target simply means an unintended effect as opposed to what researcher's are trying to produce. It's akin to side effects ...
Debate swirls over yield and bee health impact of neonicotinoid seed treatments
A study by Purdue entomologist Christian Krupke [May 2017] was the latest to conclude that honeybees are widely exposed to ...
New GMO crop: Brazil approves insect resistant sugarcane for commercial use
Brazilian biosecurity agency CTNBio on Thursday [June 8] approved commercial use of a genetically modified sugarcane, setting a milestone for ...
Slugging it out with a new contender in the GMO debate
“I thought it might be worth meeting,” [said Penn State University entomologist John Tooker], “because I read the piece where ...
Podcast: ‘Consumers don’t have anything to fear’ about pesticide residue, says food scientist
"The research that I've done about the pesticide residues on foods would suggest that, by and large, consumers really don't ...
Winemakers abandoning organic status for sustainability, improved taste
The shift has been more common in France, where wineries have cited concerns about the environment and copper buildup from ...
Can consumers rely on the credibility of the USDA organic label?
The reliability of the USDA organic label is under fire by the Washington Post, challenging the practices of some large ...
‘Monsanto gas mask man’ photos distort GMO debate and disrespect farmers
[Editor's note: Terrance Bradshaw is a research associate at the University of Vermont and director of the university's Apple and Grape ...
Americans’ worries about GMOs–and indifference to debate–increasing, polls show
Polls examined here document a general, though not monotonic, decline in confidence that the federal government can ensure the safety ...
Horizon ‘organic’ milk under fire for adding factory-produced algae oil to boost nutrition
Inside a South Carolina factory, in industrial vats that stand five stories high, batches of algae are carefully tended, kept ...
5 ‘game changer’ technologies improving modern agriculture
1. GPS technology GPS may be the biggest game changer in agriculture. While things like autosteer have made driving the ...
Indian agriculture expert: Don’t let GM mustard go the way of GMO eggplant
[Editor’s note: K.K. Narayanan is an agriculture expert and founder of Metahelix Life Sciences.] Seven-and-a-half years ago, BT Brinjal [eggplant], ...
