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 — Influential sports scientists: ‘No evidence that organic food is healthier’
Dr. Mike Israetel, a sports scientist and professor with a PhD in kinesiology, recently appeared on The Rubin Report to ...
Reviewing the evidence on the benefits and dangers of glyphosate
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order that expands U.S. production of glyphosate, a herbicide contained in commercial and domestic ...
Viewpoint — RFK, Jr. vs. fluoride: The next big health brawl—science be damned
The EPA recently took its first step toward determining safe levels of fluoride in drinking water, publishing a "Preliminary Assessment ...
Why the herbicide glyphosate is key to sustainable agriculture
Here are some reasons why there could not be sustainable agriculture without herbicides like those containing glyphosate. Sustainable Farming: The ...
Netflix plastic documentary is scare nonsense packaged as science
Netflix, which has made simplified propaganda many times before (See: Dopesick), sticks to a familiar formula in a thoroughly slanted ...
GLP podcast: Overdose crisis—Illicit opioids spread like drug-resistant bacteria?
The harder the government cracks down on a drug, the more deadly its illicit replacement that emerges from the black ...
Viewpoint — Dirty Dozen produce ranking flop: Environmental Working Group is at it again with its scientifically ignorant rankings
Spring has sprung. And along with the change of season comes the annual release of Environmental Working Group’s “Shopper’s Guide to ...
Viewpoint: The ‘link to cancer’ myth—Activist and trial lawyers misrepresent the potential danger of glyphosate and other herbicides
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure increased domestic supplies of elemental phosphorus ...
Viewpoint — Glyphosate: Ecological villain or environmental scapegoat?
Glyphosate may just be the most polarizing chemical in modern agriculture, if not modern society. Since the World Health Organization’s ...
GLP podcast: Does industry funding corrupt science? The ‘shill gambit,’ debunked
It's a charge many scientists face: they post a factual tweet refuting common misinfo about vaccines, pesticides or some other ...
Viewpoint: Wheat has become a target of glyphosate critics. Should the herbicide be banned?
We have reached a point where the mere mention of glyphosate reflexively triggers public reactions of fear, regardless of whether ...
U.S. defunding International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), UN-affiliated group that issued cancer warnings for glyphosate, steak, and getting a haircut
The United States’s withdrawal this year from the World Health Organization (WHO) is having knock-on effects on an influential global ...
Viewpoint: Is the Republican-backed farm bill an agriculture industry giveaway?
The newly proposed, Republican-led farm bill includes a range of provisions opponents say constitute a “pesticide industry wishlist” that would ...
White House clamps down on RFK, Jr.’s vaccine rejectionism but he reportedly retains Trump’s support
The White House is more tightly controlling the messaging and policies—including around vaccines—coming from the Department of Health and Human ...
Viewpoint—Liberal delusion: No, RFK, Jr. would not have made a great Secretary of Agriculture
The standard non-MAGA take on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is that it’s too bad he’s such a brain-wormed lunatic about ...
Cosmetics offers a case study in the dangers of science misinformation
When we think about misinformation, we tend to picture election interference, geopolitical propaganda or pandemic conspiracy theories. But misinformation does ...
Viewpoint: International Association for Research on Cancer and U.S. tort industry extortion racket revs up after release of IARC’s misleading cancer hysteria claims
[A World Health Organization scientific body], the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published Monograph 140, releasing its initial ...
Iowa Republicans partnering with quack ‘Raja of World Peace’ Maharishi Flying Yoga cult “scientist” to study pesticide residues
State Representative Jeff Shipley (R-Van Buren), and his Committee for Peace and Prosperity, today announced a major collaborative research initiative ...
Viewpoint: What do organic, agroecology and regenerative agriculture have in common? They don’t work and aren’t sustainable
A farmer drastically reduces fertilizer applications, trusting soil biology to provide the needed nutrients. A crop consultant recommends a 10-species ...
GLP podcast: How the Green Revolution saved the world $83 trillion
Spearheaded by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Norman Borlaug, the Green Revolution dramatically boosted food production in the middle of the ...
RFK, Jr.’s aversion to legislation raises the question: Will his revolution endure?
Over the course of his year in the Cabinet, Kennedy has racked up major wins for his Make America Healthy ...
Trump-MAHA coalition near a breaking point?
Donald Trump issued an executive order [on February 18, 2026] to boost production of glyphosate, a widely used pesticide that’s ...
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 ...
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 ...
