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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New York neonicotinoid compromise: Governor Hochul agrees to gradually phase out some neonicotinoid pesticides while allowing key exceptions
Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law Legislation S.1856-A/A.7640, known as the Birds and Bees Protection Act. This nation-leading legislation ...
Monsanto’s lingering shadow: Bayer grapples with growing Roundup legal costs
Three years after Bayer agreed to pay $10 billion to settle claims that its weedkiller, Roundup, caused cancer, juries continue ...
Viewpoint: Never heard of the Heartland Health Research Alliance? Here’s how the organic- and tort-lawyer funded sham research center generates disinformation about glyphosate and other farm chemicals
Where would science be if an influential institute today was established by tort lawyers to produce research solely for use ...
GLP podcast/video: What causes autism? Treating PTSD with psychedelics; Alcoholism could be in our genes
Speculation persists about the causes of autism thanks to an explosion in the number of cases that have been diagnosed ...
Environmental activists claim neonicotinoid and glyphosate pesticides threaten bees. Here are the facts
"The honeybee is in no way endangered. If there’s a top ten list of what’s killing honey bee colonies, I’d ...
Glyphosate can harm pregnant women living near farms? Carelessly-written article based on the same authors’ more sober academic study shows how misinformation metastasizes
Authors claim glyphosate “health concerns”- but what do the data actually say? ...
Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?
Just like anything that goes into your body, it’s the dose (the amount) that matters ...
President Macron’s attempt to appease French anti-glyphosate environmental lobby goes awry, alienating both his activist base and farmers
Good news for French agriculture. Finally, the European Commission decided to follow what a majority of Member States wanted, in this ...
GLP podcast/video: Trust in scientists plummets; EU ditches organic ‘Farm to Fork’ plan; Our troubling ‘superhuman’ future?
Americans are losing trust in scientists following the COVID pandemic. How can experts regain the public's support? The European Union ...
A llama-inspired way to protect crops
Most of us will never see a live llama except at a zoo unless we have an opportunity to travel ...
Glyphosate cancer warning rejected: US appeals court rebuffs California’s attempt to require label that conflicts with global consensus that the herbicide is safe as used
A U.S. appeals court recently ruled that California lacks the authority to enforce a regulation mandating cancer warnings on glyphosate, ...
Eight-country European study finds numerous pesticides reduce fertility in bumblebees
A new study has confirmed that pesticides, commonly used in farmland, significantly harm bumblebees – Ireland’s most important wild pollinators ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Has pesticide use decreased since the introduction of GMO crops?
What is the truth about crop pesticides and their residues in food in 2018? ...
Facing billions more in potential settlements, Bayer holds to its legal strategy
Bayer is sticking to its legal strategy of trying individual Roundup cases in court, even as a series of recent ...
GLP podcast/video: Elon killed Twitter? EWG’s latest pesticide scare; RFK, Jr. vs ‘Big Pharma’
Has Twitter (X) devolved into a misinformation cesspool? Once scientist says yes. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) claims schools near ...
Viewpoint: Activists shift tactics on glyphosate, attacking independent European science-oversight agencies that have unanimously found the herbicide safe
Glyphosate ate the world! Every single day another serious disease, from all types of cancer to Parkinson’s, is attributed to ...
Viewpoint: Here’s how zealous environmental groups dupe politicians about the ‘widespread dangers’ of many safe and effective pesticides
Pesticides used in agriculture have long been the subject of controversy and misinformation – and the attention of regulators. Since ...
Oil-based chemicals are used in everything from pillows to house paint. What are possible substitutes?
Petrochemicals are in everything from cleaning agents, paints and cosmetics to pillows, acrylic worktops and much of our clothing and ...
What’s next for Bayer after losing $1.56 billion Roundup glyphosate case?
Bayer AG suffered its biggest drop ever, losing about €7.6 billion ($8.3 billion) in market value, after major legal and ...
Viewpoint: Scientifically illiterate claim that aspartame causes cancer illustrates again the escalating politicization of science
If you have been in science media for any period of time, you have seen a predictable pattern; epidemiologists look ...
Glyphosate reauthorized for 10 years by divided EU
[November 16] the European Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF committee) was again unable to get a ...
Headlines claim that almost half of all drinking water contains high-levels of ‘dangerous’ PFAS ‘forever chemicals’. What does the science say?
The headline “New Study Finds PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' in Drinking Water from 45% of Faucets Across US” led many news ...
Viewpoint: Anti-glyphosate rabbit hole — Will the ethically-compromised International Agency for Cancer (IARC) lead Europe to embrace a scientifically-challenged Green Deal?
What chemicals or environmental exposures are likely to cause cancer? That’s a complex question with a wide variance in views ...
Viewpoint: Dark money and tort-lawyer-funded Environmental Working Group (EWG) launches new campaign to scare public about ‘dangerous’ pesticide spraying near schools
On Nov. 2, the EWG (the same folks behind The Dirty Dozen) launched an interactive map created to demonstrate just how ...
Viewpoint: ‘Anti-technology activists unfairly malign genetically modified mustard crop that could drop pesticide use by 40%’
The polarised debate over genetically modified (GM) crops in India is back in the limelight. The advocates and dissenters of ...
GLP podcast/video: BBC corrects botched organic farming report; Happy 41st birthday, GMO insulin! Scientific American a ‘scientific sewer’?
Facing intense criticism from experts, the BBC was pushed to correct a deeply misleading story about the benefits of organic ...
Viewpoint: Agriculture lobby offers evidence of neonicotinoid safety and critical role of pesticides
For the past decade or so, the area of seed treatment has grown in popularity, among ag retailers and their ...
