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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New EPA head Scott Pruit poised to challenge ‘politics driven’ farm chemical regulations
[Editor’s note: Henry Miller is a physician and molecular biologist, and was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology.] ...
Getting Risk Right: Geoffrey Kabat’s book asks, “are we afraid of the wrong things?”
[Editor's note: Geoffrey Kabat is a cancer researcher and an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.] Why do things that ...
Can farmers reduce pesticide use but maintain expected yields? Study of French farms says yes
A team of researchers with members affiliated with several institutions in France has found that lowering the amount of pesticides ...
Massachusetts mulls restrictions on neonicotinoid pesticides over bee safety concerns
A type of pesticide many beekeepers blame for mass bee die-offs would come under tighter regulation under a bill filed ...
UK farmers push back against ‘pseudo-science attack’ on herbicide glyphosate
Hundreds of farmers across Britain are coming together in a concerted effort to show politicians and the public why glyphosate ...
When Celebrity And Science Collide: Hollywood And The Anti-Biotechnology Food Movement
Celebrityhood does not equate with science knowledge. The opinions of music and media stars are no more relevant to the ...
Tanzania’s first ever GMO field trial: Drought-tolerant, insect-resistant corn ‘shows promising results’
Tanzania's first-ever genetically-modified crop trial was planted only a 30-minute drive from the capital. ... A year ago the Tanzanian ...
Only 1 percent of US farmland is certified organic. Why aren’t more farmers making the switch?
There are two stories to tell about the state of organic agriculture in the US. The first is a success ...
5 non-GMO ‘frankenfoods’ that can carry organic label
One of the most common food myths of our time is that GMOs are “frankenfoods” while heirloom or organic varieties ...
How to stop fungi that infect, destroy crops? Target their ‘friends’
By itself, [the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani] is responsible for the turfgrass disease called brown patch, sheath blight within rice, ...
Iowa farmer: 8 popular food companies that promote myths about GMOs
[Editor’s note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, raises lamb and beef cattle, and grows almost ...
Blight-resistant genetically engineered potatoes that cut fungicide use approved
Three types of potatoes genetically engineered to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine are safe for the ...
Precision agriculture: How big data can make farms more sustainable
Farmers have numerous sources of technology and data available to use in their operations, but many producers struggle with what ...
Perplexing Case Of Consumer Confusion About GE Foods In a ‘Fake News’ World
Information issued by scientific organizations often do not change perceptions. This is especially true for people with rooted 'tribal' beliefs ...
1 in 3 Scottish farmers blame ban of neonicotinoid pesticides for rapeseed crop damage
More than a third of Scottish arable farmers say the ban on neonicotinoids has resulted in greater damage to oilseed ...
Idaho GMO sugar beet farmers mull ditching crop as more food companies adopt non-GMO label
Idaho sugar beet farmers have grown increasingly dependent on genetically modified seeds for cost savings and greater yields over the ...
Whole Foods, Patagonia, Clif Bar school lunch program promotes misconceptions about pesticides, seed saving
[Editor's note: Stephan Neidenbach is a middle school teacher, father, and blogger.] The Conscious Kitchen program (funded by Patagonia, Clif ...
Bayer takeover of Monsanto delayed as US, European regulators seek more information on deal
The German drugmaker will only seek approval for the transaction in the European Union next quarter after regulators there requested ...
Commercialization, research on ‘home-grown’ GMO crops backed by Kenyan lawmakers
Kenyan crop researchers are free to start commercial growing of Genetically Modified (GMO) cotton, the country’s lawmakers said on Tuesday ...
Did Google do the right thing in blocking Natural News from searches?
[Editor’s note: Read the GLP’s profile on Natural News founder Mike Adams. Also: FBI turns up heat on Mike Adams ...
How European-Based NGOs Block Crop Biotechnology Adoption In Africa
European politicians and anti-biotech groups lobby to prevent Africa from adopting or trading GE crops. Farmers have been forced to ...
Trump’s threatened ‘trade war’ with Mexico could undermine US GMO corn market
[Editor's note: More than 90% of the US corn market is GMO — a combination of herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant varieties.] ...
Debunking Denialism: 5 environmental benefits from GMO crops
Editor's note: Emil Karlsson is a Swedish science communicator who runs the Debunking Denialism blog, which is dedicated to scientific skepticism ...
1 cigarette ‘more carcinogenic and toxic’ than a spoonful of glyphosate pesticide
[Editor's note: Matan Shelomi is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical ...
GMO-free diet adds almost $3,000 per year to average US family food budget, study finds
[Editor's note: The following is a study by Barry Goodwin, Michele Marra, and Nicholas Piggott, from the Agricultural and Resource ...
Insect-resistant GMO cowpeas speed toward commercialization in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan African farmers will soon have access to improved cowpea varieties that will lead to increases in yield. This follows ...
Farmers in 10 states file lawsuit alleging Monsanto responsible for crop damage from drift of dicamba herbicide
[Editor's note: In November 2016, the EPA approved a formulation of dicamba that contains an additive that reduces volatility. This ...
