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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Podcast: ‘There’s no safe level of pesticides’? ‘Don’t eat what you can’t pronounce’? Food Science Babe takes on popular nutrition tropes
“Don’t eat what you can’t pronounce… Synthetic chemicals are more dangerous than natural chemicals… Chemicals in food are killing us… ...
Viewpoint: Dicamba debacle trial forces a reevaluation: Was Monsanto a ‘bonafide bad actor’?
The toll on farmers is infuriating enough. But there could be widespread damage to the environment as well ...
Bayer appeals last year’s $86 million California Monsanto Roundup glyphosate-cancer trial verdict
Bayer AG has asked a California appeals court to overturn an $86 million verdict that found it was responsible for ...
As many as 85,000 glyphosate-cancer lawsuits ‘significantly’ closer to settlement after federal trials suspended
Bayer AG’s federal court cases in the U.S. about the Roundup weedkiller have been pushed back at the request of ...
French court rules sweet grapefruit, barley, wheat and 2500 crops, developed by mutagenizing seeds with toxic chemicals or gamma rays yet often sold as organic, are GMO, must be labeled and cultivation banned
Mutagenesis is a process where new strains of food and products are created using chemicals and radiation in the lab ...
Dicamba trial: Bayer contends peach farm damage occurred before drift-prone Monsanto herbicide hit the market
In all-day testimony on the eighth day of the trial, [farmer Bill] Bader said as long as dicamba is sprayed ...
With Roundup-cancer settlement looming, activists revive conspiracy claim that glyphosate surfactants threaten human health
The narrative of underdog cancer victims unmasking corporate villains isn't backed up by the evidence ...
‘Maladapted’ EU regulation hinders non-toxic biopesticide development, despite growing farmer demand
Biological pesticides are rapidly gaining attention as a sustainable and viable environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. However, they are ...
Viewpoint: Almond growers driving bees to ‘extinction’? Challenging the latest pollinator decline scare story
The policies of greens are a greater threat to wildlife than high-yield agriculture ...
Dicamba on trial: Peach farmer testifies Monsanto knew its drift-prone herbicide would damage his 1,000-acre operation
Since 1970, Bill Bader has worked on peach farms in Dunklin County, Missouri, just north of the Arkansas border. Bader ...
Post-Brexit rules on glyphosate, neonicotinoid pesticides may reveal UK’s willingness to break from EU regulations
Post-Brexit regulation of controversial pesticides including glyphosate and neonicotinoids could be test cases for how far the U.K. is prepared ...
‘Monsanto on the attack’: How an aggressive defense contributed to the ‘dicamba debacle’
It's pretty clear that the ag industry has a problem. But what is the nature of it? ...
Farmers cheer EPA rulings on glyphosate, neonicotinoid pesticides, while activists pan them as concessions to industry
In a move heralded by farmers but panned by environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to reapprove ...
Farmer vs farmer: After tens of thousands of acres of crop damage, what are we to make of the ‘dicamba debacle’?
For dicamba, even more than most ag issues in recent history, the devil is in the details ...
EPA reaffirms glyphosate herbicide poses no human health risk, says additional review slated for fall 2020
EPA has finalized its interim registration decision on glyphosate, once again stating the herbicide poses no risk to human health ...
Roundup-cancer settlement could include clause that bars plaintiffs’ lawyers from soliciting new clients
As Bayer AG tries to settle U.S. lawsuits claiming that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the company is considering a ...
EPA approves continued use of controversial neonicotinoid insecticides, with added restrictions to protect bees
The EPA announced [Jan 30] it supports the continued use and registration of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides linked to ...
Microbes that treat parasitic infection could yield natural, safe insecticide
For hundreds of years, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have used an herb called Stemona sessilifolia as a remedy for ...
Bayer reportedly discussing halt of Roundup weed killer sales to consumers as part of glyphosate-cancer settlement negotiations
Bayer is considering stopping sales of the weedkiller glyphosate to private users who apply it in their gardens, German newspaper ...
Monsanto expected farmer complaints when it released drift-prone herbicide dicamba, court documents show
Monsanto expected thousands of farmers to complain about its new weedkiller drifting and harming their crops when it launched the ...
GMO diamondback moth shows promise as sustainable pest control tool in first ever open-field release
A newly published study reports a successful, first-ever open-field release of a self-limiting, genetically engineered diamondback moth, stating that it ...
Glyphosate herbicide cancer fears could turn electricity, microwaves into viable weed-killing tools
Concern about glyphosate - the world's most widely-used weedkiller - has been growing since 2015, when the World Health Organization's ...
Kellogg’s to cut wheat, oats treated with Bayer’s Roundup herbicide from supply chain by 2025
Kellogg’s, the multinational food manufacturer based in Battle Creek, Mich., is taking a stand. But very quietly. At the end ...
Bayer, plaintiffs postpone latest glyphosate-cancer trial to facilitate possible settlement
Bayer AG said on [Jan. 24] it has reached an agreement with plaintiffs’ lawyers to postpone a Missouri jury trial ...
Drones detect plant pests, dispatch natural predators to kill them
In Santa Monica, Calif., researchers flew drones with light-sensitive cameras over a strawberry field to locate pest-damaged plants. Armed with ...
GMO sustainability advantage? Glyphosate spurs no-till farming, preserving soil carbon
Skeptics of GMOs decry the growing practice of no-till farming and its connection to herbicide-tolerant crops. Yet, agronomists say good ...
Herbicide-tolerant GMO soy ‘as safe as conventional counterpart’, confirms EU safety panel
In the present scientific opinion, the scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (hereafter referred ...
