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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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 ...
To evaluate non-existent links of vaccines to autism, RFK, Jr. taps activist who faked being a doctor, published “research”—later retracted—claiming a ‘vaccine-autism’ link and administered ineffective drugs to children to “cure” autism
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct [a critical study with a goal of ...
GLP podcast: Greenpeace USA might go broke; RFK, Jr. fibs about measles vaccine; Marty Makary spells trouble for FDA?
Greenpeace USA just lost a $667 million defamation lawsuit over pipeline protests that might sink the infamous NGO for good ...
Fox News’ health and nutrition experts: A chiropractor, a ’natural medicine doctor’ and ‘holistic nutritionists
It’s common sense that good dietary habits have a wide variety of benefits, and the more you deviate from good ...
Viewpoint: How ‘dark money’ donor advised foundations partner with tort lawyers, the organic industry and activist environmental funds to manipulate the media and target conventional agriculture
A herbicide company pays $25,000 to a pro-GMO plant biologist’s university for six months of travel expenses and the activist ...
Viewpoint: Weaponizing ‘informed consent’ — Here is how Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is undermining support for vaccinations … and it’s going to get a lost worse
There are a lot of ostensibly “pro-vaccine” physicians out there who, because they like how RFK Jr. includes an emphasis ...
Viewpoint: Anatomy of the activist environmental group-tort lawyer alliance—latest target is a safe chemical in use for half a millennium
Claims about occupational hazards, chemicals correlated to disease, occur every week, from non-stick spatulas to flame-retardant couches, and the group ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s tariffs are squeezing American farmers. We are still in wait-and-see territory but tensions are building
The trade war hit my farm and greenhouse business here in northwest Missouri on March 4. The first email I ...
Varroa mites, not pesticides, are by far the largest threat to honeybee health. Developing RNAi technology shows promise in addressing that crisis
Pictures of honeybees show up in prehistoric cave paintings, one stretching back 8,000 years ago in Spain. The ancient Egyptians were ...
Bayer plans appeal and hopes for legislative relief after $2.2 billion Roundup-glyphsate verdict
A Cobb County, Georgia, jury awarded plaintiff John Barnes $2.065 billion in compensation and damages on March 21 in ...
Viewpoint: Here’s a reminder of what life was like in RFK Jr’s.’ ‘good ol’ pre-vaccine days
In the early 1800s, some people rejected the smallpox vaccine because they didn’t trust the doctors and scientists promoting them, ...
While raw milk increases health risk by 70,000% percent, cheese made from raw milk is safe to eat
The only real way to wipe out H5N1, the bird flu that has been ruining egg prices since last year, ...
Viewpoint: Social media’s herd mentality undermines how we view farming and food
The information superhighway has many potholes to navigate and treacherous off ramps that will result in people getting lost on ...
Sociogenomics—How our environment molds genes and shapes our
The new field is called sociogenomics, a fusion of behavioral science and genetics that I have been closely involved with ...
Viewpoint: PFAS disinformation—How extremist environmentalists have demonized an entire class of safe-as-used properly chemicals
PFAS in cosmetics is the latest frontier for advocacy groups who have pressured regulatory agencies to ignore the scientific evidence ...
GLP Spaces on X: Deadly Thin Mints? $5 million chemical tort scam targets Girl Scout cookies
Tired of chasing ambulances and suing chemical companies, tort lawyers have identified a new villain: the Girl Scouts. You may ...
