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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‘Realistic’ exposure to insecticide sulfoxaflor poses no notable risk to honeybees, study shows
Recent evidence suggests that one of the most prominent replacements of the banned neonicotinoids – the insecticide sulfoxaflor - harms ...
Viewpoint: Free speech vs science—Should colleges invite anti-GMO speakers they ‘know’ spread misinformation?
In the face of climate change, the expectation for evidence is doubled because of the dramatic implications ...
Viewpoint: New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof echoes scientifically dubious fears about falling sperm counts and ‘endocrine disrupting’ chemicals
The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof has shown an admirable commitment over the years towards highlighting under-reported stories. He fights ...
Viewpoint: Eco-hypocrisy—Mexico bans GM corn and glyphosate to promote sustainability while subsidizing fossil fuels
Imagine for a moment that the US government banned smart phones and tablets and forced everyone to use home telephones ...
Urine test to detect glyphosate weedkiller is a marketing ‘hoax,’ French farmers say
Are the Elisa tests used by environmental associations to analyze the level of glyphosate present in urine .... reliable? No, ...
GMOs in Bangladesh: Insect-resistant eggplant a sustainability success. Here’s how the country can safeguard its progress
In the seven years since Bangladesh approved its first genetically modified crop — insect-resistant eggplant (Bt brinjal) — the number ...
25 years of GM crops: Biotechnology a blessing to many farmers, but not without costs
Brent Rendel, who started farming in the early 1990s, easily remembers how magical Roundup Ready crops seemed and the awe ...
New Zealand farmers experience 25% lower cancer rates than city dwellers, study shows, challenging misleading environmentalist claim they face higher pesticide cancer risks
The good news [in the 2020 New Zealand] State of Cancer report is that the overall incidence of cancer is ...
Spray-on viral treatment can ‘fine-tune’ crops as they grow, without genetic engineering
[W]ith climate change in action across the globe, forecasting temperature and rainfall is becoming more challenging. Hence during the crop ...
Farmer lawsuits could block Mexico’s proposed glyphosate weedkiller and GMO crop bans
The Mexican government’s plan to stop importing genetically modified (GMO) corn as well as the widely-used herbicide glyphosate will likely ...
Glyphosate exit: Germany could ban weedkiller by 2024 to ‘preserve clean habitats for insects’
Farmers in Germany will have to gradually reduce their use of glyphosate and stop using it completely from 2024 in ...
Glyphosate-tolerant sugarbeet: Case study of lower CO2 emissions, higher yields with GM crops
Western Sugar Cooperative is a co-op of beet producers who mainly farm in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. [Chief scientist ...
Misleading glyphosate-cancer study Part 2: ‘Symptom of a widespread problem’—Concerns about ideological activism in science research and communications
For the better part of five years, a coalition of environmental groups and tort lawyers (aided by the mainstream press) ...
The glyphosate debacle: How a misleading study about the alleged risks of the weedkiller Roundup and gullible reporters helped fuel a cancer scare
As biotech giant Bayer prepares to spend $10 billion settling thousands of lawsuits alleging its weedkiller Roundup (and its active ...
Already blamed for ‘widespread insect declines,’ neonicotinoid insecticides may threaten mammals, too
On an overcast January day in Estelline, South Dakota, Jonathan Lundgren zips his quilted jacket over a fleece, pulls down ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides can be harmful—but they’re also ‘vital to human health and global food security’
As much as pesticides are a threat to certain ecosystems, they’re also responsible for providing the planet with food in ...
Bayer strikes $2 billion deal to settle future glyphosate-cancer suits
Bayer has been struggling to finalize the settlement of claims that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a ...
Bayer asks federal judge to toss lawsuit demanding cancer warning label on glyphosate weedkiller
Monsanto is again asking a Delaware judge to toss a lawsuit that demands a cancer warning label on its weedkiller ...
Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch: The chemists who revolutionized fertilizer production and ‘changed the world for the better’
Without the efforts of Haber and Bosch, the world’s population would be much smaller ...
Podcast: Glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? How a questionable claim from a flawed study went viral
As a rule, scientific research is relegated to obscure technical journals and goes unnoticed by most people. Every few months, ...
Roundup on trial: Law firms spent $91 million in one year to recruit plaintiffs for glyphosate-cancer suits
In 2019, an estimated $91 million was spent on ads seeking clients to pursue Roundup-related claims, making it the No ...
New crop-destroying locust swarms hitting East Africa ‘nearly every day,’ UN warns in renewed call to fight major food security threat
Dominique Burgeon, FAO’s [the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization] Director of Emergencies and Resilience, said the huge [African] desert locust ...
Nitrogen-efficient rice could preserve crop yields while cutting environmental impact of fertilizer
Nitrogen fertilizer has an indispensable role in increasing crop yields, but on the other hand, it creates a severe threat ...
Viewpoint: UK decision to rescind neonics pesticide restrictions a welcome win for science
Activists like George Monbiot and Dave Goulson are parroting their environmental allies when it comes to neonics, but the science ...
GM plant grows insect sex pheromones as alternative to crop pesticides
Scientists have discovered how to genetically modify the camelina plant to produce pheromone precursors that can control agricultural insect pests ...
With sugar beet production dropping, UK approves emergency neonicotinoids pesticide use to combat beet yellows virus
In 2018 the [UK] government supported new rules which prohibit the outdoor use of 3 neonicotinoids - clothianidin, imidacloprid and ...
‘All foods contain pesticides, and 99.99% are natural’: 8 critical facts about chemicals that help us grow food
In the United States, we live in an affluent culture whose standard of living is high compared to other nations ...
