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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Viewpoint: When it comes to chemicals in medicine and agriculture, ‘natural’ is often less safe than synthetic
Almost nothing in your life is natural. And that’s a good thing. Take a look around—your smartphone, your fridge, your ...
‘We were lied to’: Will Trump’s order to increase the domestic supply of the weedkiller glyphosate split MAHA?
[T]he executive order Mr. Trump issued February 17 to increase domestic production of glyphosate — a widely used weedkiller and ...
9 top RFK, Jr. science controversies
From sweeping changes to vaccination protocols to scientifically dubious assertions about a host of childhood maladies, here are some of ...
Bayer agrees to pay $7.2 billion to settle thousands of Roundup suits, bringing total payout to more than $18 billion
Bayer, the German bio-tech giant, has proposed paying $7.25bn ... to definitively resolve a legal battle in the US over ...
GLP spaces on X: Florida’s anti-glyphosate hysteria, dissected
Panic erupted in Florida earlier this month after surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo held a press conference launching the state's ...
Pesticides in the crosshairs as MAHA goes head to head with Republican establishment
Republicans are using the farm bill to take another swing at passing legislation to protect pesticides, something sure to anger ...
Viewpoint: How increasingly politicized foundations use dark money contributions to bolster advocacy campaigns at odds with science
Western societies are creating billionaires at an unprecedented rate. But these newly minted accidental philanthropists are not like the Rockefellers, ...
GLP podcast: In defense of DDT—the pesticide that saved half a billion lives
The insecticide DDT has prevented roughly half a billion deaths. A relatively low-toxic chemistry widely used to control disease-vectoring mosquitoes ...
Trust in science is cratering in America. Is there a way to restore it?
Although public trust in science is a recent preoccupation for some, it has been a problem for decades in the United States. Republicans began ...
Viewpoint: The activist group “Beyond Plastics’ is a scam front but it guided policy at Biden’s EPA
A Firebreak FOIA reveals a cozy relationship between EPA officials and the Beyond Plastics Founder, Judith Enck. This investigation, based ...
Despite $12 billion in losses defending the safety of glyphosate, Bayer reiterates support for the herbicide
There may be a day when Bayer Crop Science decides it needs to exit the glyphosate business, George Gough, director ...
Viewpoint: Environmental activists corrupted Biden’s EPA
During the Biden administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) didn’t hide its close relationship with environmental groups and left-wing ...
MAHA turns its ire towards what it claims are unsafe, industry-friendly EPA chemical rules
Last year, prominent activist Kelly Ryerson was so frustrated with the EPA ... that she and other MAHA supporters drew ...
Regenerative agriculture gets a star turn with “health guru” RFK, Jr. and the Trump Administration. What could go wrong? (Plenty)
Who would have thought the Trump administration would be championing “regenerative” farming — an approach long associated with progressive food ...
Glyphosate’s contributions to cutting greenhouse gas emissions
I get many emotive emails about the evils of glyphosate, many of them from sources who also send me anti-vax ...
Viewpoint: Activists attempt to create a scandal over retracted 25-year-old narrative summary on glyphosate safety falls flat
[W]e learned that an old narrative review published 25 years ago about glyphosate has been retracted. Of course, as soon ...
Judging junk science: Here are the tools available for the courts to identify and block predatort and activist misinformation
Much has been written advising laypeople to navigate conflicting medical opinions and identify the golden truth amid the pervasive muck ...
GLP podcast: Everybody’s wrong about RFK, Jr.’s dietary guidelines
Depending on whom you ask, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans represent a significant step forward for public health—or they're ...
2026 will decide the legal future of the herbicide glyphosate—and could alter the shape of global agriculture
2026 is set to be a pivotal year for the fate of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other ...
Viewpoint: France’s Le Monde endorses bizarre activist conspiracy disinformation about the ‘dangers’ of gene-edited crops
Le Monde published on December 10 (date on the web) and 11 (date of the print edition, published the day ...
Bayer on SCOTUS: It should not face liablity in state courts for alleged health damages caused by its weedkiller Roundup (glyphosate) when independent federal agencies have reviewed thousands of studies and labeled it safe
The U.S. Supreme Court today announced that it will review the Durnell Roundup™ case. Monsanto petitioned the court to hear ...
Supreme Court agrees to review Bayer’s request to block lawsuits claiming federally-approved herbicide glyphosate causes cancer
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review Monsanto’s appeal seeking immunity from lawsuits related to its popular herbicide, Roundup ...
Chemophobia & Monetized Activism: Year in Review
Chemophobia — the reflexive fear that “chemicals” are inherently dangerous — stokes public anxiety about health and the environment. It ...
Disinformation Attacks on Food and Farming: Year in Review
Global farming and food policy is under intensive attack from an alliance of left-leaning environmental activists and the ideologically mushy ...
Viewpoint: For the developing world, ‘nature-friendly’ organic and regenerative farming lags in production and sustainability
Across the UK, we face an extensive and growing set of land-related environmental targets - spanning climate change mitigation, biodiversity ...
Supreme Court may consider blocking further suits targeting the weedkiller glyphosate, which global regulatory agencies have found safe
The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to take up a case involving weedkillers and cancer that could effectively ...
Viewpoint: Chemophobia infects the Washington Post: A case study of a reporter snookered by science-denying environmentalists
In the latest Washington Post scare story on the dangers of plastics, with the innocent title: These kitchen items may be ...
