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.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
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 ...
Viewpoint: ‘Not even borderline dangerous’ — Activist groups stir fears of micro-traces of glyphosate in breast milk
For several years, rumors have been circulating online and through society concerning the presence of the weed killer, glyphosate (trade ...
Podcast: Sri Lanka’s disastrous fertilizer ban; Bees are fish in California; More pesticide lawsuits incoming
Organic activist groups led Sri Lanka's economy over a cliff by pushing a ban on pesticides and fertilizers. Will they ...
Viewpoint: Could a GMO herbicide-resistant milkweed help save the Monarch butterfly?
Sobering news broke this month for those of us who love monarch butterflies – and who doesn’t? Those black and ...
Monsanto and BASF held liable for farmers who misused older formulations of dicamba, resulting in drift and extensive crop damage
The difference between farmers and meth cooks who misuse legal products has proven crucial in a court ruling with far-reaching ...
‘Using insect biology against themselves’: New type of pesticide uses caterpillar pheromones to stop pests from mating
Scientists from the University of Missouri are on the edge of a new frontier in pest control: They are filling ...
Genetically-engineered disease-resistant potato eagerly awaited by farmers in Rwanda
Potato farmers have welcomed the government’s ongoing trials on the use of agricultural biotechnology in producing a new Irish potato ...
How social justice activists are undermining New Zealand’s efforts to produce a sustainable farming system
Sometimes—often, even—a singular ideological focus can have unintended consequences in food production that actually undermines the social justice goals that ...
Viewpoint: ‘Mass tort litigation is a big business’ — How litigation mills are targeting agricultural chemicals
If you were watching television in almost any U.S. market in March and April, you probably saw advertisements soliciting would-be ...
Once insulated from bee health crisis, Australia invaded by honeybee-killing Varroa mites. How have other countries adapted?
Just three short weeks ago the bee parasite Varroa destructor was detected in Newcastle, NSW. Beekeepers and government bodies have sprung into ...
Viewpoint: ‘It could have been avoided’ — The background story of Sri Lanka’s reckless experiment to go all organic and reject crop protection chemicals
The images of agitated Sri Lankans storming into their country’s presidential residence in reaction to the mishandling of farm policy by their ...
Video: Reason TV examines California ruling that re-classifies bees as fish as a means to ‘protect’ them
For the past few years, government officials and agricultural groups in California have been fighting over the question: Are bees ...
Farmer’s perspective: In defense of judicious use of agricultural pesticides
I’m no stranger to the controversy that surrounds pesticide use. However, I’d love a chance to explain the benefits I ...
Part II: Web of Disinformers: The network of anti-crop biotechnology activists, and the funders behind their campaigns
Carey Gillam, once a reporter at Reuters covering food and farming, left her job under a cloud, challenged by her ...
GLP Podcast: EPA’s political weedkiller rules; GMO-derived beer on sale; Anti-glyphosate webinar review
The Biden Administration just overruled its own scientists at the EPA, mandating regulations that effectively ban the low-risk, effective weedkiller ...
Viewpoint — Agriculture without labels: It’s time to end the false dichotomy between organic and conventional farming
The debate on methods and techniques of agricultural production is usually fought between two extremes: large-scale agriculture, made in a ...
Part I: Carey Gillam — Reporter turned organic propagandist who twists science in campaign to discredit biotechnology and conventional agriculture
With links to the Church of Scientology, anti-vaccine glyphosate litigator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Organic Consumers Association, US Right to ...
Rwanda uses biotech potato variety to fight same blight that caused Irish Potato Famine — saving 80% of potatoes
Late blight, a potentially devastating disease affecting potatoes and tomatoes, infecting leaves, stems, potato tubers and tomato fruits, spreads quickly ...
In the Battle to Regulate GMOS, Gene Editing and other New Breeding Techniques, Who Has ‘Hazard Blood’ on their Hands?
This third segment in the mini-series will look at the networks of highly-motivated campaigners manipulating policy and pushing the hazard-based ...
Viewpoint: Don’t believe fear-mongering — Here’s why trace pesticide residues in food pose no risk to to humans
Everyone, including me, would like food products to be free from pesticide residues. However, the question is, would the world be ...
