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: Farmer protests in Europe challenges misguided restrictions on biotechnology innovation
Over the summer, farmers in the Netherlands vehemently protested against the government's new environmental rules. Over multiple weeks, thousands of ...
The Séralini affair: How a discredited study set Kenya’s agricultural biotechnology revolution back a decade
GMO crops aren't new to Kenya; in 2012 we had GMO maize being imported into the country until the infamous ...
Bayer reaches confidential settlement with plaintiff alleging Monsanto’s QuikPRO weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Officials of Monsanto and their attorneys decided to pay off a St. Louis plaintiff, a professional landscaper who sued them ...
Viewpoint: Should Europe stop using pesticides? This binary, all-or-nothing thinking misrepresents the benefits of crop protection chemicals
Long confined to the agricultural environment, crop protection issues now have a societal dimension with legitimate questions about the potential ...
Podcast: Seralini’s infamous rat study 10 years later — Looking back at the retracted research linking GM corn and glyphosate to cancer
Ten years ago the biotech world froze and horrific images of three tumor-ridden rats penetrated the media. Social media erupted ...
‘Fuel of the future’: South Africa factory uses renewable energy to create ‘green’ ammonia
Ammonia is also used to manufacture explosives for the mining industry and is a key ingredient in many pharmaceutical and ...
Precautionary Politics: Europe Moves Backward into a Fear-Based ‘Dark Ages’ in Regulating Agriculture and Cancer Risks
David Zaruk, Founder of GreenFacts, Environmental-Health Risk Governance Analyst, Professor at Odisee University College | July 25, 2018 Highlights: The ...
Viewpoint: Chronicling anti-biotechnology activist Vandana Shiva’s green organic farming delusions that helped drive economic collapse in Sri Lanka
rganic farming was not the singular cause for the crisis which Sri Lanka is currently facing, but the sudden agro-chemical ...
Viewpoint: EWG’s Dirty Dozen scares parents away from buying fresh produce. Here’s why you should keep serving your kids grapes, guilt-free
Grapes, strawberries, apples, and peppers make their way into carts and baskets all over the country as parents give themselves ...
Viewpoint: IARC has labeled cell phones, night shifts and coffee as likely carcinogens — but we’re not doomed. Here’s why we don’t need to panic
Over the years IARC has labeled red meat, pickled foods and salted fish, carpentry, working at night, using cell phones, ...
Viewpoint: EPA’s crackdown on safe-as-used atrazine weedkiller in midst of global food crisis will send grocery store prices even higher
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency's comment period closed on its proposal to impose new restrictions on an important product for ...
Viewpoint: The failure of this not-very-credible ‘expert’ witness helps explain why glyphosate-cancer litigators are on a 5-trial losing streak
All 10 jurors in a St. Louis courtroom sided with Monsanto after a month of testimony that opened with plaintiffs brought ...
Biopesticides and robotics emerge as lower-impact alternatives to synthetic pesticides
Replacement of the old generation of pesticides with a new suite of technology-based and ecological-based solutions to managing pests is ...
Viewpoint: Ideology not science — Here’s why NBC News’ factually inaccurate reporting on the ‘dangers’ of the weedkiller glyphosate sets a dangerous precedent
What happens when an online information resource leans into clickbait? It’s annoying but generally harmless entertainment. When it’s a resource ...
Challenging ‘green’ wisdom: Why Africa desperately needs more, not less, access to synthetic fertilizers
The European Commission has opposed a plan to support expanding fertilizer production in Africa because it would clash with the European Union’s ...
University scientist challenges UN’s IARC to embrace current science by evaluating chemicals using ‘risk’ not just ‘hazard’ standards
The latest International Association for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monograph Program report on cancer hazards associated with firefighting work, which ...
Fighting herbicide-resistant weeds: Statin molecule found in fungi (and common cholesterol medication) could be ‘as effective as glyphosate’
Farmers are battling increasing weed resistance to common broad-spectrum herbicides such as glyphosate, but Australian research could be a game ...
Winning streak: After losing first 3 glyphosate-cancer cases, here’s how Bayer has convinced juries in 5 recent cases that the weedkiller is not harmful to humans
Bayer is on a winning streak as it battles the remaining cases targeting its Roundup weedkiller, a change after several ...
Mexico’s anti-GMO corn decree threatens relationship with US and promises billions in economic damage
Farmers in the United States are urging their government to challenge a looming Mexican ban on genetically modified (GM) corn ...
‘Shockwaves in the global food chain’: Spain, Poland, Hungary beg European Commission for impact assessment on Farm to Fork plan pesticide cutbacks in face of Ukrainian invasion
EU member states have called for a new impact assessment on the European Commission’s proposal to slash the use and ...
Viewpoint: Lawyers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on pushing ‘inaccurate and baseless claims’ about common products like Roundup and talcum powder
Plaintiffs’ lawyers are relying more and more on traditional and social media to bolster litigation, often pushing inaccurate and baseless ...
62% less pesticides: What could be the consequences if Italy follows Europe’s mandate to cut use of crop protection chemicals in half?
Encouraged by the circle-beating attitude of politics, industries and associations, the European Commission is asking Italy to reduce pesticides by 62 ...
Viewpoint: Toxicologist explains why we should be grateful for chemicals — and the safety labels that come with them
Everyone needs to drink dihydrogen monoxide (yep that’s water) or at least drink other fluids that contain a lot of ...
Viewpoint: European farm groups raise alarms about unrealistic and unscientific EU targets to dramatically cut back on pesticides
The draft of the EU plant protection regulation contains two specific reduction targets: The first target is to reduce the ...
Viewpoint: Count the distortions — Organic industry-funded Carey Gillam misrepresents science and court decision to further obsessive campaign against weedkiller glyphosate
f glyphosate is such a deadly pesticide, why do activist groups have to lie about it? That's the question I ...
EU bans food imports with neonic pesticide residues starting in 2026
The European Commission announced [September 27] that imports of products containing residues of harmful insecticides known as neonicotinoids will be ...
Environmental Protection Agency denies Center for Food Safety petition to ban neonicotinoid pesticides
The Environmental Protection Agency denied a petition September 28 that asked the federal agency to more closely regulate a group ...
