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: Synthetic fertilizers in ideological crosshairs — Trade-offs between crop productivity and the environment
Want to fight climate change right now? Need to meet short-term targets for reductions in greenhouse gases? Then restrict applications of ...
Crucial misrepresentations about glyphosate continue to threaten agriculture. This scientist explains how the UN agency IARC likely manipulated the data
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, was introduced over forty-five years ago and is the most widely used ...
EPA reaffirms conclusion that herbicide glyphosate is safe for humans and environment but pledges updated review by 2026
EPA walked away from a legal battle on its interim determination that glyphosate is likely not carcinogenic to people, telling ...
Viewpoint: Moderating agricultural pesticide use is a good idea — but only if it helps balance environmental and economic realities and is not just an ideological exercise
The EU is going too far in its control of pesticides. The Commission is updating the 2009 Sustainable Use Directive ...
Sandblasting weeds out of the ground? A ‘quick, cost-effective and simple’ way to protect crops without spraying chemicals
Weed hunters? No, it's not a joke. It's a real concept that aims to tackle a serious and costly problem ...
‘You have to prove the dose’: Why courts are rejecting payouts for exposure to alleged carcinogens like talc or actual ones like asbestos
Personal injury lawyers are either revered or reviled. Sometimes purveyors of junk science, they often prey on a vulnerable and ...
Viewpoint: Reassessing the role of crop chemicals in setting an appropriate balance between productive agriculture and saving obscure species
Long-lasting herbicides don’t just control weeds. They also promote no-till farming, which helps farmers save costly tractor fuel and avoid ...
Study addresses coverage of BPA and GMOs: How ideological interests skew interpretation of contested science
When controversies develop around scientific facts or technologies, the potential of science to become a tool in plays of interests ...
Viewpoint: ‘Would they know it if they saw it?’ Judge who ruled glyphosate could be carcinogenic demonstrates ignorance of science
A high-profile judicial decision in a federal appeals case has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revisit its finding that ...
Sri Lanka poised to lift glyphosate ban that contributed to country’s food production crisis
The Sri Lankan Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Mahinda Amaraweera said the Ministry of Agriculture is ready ...
Podcast: Glyphosate causes seizures? Fatigue and brain toxins; Why parents turn ‘anti-vaxx’
Does the weedkiller glyphosate cause convulsions? A study published last week seemed to support that conclusion, but there's much more ...
Podcast: Time to quit ‘baby’ aspirin? Tobacco-industry science denial; Dutch farmer protests
Is it time to give up low-dose aspirin as a heart-attack prevention tool? New evidence suggests that the risks may ...
Viewpoint: Does ‘Big Ag’ promote GMOs as a backhanded way to peddle pesticides? Activist claims don’t withstand scrutiny
For more than two decades, anti-GMO groups have resorted to the same dishonest claims about the risks of genetically engineered ...
Risk, hazard and the precautionary principle: Why Europe gets crop biotechnology and chemical regulation so wrong
David Zaruk, Founder of GreenFacts, Environmental-Health Risk Governance Analyst, Professor at Odisee University College | July 24, 2018 Highlights: European ...
Environmental activist irony: Anti-chemical campaigners end up promoting higher food prices with few farming or health benefits
ENGOs target chemicals judged safe by independent global regulatory bodies, such as glyphosate, but have no interest in restricting some ...
With chemical fertilizer supply still disrupted, Sri Lankan farmers struggle to feed their families
For more than half a century, Pahatha Mellange Jayaappu has tilled the field on his modest farm in Sri Lanka’s ...
Podcast: Non-GMO Project loves ‘GMO’ watermelon; Glyphosate in breastmilk; Junk nutrition studies
The Non-GMO Project recently endorsed seedless watermelon on Twitter, thereby giving an accidental thumbs up to many other genetically engineered ...
Viewpoint: Why anti-chemical activists just can’t accept the good news that the FDA finds US produce safe and healthy
What do you do when the evidence doesn't support your conclusion? There are just two choices: admit you were mistaken ...
Viewpoint: Global policy analyst on why Europe’s goal to reduce pesticide use by 50% is dangerously misguided
Alexander Bernhuber, environmental spokesman for the ÖVP in the European Parliament, is to represent the interests of EU agriculture in ...
Podcast: Industry funding doesn’t corrupt science; COVID lab leak refuted? Dicamba controversy revisited
Should agricultural scientists take research funding from corporations? A pair of studies suggests that a 'lab-leak' origin for SARS-CoV-2 looks ...
Glyphosate traces in breast milk? Weedkiller causes neurological disorders? How activists leverage social media to distort science and spread bogus health concerns
Shocking accounts of health dangers selectively presented from peer-reviewed science articles regularly invade Twitter. It’s the stock-in-trade of technology rejectionists ...
Viewpoint: How anti-crop chemical activists are weaponizing the Endangered Species Act to block use of safe and effective pesticides
The EPA is supposed to perform so-called biological evaluations for each and every pesticide registered under FIFRA. Practically speaking, the ...
Viewpoint: EU hypocrisy — Europe bans atrazine weedkiller, but continues to produce and market it to Africa
Atrazine is a toxic herbicide banned on the European market, but paradoxically produced by European industries and intended for the ...
Glyphosate re-approved for Sri Lanka import as country attempts to recover from failed organic-only experiment
The Finance Ministry has lifted the import ban on the popular weedicide glyphosate with effect from August 5 while allowing ...
Study: No link found between parental exposure to pesticides and childhood cancer
Maternal or paternal exposure to pesticides does not appear to be associated with increased risks for childhood cancer, according to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Precipice of a food security catastrophe’ — Re-shaping agriculture to fit the prejudices of urban perspectives could have dire global consequence
For many Canadians, crop production is an unknown concept. Because of this, it’s relatively easy to use fear to influence ...
Charles Benbrook’s Heartland Health Research Alliance under sharp questioning as high-paid expert-litigant-witness-for-hire in latest glyphosate cancer trial
In a trial accusing Monsanto maker of the weed killer Roundup of causing the cancers of three people, defense attorneys ...
