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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Myth busting: Does Monsanto ‘control’ farmers with contracts that bar seed saving?
[Editor's note: Read the GLP's coverage of farmers' responses to Bette Midler criticizing Monsanto’s seed patent contracts here.] [Editor's note: Brian Scott ...
Sustainability myth: Stanford misleads students about organic farming’s reduced environmental impact
The promotion of 'sustainable' organic farming at one of the nation's top universities shows just how pervasive myths about conventional ...
Scared to Death: Environmental Working Group fails the ‘sound science’ chemicals test
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) uses an authoritative sounding name to peddle scientific half-truths and outright fabrications. Along with Greenpeace ...
‘Sugar is sugar is sugar’: What Hershey doesn’t want you to know about its GMO-free chocolate
[Editor's note: Wanda Patsche and her husband own and operate an independent farm in southern Minnesota, raising corn, soybeans and pigs.] ...
Video: Pest-resistant GE cowpeas could reduce pesticide use, increase yields of African staple
Dr. TJ Higgins discusses a global effort to genetically engineer a pest-resistant variety of cowpea (black-eyed peas) that will help ...
Video: Food Evolution—Neil deGrasse Tyson-narrated documentary on GMO debate—set for June 23 release
Food Evolution aims to take a look at the science underlying the heated rhetoric of the GMO debate. Filmmaker Scott ...
Talking Biotech: Plants that ‘protect themselves’ and reduce pesticide may be future of crop biotechnology
Genetic engineering pioneer Calgene's Maurice Moloney on developing plants that 'naturally' fend off pests ...
GM non-bruising potatoes won’t be grown commercially in Canada this year
There will be no commercially grown GMO potatoes on Prince Edward Island [in 2017], according to Simplot Plant Sciences, the ...
Diet and land: Why organic farming is ‘less sustainable’ than conventional
[Editor's note: Steven Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine.] Perhaps the biggest problem with ...
Black market GM cotton seeds flood Chinese market, cutting pesticide use and boosting yields
China is one of the world’s top cotton producers partly because of a widespread sowing of banned seeds, according to ...
5 reasons why it’s so hard to know whether ‘organic’ food is really organic
Regulating [food] supply chains to ensure, for example, that “organic” foods deserve their labels is hard. Here are five reasons ...
Neonicotinoid corn seed treatments likely ‘far exceed demonstrable need’, study says
Nearly every foraging honey bee in the state of Indiana will encounter neonicotinoids during corn planting season, and the common ...
Video: How are CRISPR crops regulated differently than GMOs?
Critics say the Obama Administration balked on an opportunity to update Reagan-era guidelines on how agencies like the Department of ...
Plants vs pathogens: CRISPR-created crops fend off pests, add nutrition
Potato blight sparked the Irish famine in the 19th century, causing a million people to starve to death and another ...
To revive monarch butterflies, plant milkweed in yards and on wild lands, study says
If Monarch butterflies are going to stay off the endangered species list, they need more to eat. And it’s up ...
Anti-pesticide, anti-nuclear activist named France’s new environment minister
The new French president stunned businesses by appointing Nicolas Hulot, an anti-nuclear and anti-pesticide environmental activist, as the country's environmental ...
Infographic: India poised to dramatically increase its global GMO footprint
GM crop footprint in India is all set to grow once the government gives its final nod to GM Mustard, ...
Maine approves 3 genetically engineered blight resistant potatoes that reduce pesticide use
With little fanfare, the Maine Board of Pesticides Control unanimously approved ... the registration of three new types of genetically ...
To feed 1.4 billion people China technologizing its agriculture sector–Will it be enough?
China’s 1.4 billion people are building up an appetite that is changing the way the world grows and sells food ...
New GE rice variety boosts plant’s immune system to fight multiple diseases at once
Plants don’t have a bloodstream to circulate immune cells. Instead, they use receptors on the outsides of their cells to ...
Less milkweed due to herbicide likely contributed to early monarch butterfly declines, study finds
[Monarch butterfly] numbers ... are shrinking. New research at Michigan State University, published in the current issue of the journal ...
Hype and agroecology: Is ‘low input’ farming better for the environment and economy?
[Editor's note: Henry Miller, physician and molecular biologist, is a fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University’s ...
What would Whole Foods look like if it were ‘science-based’?
[Editor’s note: Jenny Splitter is a writer, storyteller and mother of two.] Whole Foods used to be my idea of ...
Why GMOs face tough go in China despite huge imports and successful crops
[Editor’s note: Mark Lynas is an author and journalist who reports on crop biotechnology around the world.] Sometimes I hear ...
Plants that ‘fertilize themselves’? Gene discovery could lead to reductions in synthetic fertilizer use
The lessons of plant diversity and competition learned from a clover patch, which are featured in a special issue of ...
Conflict of interest? Mother Jones’ Tom Philpott’s connections to organic industry raise concerns
Journalist Tom Philpott, who covers food and farming issues at Mother Jones, was recently the keynote speaker at a fundraising ...
Infographic: Who to trust—and who not to trust—about food and farming
With conflicting claims about scientific topics everywhere on the internet, it’s hard to know who to trust. This is especially ...
