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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Will gene editing promote ‘industrial farming’? Are there sustainable alternatives?
Editor's Note: This article was written by two members of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, an ...
New RNAi spray formulation protects plants from viral infection for 20 days
...[A] team at the University of Queensland in Australia has managed to achieve long-lasting gene silencing inside plant cells. They ...
Sri Lankan tea industry faces devastating crop losses following glyphosate ban
The Planters Association of Ceylon (PA), faced with devastating crop losses in excess of Rs. 15 billion in 2016, is ...
Monsanto’s public relations stumbles partly responsible for GMOs bad reputation
... Despite the company’s chequered history, the general public was largely unaware Monsanto…[but t]hat all changed in 1996...when Monsanto attempted ...
Hawaii state experts challenge anti-GMO myth: Pesticide threats not from farming but homes
The anti-GMO movement has succesfully established this false narrative: Seed companies in Hawaii are using unprecedented quantities of pesticides in ...
GMO Bt corn contains fewer disease-causing mycotoxins than conventional corn
Editor's Note: This blog by geneticist Anastasia Bodnar evaluate whether claims made by the biotechnology industry that GM foods are free ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing could transform our lives
[W]e asked a variety of scientists what they think are realistically the most exciting ways that scientists might one day ...
Scotts GMO grass, nearing approval, under fire in Oregon for ‘contamination’ claims
[Scotts Miracle-Gro's unapproved genetically modified] grass has taken root in Oregon...the self-professed grass seed capital of the world with a ...
Kauai council may repeal anti-GMO/anti-pesticide bill ruled invalid by federal court
The County Council will take up a resolution to correct the serious public policy error made with enactment of Bill ...
Insect resistance to Bt crops and weed resistance to herbicides rose in 2016
Insects and weeds pushed many chemical and genetic crop protection tools to their breaking point. A wealth of confirmed and suspected ...
Will new dicamba and 2,4-d herbicide mixes pose drift threat to Texas wine growers?
As Paul Bonarrigo watched his grapevines dwindle, he was confident that heavy-duty herbicides, probably sprayed on crops by a nearby ...
Environmental groups push stricter pesticide rules, including glyphosate ban, in Hawaii
Hawaii residents concerned about pesticide use by major agriculture companies on the islands are planning a push to strengthen regulation ...
Industry funding of university research complicated, unavoidable
[The New York Times article Scientists Loved and Loathed by an Agrochemical Giant] does present a prima facie case that ...
Why business journalists should not write on science: Washington Post botches India GMO cotton exposé
Business reporters should not attempt to write about science--a point underscored by a botched Washington Post "investigation" about growing cotton ...
Recapping 2016: 10 ways anti-GMO activists put ideology ahead of science
When they said we would have to add an extra second to the clocks at the end of 2016, there ...
Advances in CRISPR, gene editing helping ‘clean tech’ get off ground after years of failure
A decade ago, a group of biologists, venture capitalists and computer whizzes...hoped to overturn polluting industries with microorganisms cheerily excreting ...
Europe, Canada demonstrate challenges of regulating pesticides
The new Trump Administration is now taking shape, amid bountiful signals that it will not blindly accept or rubberstamp previous ...
Farmers worry over weed control in corn as EPA mulls future of atrazine
Corn is a great rotational crop from an agronomic standpoint, and [atrazine] has been recommended to assist with control of ...
Health Canada’s proposed ban of a neonicotinoid pesticide draws criticism
In November, Health Canada said that a nation-wide ban of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, was necessary because the chemical is ...
EU panel concludes organic food may offer limited health, sustainability advantages
This report reviews existing scientific evidence regarding the impact of organic food on human health from an EU perspective, with ...
Could sustainable weeding provide alternative to pesticides in herbicide resistant plants?
Farmers are concerned about weeds becoming resistant to herbicides used on crops that have been genetically modified to withstand herbicides… ...
Incoming Trump Administration faces key food policy challenges
Here are some stories [to track] in the coming year: Mind-bending agribusiness deals. For more than a decade, the global ...
Can water protect you from glyphosate ‘poisoning’? Gilles-Eric Séralini’s homeopathy “detox” hoax
The controversial French scientist fronts for a homeopathy company that has funded much of his research. What does mainstream science ...
Séralini paper: Molecular analysis shows GMO corn differs from non-GMO–Is difference meaningful?
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration ... GMO crops are deregulated once nutritional and compositional “substantial equivalence” is demonstrated ...
Neonicotinoid pesticides ban proposed in Chicago
Poisonous chemicals that can “decimate the population” of bees, butterflies and other pollinators would essentially be banned in Chicago under ...
“Getting Risk Right”: Geoffrey Kabat on health, risk and bad science
Why do things that are unlikely to harm us get the most attention? Dr. Geoffrey Kabat, a cancer epidemiologist at ...
Endocrine disrupting chemicals: Is ‘industry’ or activists twisting the truth about alleged dangers?
On November 29, an op-ed article published in Le Monde, co-signed by 94 scientists, [made] numerous allegations, most prominent among them that ...
