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.
Viewpoint: NPR and hypocrisy on science: It defends Girl Scout cookies under attack from the MAGA right after years of promoting crackpot chemophobia
If NPR’s latest defense of Girl Scout cookies doesn’t leave you scratching your head, you might need to check your ...
Trump’s first tariff trade war cost U.S. farmers $27 billion. This round is shaping up as far worse, with food prices poised to rise as a result
If history is any indicator, farmers are sure to pay for Trump's trade war. During the first Trump administration, retaliatory ...
Viewpoint: ‘People will die’—The dramatic fallout from indiscriminate cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Thousands of federal employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were notified early Tuesday morning that they were subject ...
Viewpoint: Flouride bans make no scientific sense. A person would need to consume 357 liters a day of fluoridated water to risk adverse effects
It is exhausting when prominent “science personalities” spread harmful misinformation that erodes literacy and public health. Unfortunately, fluoride, which has ...
Viewpoint: Trump is MIA in his response to bird flu. Here’s what the administration needs to do, and fast
First, vaccinating poultry is critical to preventing flock outbreaks and must be a cornerstone of the nation’s avian influenza prevention ...
Tariff chaos threatens to ignite agricultural trade war with China that could roil US farmers and send food prices soaring
China ... is the third-largest importer of American farm goods, behind Mexico and Canada. ... [It's] retaliatory tariffs, which are supposed ...
Greening cows: How farmers can accelerate the transition to more sustainable milk production
This past summer, we read about Danish farmers paying a carbon tax on their cows and pigs. Starting in 2030, ...
Challenging fears and misconceptions about crop biotechnology is a challenge in an era of disinformation
My friend Kevin Folta, professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida, recently tweeted: ...
Viewpoint: Here’s a backgrounder on the anti-vaccine quack RFK, Jr. has drafted to prove vaccines cause autism
The longer President Donald Trump and his lackeys, particularly his Secretary of Health and Human Services, longtime antivax activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., ...
Urine could be a key source for developing sustainable fertilizers
The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits ...
GLP podcast with Cam and Liza: Stigmatizing autism—the anti-vaccine movement’s hysteria devalues the lives of the vulnerable and the marginalized
For nearly three decades, the anti-vaccine movement has perpetuated a dangerous, science-free narrative linking vaccines to autism. Not only has ...
Anti-RFK, Jr. rumblings are surging on Wall Street—He is ‘undermining the trusted leadership of healthcare in this country’:
Two top Wall Street analysts are calling on the White House to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the U.S ...
Global support for vaccines for poor countries and thousands of other global health initiatives poised for extinction as Trump escalates random cuts
The Trump administration intends to terminate the United States’ financial support for Gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical ...
Viewpoint: ‘We’re trapped in an increasingly dangerous supplement hell online, all thanks to politicians. And it’s probably going to get worse’
The nutritional and dietary supplement industry has exploded in recent years, fueled partly by social media influencers and branded content ...
Robot lasers may open the door to near chemical-free agriculture
The LaserWeeder G2 doesn't just remove weeds; it obliterates them. Using optimal thermal energy, the laser explodes cell walls at ...
Farmers advocate for protective legislation guaranteeing their ability to use crop chemicals deemed safe by federal oversight agencies
In many state legislatures, such as Missouri and North Dakota, there are bills being discussed to make the state pesticide ...
Organic industry lobbies to replace organic seal on foods with GMO-free, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, and pesticide related claims
To better engage younger consumers, further maximize the impact of the organic seal and drive sales, [Matthew] Dillon urges industry ...
16.4 million ads: Tort law firm suits targeting cutting edge technologies like genetically modified crops and chemicals surged more than 260% in the last 8 years with glyphosate at the top of the list
In 2024, a staggering $164 million was spent on more than 725,000 legal services advertisements in Los Angeles alone. This ...
Viewpoint—Greenpeace’s conviction and humiliation in the pipeline court case raises the question: What’s the global future for science-rejectionist NGOs?
On March 19, a North Dakota court jury ruled against Greenpeace USA, awarding $660 million to Energy Transfer LP for ...
Fluoride bans hobble rural dental health care: A slew of states are poised to follow Utah’s and RFK, Jr.’s lead and remove the health-protecting mineral to public water supplies, deepening health crisis
Fluoride [is] a naturally occurring mineral, keeps teeth strong when added to drinking water. ... Dozens of communities have decided ...
Africa’s food security challenges: Is nuclear agriculture a solution or a problem?
Climate change is an ongoing and increasing threat to African agriculture. Prolonged droughts, pest outbreaks, and poor soil quality are ...
‘Truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary’—CDC’s top vaccine scientist eviscerates RFK, Jr. in forced resignation letter
Peter Marks, the top Food and Drug Administration official who oversaw vaccines, gene therapies, and the blood supply, resigned [March ...
Sticky pesticides: Farmers don’t like using pesticides anymore than we like traces of them on our food. Here’s a smart way forward
It's easy for Greenpeace employees in cities to talk about farming but in the real world, without pesticides we'd lose ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the ‘appeal to nature’ fallacy — Arsenic is natural, acetaminophen is synthetic, everything is a chemical
We have to start with one of the most fundamentally (pun intended) misunderstood concepts: chemicals. And that’s because a lot of wellness misinformation ...
USAID cuts gut access to lifesaving vaccinations for millions of people in the world’s poorest countries
The United States is planning to terminate more than $1 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international ...
Viewpoint: Texas is a measles superspreader: With anti-vaccination ideology surging, the state is exporting the pandemic crisis to the rest of the US and the world
Measles, a highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, has made a resurgence in West ...
Viewpoint: Why you should read science headlines with caution
The strong correlation between flashiness and wrongness comes from several factors. First, much, if not most, scientific research is wrong. That’s why ...
