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: ‘Herbicides reduce the cost of food production by half and triple yields’: Mass bans on synthetic chemicals would open the doors to 32 invasive species that threaten African crops
A recent survey by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) shows the 32 key Invasive species in Kenya include 11 arthropods, ...
Viewpoint: Essential to feeding the world, synthetic fertilizers have negative environmental impacts. Here’s how genetic engineering can change that
Much of the world is preoccupied with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but there are other global challenges, including climate change, ...
240 million people suffer annually from malaria. Could deploying CRISPR to gene edit mosquitoes’ pesticide resistance contain the scourge?
Insecticides kill off most of the mosquitoes in an area. But a small number may survive because something about their ...
Viewpoint: Will the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen finally adopt science this year — instead of promoting evidence-free scaremongering?
For over 25 years, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released its so-called “dirty dozen” list, which inaccurately disparages popular, ...
Viewpoint: ‘One-size-fits-all pesticide policy hurts farmers and doesn’t help pollinators’ — Why Boulder, Colorado ignores science in push to ban neonicotinoids
It is commonly cited within the beekeeping community that pesticides called neonics can negatively impact honeybees. An oft-invoked visualization shows ...
Viewpoint: Scientific American’s bizarre promotion of ‘woke’ agricultural biotechnology rejectionism
Recently I highlighted four disturbing trends in science journalism that are destroying the public's trust in mainstream academic and public health ...
Biden Administration has followed Trump’s lead in challenging Europe’s crop biotechnology rejectionism
Biden and Brussels are still at loggerheads over food production, despite a face-saving communiqué in November. Indeed, while the U.S. pleads for moderation, France ...
Viewpoint: Are synthetic pesticides necessary for farming? How agroecology, anti-biotechnology activist groups misrepresent the science and influence government policy
With the clearly stated desire to influence the French presidency of the European Union on the pesticide issue, the CCFD-Terre ...
Sri Lanka’s failed all-organic experiment has sparked economic and humanitarian crisis
[Sri Lanka] is hit by worsening food shortage brought about by multiple factors, including loss of tourism due to Covid-19, ...
Viewpoint: How European activists’ opposition to cutting edge crop technologies undermines global sustainability efforts
Well-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) — both in the EU and the U.S. — regularly pour millions of dollars into lobbying ...
GLP Podcast: Academic freedom has limits? UK backtracks on neonic ban; ‘Non-GMO’ tearless onions
Does academic freedom protect professors who spread scientific nonsense online? The UK appears to be backtracking on a pesticide ban ...
How CRISPR gene editing technology can eliminate disease-spreading mosquitoes
Scientists have uncovered a new technique they call the “precision-guided sterile insect technique,” or pgSIT. While most CRISPR procedures affect ...
Viewpoint: When it comes to chemical safety, there’s a difference between ‘movie science’ and the real thing
I loved the movie Erin Brockovich played by Julia Roberts who played a lawyer’s assistant fighting the interplay of corporate greed ...
Viewpoint: ‘Pesticide toxicity has plunged by 98%’ — Misplaced campaign targeting synthetic farm chemicals ignores sustainable advances
Modern agricultural technologies, including genetic modifications, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to control crop killers are increasing productivity. As a result, ...
Reducing insecticide use with CRISPR: Gene editing could naturally rollback pesticide resistance evolution in disease-carrying insects
Insecticides play a central role in efforts to counter global impacts of mosquito-spread malaria and other diseases, which cause an ...
Video: Dramatic visual evidence of the insect-resistant power of Bt maize, without chemical treatment
In clearing out my office recently I came across a DVD of the video Life in a standard and in ...
England authorizes emergency neonicotinoid use to protect threatened 2022 sugarbeet crops
Defra has [January 14] approved an emergency temporary authorisation for the use of a neonicotinoid pesticide treatment on the 2022 sugar ...
Viewpoint: Bayer Roundup cancer case nearing SCOTUS poses test for Biden Administration. Will it stick to science and prior EPA rulings or cave to trial lawyer interests?
[T]he Supreme Court recently asked for the Biden Department of Justice to weigh in on a case involving a golden ...
Insecticides based on RNA technology could poised to be a low impact way to control plant pests
A novel insecticide targets a specific gene in a pest, killing only that bug species on crops and avoiding collateral ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate class action cases — Will the Supreme Court rein in California’s lax rules on junk science?
One tactic California trial lawyers finessed is the use of questionable scientific evidence in trials, sometimes called “junk science.” Now, ...
Viewpoint: Dissecting the misguided demonization of glyphosate, one of the world’s most effective and safest weedkillers
Social media's coverage of glyphosate has been on a par with that for the Covid vaccine – misunderstandings, mistruths and ...
Viewpoint: What drives agricultural sustainability? Not what many ‘environmental organizations’ promote
Anyone who has flown over the Canadian prairies in any of the previous summers will notice the tremendous number of ...
Viewpoint: In Roundup-cancer cases, juries are often swayed by emotional arguments — but the facts are in glyphosate’s favor
A jury in San Bernardino can't believe that Donnetta Stephens’ cancer was caused because she used Roundup. In a post-COVID-19 ...
Viewpoint: No more Christmas trees? Why proposed bans on neonicotinoids won’t protect bees but will threaten many other plants
With Christmas so close, many of us in Michigan have enjoyed a common holiday tradition this year: finding the perfect ...
Viewpoint: If Kenya relents to activist pressure and bans pesticides, coffee, maize and wheat farmers could lose up to 90% of crops
Coffee, maize and wheat farmers could suffer up to 90 per cent in yield losses if the government bans popular ...
Viewpoint: Climate change-fighting agricultural tools are delivering enormous benefits — but anti-biotechnology activists continue to vilify them
Following the recent COP26 séance in Glasgow, climate change issues remain prominent for governments and the public. Agricultural practices have ...
Viewpoint: Will the US endorse this Congressional proposal to adopt Europe’s innovation-stifling ‘precautionary principle’ regulation?
A new bill supported by environmental organizations and co-sponsored by progressive lawmakers Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and ...
