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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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
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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 ...
Viewpoint: Mass litigation targeting glyphosate could put beet farmers out of business
Glyphosate is used on 98% of Idaho's sugar beet acres, allowing those farmers to contribute over $385 million to our ...
GLP podcast: Should scientists endorse political candidates? Debate erupts over Scientific American’s support for Kamala Harris
"Vote for Kamala Harris to Support Science, Health and the Environment," Scientific American wrote in an incendiary September 16 editorial ...
The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people. It’s frightening that terrorists can create a synthetic version of the pathogen
“The Terrorism Warning Lights Are Blinking Red Again,” according to former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell, who delivered that message ...
Can household products induce early puberty? Study raises questions
Girls exposed to certain chemicals that are common ingredients in household products may be starting puberty comparatively early, a new ...
Canadian researchers in the early stages of developing effective and comparably inexpensive alternatives to glyphosate
Fifty-nine weed species around the world have developed some resistance to glyphosate, according to data from the International Survey of ...
Viewpoint: Marriage made in heaven? What would happen to science and farming if Trump wins and RFK, Jr. is rewarded with EPA cabinet post?
Could [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] serve inside a potential second Trump administration? ... Trump voters and disaffected Democrats don’t care ...
COVID vaccine hesitancy: With fewer parents willing to have their children vaccinated, pediatricians are throwing away trays of expired pandemic vaccines
When pediatrician Eric Ball opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, ...
Cloud seeding nanomaterials: Desert countries are trying to wring rain out of wisps of clouds. How are they doing?
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Australian glyphosate class action suit with 20,000 plaintiffs dismissed, judge says evidence supporting cancer claims lacking
This past July 24, Judge Michael Lee ruled on the carcinogenicity of RoundUp in a class action involving over 20,000 ...
GLP podcast: Youth cancer rates ‘soaring’? No. Will AI help or harm mental health care? Confronting vaccine ‘rejectionists’
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Viewpoint: The EPA just banned a crop chemical. What does that say about activist claims that the agency has become a dupe of the chemical industry?
Last month, the EPA issued an emergency suspension of the herbicide Dacthal and has initiated a process to cancel all ...
Can Ozempic and other GLP-1 weight loss drugs make you suicidal
Is it even biologically plausible that Ozempic could lead to suicide? I think it is, actually. First off, we know ...
Viewpoint: Challenging more misinformation about glyphosate: No, it does not cause Celiac disease or alter gluten structure
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Viewpoint: Nuclear power, pesticides, obesity and global warming: Examining the politics behind four contentious science debates
Gaslighting has now become a popular term again based on telling people not to believe what their lying eyes are telling them ...
‘Chemical-free weed management has presented challenges’: London council’s decision to ban glyphosate flops, leads to urban weed jungle
As any gardener who has spent the summer bent over their patio knows, tackling weeds is no easy feat. So ...
Is glyphosate weedkiller a danger to humans, bees and the environment? Addressing 10 controversial claims
Agricultural advances have made farming and our foods safer and more abundant than at any other time in history. Everyone ...
How to reduce chemical usage? European study concludes GM and gene-edited crops are a solution, proposed relaxed EU regulations would limit innovation
Can modern breeding technologies, such as genome editing, contribute to reduced pesticide usage? This question has been accentuated by a ...
Europe’s bioindustry 4.0: ‘The upside of biotechnology is that it can offer a cleaner alternative to traditional chemical manufacturing’
Biotechnology, which uses living organisms to create different products or processes, remains important in today’s production of food and drink ...
