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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What would the effect on US agriculture be on farm profits and climate change if glyphosate is banned?
What’s a future without glyphosate look like? How about a nearly $2.9 billion drop in net farm income, food inflation ...
99+% pesticide free: While activists claim chemicals soak our fruits and vegetables, USDA provides facts
[T]he U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its annual Pesticide Data Program report to little fanfare or attention. We’ve said repeatedly ...
GLP podcast: Break out of your echo chamber—an ER physician explains how to win over vaccine skeptics
Dr. Liza Dunn has an impressive resume. She's cared for malnourished children in developing countries, treated drug overdoses in the ...
Pesticides cause prostate cancer? Cedars Sinai Medical Center epidemiologist criticizes ‘biased’ ecological study
A recent study published in Cancer, an international interdisciplinary journal of the American Cancer Society, concluded that there is an association ...
Podcast viewpoint: RFK, Jr spewed misinformation about glyphosate, vaccines and cellphones on Joe Rogan—clues on how he could impact US policy” ← Go to editor
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is recognized for his bad science around critical issues like vaccination and agricultural chemistry. Recently he ...
Viewpoint: ‘Doubt factory’—How a French journalist manufactures facts to manipulate the media, enrich toxic tort law firms and undermine science
Editor's Introduction: Readers who live outside of France have likely never heard of Le Monde environmental journalist Stéphane Foucart. He ...
Viewpoint: Understanding risk—Why does trace pesticide residue spark intense fear?
At speaking engagements, I would often remind audiences of Bruce Ames’ quote on coffee and pesticides. In an attempt to ...
‘Banning pesticides would upend the US food system’: Farmers alarmed that the Trump-RFK, Jr. alliance could cripple US agriculture
Donald Trump’s embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his fringe health theories is triggering a flurry of outreach in ...
Mexico’s ban on GM corn ‘could disproportionately affect the nation’s lower-income consumers’
A fully implemented ban on genetically modified corn in Mexico could disproportionately affect the nation's lower-income consumers, according to a ...
Podcast: Glyphosate doesn’t cause Celiac disease or alter gluten structure
Disinformation clouds the public understanding of science, especially technology in agriculture and medicine. So when a leading journal publishes false ...
Glyphosate free farming is not in any country’s near future
Glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, is the subject of widespread controversy in scientific literature, media, policy, and society ...
Video—Viewpoint: Nutritionist Dr. Sarah Ballantyne: Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen vegetables and fruits is ‘fear-mongering’ and “not scientifically credible’
The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list is based on the number of pesticide residue detections found on foods, but ...
GLP podcast: Fighting cancer with vaccines; ‘Regulator-activist-legal complex’ undermines innovation
Therapeutic vaccines for some cancers have entered clinical trials. Do they represent the future of cancer treatment? Regulations, fearmongering campaigns ...
Mexico’s president proposes extending the ban of genetically modified crops “for both health and the protection of biodiversity in the country.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum reaffirmed the importance of the decree banning the planting of transgenic white corn in Mexico, highlighting that ...
Insect-resistant, genetically modified Bt cotton revolutionized farming in India. Now it faces challenges. Here’s why
[Insect resistant] Bt cotton has played a transformative role in India’s agricultural landscape, especially in the cotton farming sector. Introduced ...
Video: Viewpoint—The opportunism of anti-chemical crusaders
Unless you think plants are little people, so you don't understand any science, it is impossible to believe a weedkiller ...
Viewpoint: What happens when health officials spread misinformation?
The American Academy of Pediatrics is legitimizing pseudoscience that is undermining food safety, genetic technologies, and critical agricultural practices ...
GLP podcast: Red state ‘bullies’ trying to ban fake meat; Alt-health activists in a second Trump Admin? Psilocybin might be superior to some antidepressants
Why are some states trying to ban lab-grown meat? Conspiracy thinking prevails in the alternative health movement, and some of ...
A natural biological approach to weed control
Weeds have been a major challenge since the earliest days of farming. Tillage - the mechanical means of weed control ...
GLP podcast: Rachel Carson launched chemophobia? ‘Big Ag’ helps solve environmental problems; Placebos as medicine
Did revered environmentalist Rachel Carson gives rise to the modern anti-chemical crusade scientists are now struggling to control? Maybe so ...
Viewpoint: Why are politicians letting the tort lawyer and organic industry funded anti-science Environmental Working Group influence public policy?
We are in an era where rejection of science occurs across all ideologies and communities. Anti-science misinformation spreads as a ...
Viewpoint: Organic agriculture grain crisis?—What might be the impact if farming goes fully chemical-free organic?
[A] number of papers on going totally chemical-free suggest a significant impact. For instance, a meta-analysis from Nature concluded that ...
Viewpoint: Faulty science undergirds attacks on paraquat herbicide
The Paraquat-Parkinson’s tort extortion process is a perfect example of the Predatort Playbook in action. Tort law firms contact activist ...
GLP podcast: Egg myths, debunked; You might hate veggies because of your genes; Chemicals causing early puberty? Probably not
The public believes a lot of myths about eggs. Let's debunk some of the most popular misconceptions. If you don't ...
Will the Supreme Court block further glyphosate suits against Bayer?
Recent surprise decisions have upended plaintiffs’ expectations on the toxic tort front. In Delaware, the top court is rehearing the ...
How Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” inspired today’s misplaced chemophobia and endangers public health
[C]hemophobia has roots in the heart of the modern environmental movement. [In] 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book ...
Viewpoint: Chemophobic demonizing of DEET — Boston Museum of Science’s fact-free endorsement of ’non chemical’ insect repellent alternatives
I'm sure you know by now that I often speak about the harms of the appeal to nature fallacy and ...
