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 drives Environmental Working Group to falsely claim that Quaker Oats cereals contain dangerous levels of pesticides? To ‘create another round of fearmongering about toxins in our food and shill for the organic food industry’
You know the rule about headlines – if there is a question in a headline the answer is almost always “no”. This ...
Viewpoint: Money grab — How the Environmental Working Group works hand-in-hand with tort lawyers to generate billion-dollar junk suits
On February 15th, the litigation outfit known as Environmental Working Group, most famous for using public USDA data (although excluding pesticides from ...
Viewpoint: Exploiting chemophobia—Environmental Working Groups’s manufactured study claiming oat cereal contains dangerous pesticides designed to manipulate the media
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and media outlets are trying to scare people away from demonstrably safe and nutritious conventional food products ...
Viewpoint: Why is Bayer paying billions of dollars in negligence lawsuits over Roundup weedkiller when consensus science shows no links to cancer and the EPA does not require warning labels?
In total, Bayer has paid more than $10 billion in settlements to those claiming that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There’s just one ...
Viewpoint: Feeding your child 2,000 nectarines or 340 apples in one day? Environmental Working Group claims about the dangers of conventionally-grown produce are scientifically absurd
The advocacy organization American Council on Science and Health, or ACSH has written extensively about the safety of conventionally grown ...
Preservatives and probiotics: Do additives in meat and cheese harm gut bacteria?
Nisin, a lantibiotic, is a preservative used in the production of foods including packaged meat such as sausages and dairy ...
Viewpoint: Righteous Risks — Here’s how (and why) environmental advocacy groups misrepresent the risks from innovations but cynically ignore genuine dangers
Synthetic pesticides are under constant regulatory pressure, but not organic pesticides. “Green” renewables and EVs have very little regulatory scrutiny ...
Idaho lawmakers introduce bill to curb pesticide lawsuits, citing exploitation of the legal system by anti-chemical activists
State senators in Idaho have introduced new legislation that aims to limit chemical exposure and injury lawsuits filed against pesticide ...
Boost to regenerative agriculture: Nanotechnology-enhanced bacterial fertilizer might could reduce farmers’ synthetic chemical dependency
Claims we may only have 60 harvests left appear to be hyperbole but the fact remains that our agricultural land ...
Easy-to-use, biodegradable plant-based pesticide detector in development could provide an extra layer of food safety
Brazilian researchers have created a sensor that can be attached to the skin of fruits and vegetables to check for harmful ...
GLP podcast/video: Weed won’t improve your workout; Predatory science journals attack GMOs; Eating insects will be mandatory?
Can marijuana make your workout better? Probably not, according to a recent study. Four science publications produce a large swath ...
US food is pesticide free: Latest USDA report finds 99+% of 23 conventionally-grown fruits, vegetables and grains test below hazard benchmarks
The USDA has published the 2022 Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary, which shows that over 99% of the samples tested had ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides ensure ‘sustainable productivity’ — UK farmers bemoan ‘scaremongering’ on pesticides
Three leading farmers have accused the RSPB of irresponsible scaremongering by claiming that a ‘cocktail’ of pesticides used by British farmers ...
Australian glyphosate cancer litigation: Judge poised to rule on the country’s first weedkiller case
An Australian court on January 29 heard closing arguments in a class action lawsuit alleging that a weedkiller produced by ...
Viewpoint: Why proposals to ban all 12,000 PFAS chemicals contradict science
I have previously authored many articles about per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” and the misinformation ...
GLP podcast/video: Too much cleanliness makes us sick? Protect your genetic data; Against ‘green-neocolonialism’
Good hygiene is important, but too much of it might be contributing to chronic disease in developed countries. A data ...
Viewpoint: Whitewash — How four obstructionist journals and their academic enablers are corrupting reporting on the science of chemicals and crop biotechnology
In 2022 and 2023, two papers analyzing the intersection of genetic engineering and disinformation were published. Neither were in very ...
Bayer to appeal $2.25 billion judgment that its glyphosate weedkiller caused worker’s cancer
Bayer was ordered on January 26 to pay $2.25 billion to a Pennsylvania man who said he developed cancer from ...
Viewpoint: American Academy of Pediatrics fiasco — International Agency for the Research on Cancer is the cancer at the heart of the anti-glyphosate movement
In today’s world, due to the lopsided impact of the bullshit asymmetry principle, the internet is overflowing with misinformation. However, amidst ...
GLP podcast/video: Yes, BPA is safe; ‘Fake sugar’ promotes real weight loss; How long does it take to develop a pesticide?
A decades-long campaign alleges that BPA, a chemical used to manufacture many plastic products, is dangerous. There is no evidence ...
Midwest farmers feel pinch from tighter regulations restricting development of next-generation weedkillers
Reuters interviewed two dozen farmers, scientists, weed specialists and company executives and reviewed eight academic papers published since 2021 which ...
Mother Jones joins science-literate chorus criticizing the American Academy of Pediatrics’ bungled critique of GMOs and glyphosate
Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines for doctors fielding parents’ questions about the risks of foods containing genetically modified ...
Viewpoint: Science or scare-mongering? How many pieces of misinformation can you find in this disgraceful American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) attack on GMO crops and glyphosate?
On Dec 11, 2023, a clinical report titled, “Use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) – Containing Food Products in Children” ...
Are children and pregnant women risking their health by eating “GMO” foods? The American Association of Pediatrics controversially says ‘yes’. The real question: Is the AAP endangering the food vulnerable?
Are foods grown using genetically modified seeds hazardous to our health? Scientists, nutritionists and the global medical establishment say ‘no’. ...
How Russia is weaponizing food and fertilizer
Europe is more food dependent on Moscow now than we were before the war, with the bloc replacing energy dependency ...
‘If a viable herbicide was discovered this year, farmers couldn’t use it until at least 2035’: Why new weedkillers take so long to hit store shelves
Some often wonder why there have not been any new herbicide modes of action [or MOAs] registered in the past ...
GLP podcast/video: Lab-grown meat divides scientists; The rise of ‘Big Weed’; American Academy of Pediatrics goes anti-GMO?
Sustainable agriculture advocates are split over the potential benefits of cell-based meat. Why are these longtime allies divided over this ...
