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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French winegrowers challenge proposed ‘unfair, unenforceable’ glyphosate weedkiller restrictions
Distributors and winegrowers are standing up against the changes to the ban on glyphosate proposed by ANSES. They find them ...
Democratic lawmakers propose ban on organophosphate and neonicotinoid insecticides
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) are introducing companion legislation to cancel the registrations of organophosphates and ...
Podcast: Global population crash; Pesticide bans backfire; beef producing CRISPR male cows
CRISPR could enable farmers to produce more beef from fewer cattle, boosting farm sustainability. Lawsuits designed to get pesticides and ...
Aristolochic acids: Natural insecticides found in medicinal plants cause of mysterious kidney disease?
The plant, Aristolochia clematitis—more commonly known as birthwort—can surely be called beautiful, but within it lurks a poison. Over the ...
EPA proposes herbicide tiafenacil as ‘low-risk’ alternative to control glyphosate-tolerant weeds
EPA proposes tiafenacil for pre-plant and pre-emergence burndown use in corn (all types except sweet corn), cotton, soybeans and wheat ...
GMO herbicide-tolerant canola poses no hazard to human health, EU food safety officials find
Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐002 .... from Monsanto Company, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of EFSA (GMO) was ...
Facing decimated yields, French sugar-beet growers demand access to banned neonicotinoid insecticides
Since April, the beet yellows virus has destroyed a large part of France's sugar beet harvest, including nearly 50% of ...
China could crack down on fall armyworm pest invasion with GMO insect-resistant Bt corn
Due to its wide host range, high reproductive and dispersal capacity, the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), which ...
Bayer appeals $265 million dicamba weedkiller verdict, alleging damage to Missouri peach farm exaggerated
Bayer AG sent a private investigator [in July] to evaluate the business of a U.S. peach grower who won a ...
Farmworkers’ group, nine states urge federal court to ban widely used insecticide chlorpyrifos
Farmworker advocates squared off with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before a remote Ninth Circuit panel [July 28], arguing the ...
Video: Debating Europe’s pro-organic Farm to Fork Green Deal—Sustainable agriculture or recipe for disaster?
One of the unpleasant lessons of the COVID pandemic is how little prepared we’ve been for an event that was, ...
Glyphosate weedkiller unlikely to impact ovarian function, studies find
Exposure to the chemical glyphosate changed the level of some ovarian proteins in mice but did not impact ovarian steroid ...
Kenya close to eradicating locust infestations, but resurgence possible before end of 2020, UN warns
Kenya is likely to become free from desert locusts in the near future thanks to roll-out of robust containment measures, ...
Sustainable farming advances: Global movement to ban pesticides and GMOs spur next-generation biotech pest controls
Their target remains GMOs—a range of agricultural products made with modern techniques of genetic engineering, from eggplant grown mostly in ...
Viewpoint: Bogus glyphosate-cancer litigation undermines legitimate product safety lawsuits
Nearly every American was taught the same six steps that serve as a fundamental building block to scientific education: Make ...
EPA ordered to review impact of glyphosate-based herbicides on monarch butterflies—but federal court blocks ban
A Ninth Circuit panel ruled against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on [July 22], finding the agency must take a ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides on produce aren’t dangerous. Ignore the ‘Dirty Dozen’ and eat more fruits and veggies
A uniquely frightening time like this provides a great moment for us all to do what’s best for neighbors, employees, ...
Viewpoint: Organic fungicide copper sulfate and other copper products widely used by wine growers endangers humans, animals and insects
Organic farming is not chemical free. Copper sulfate is a popular one. How does it work and how does it ...
EU environmental groups say proposed pesticide rules would ‘water down’ protection for pollinators
EU countries .... expressed their preference for a way of regulating potentially bee-harming pesticides that has been contested by environmental ...
Food crops could be engineered to summon wasps that kill deadly plant pests
Plagued by stemborers, a type of crop parasitism, maize can launch a chemical defense that essentially calls in the cavalry ...
Bayer, BASF, Corteva urge federal court to review dicamba weedkiller ban, calling it ‘unconstitutional’
Bayer, BASF and Corteva Agriscience continue the fight to preserve postemergent dicamba use. The companies are contesting the results of ...
Bayer loses first glyphosate-cancer appeal, but court cuts damages by 74 percent to $20.5 million
Bayer AG failed to persuade a California appeals court to overturn a verdict favoring a school groundskeeper who claimed its ...
Viewpoint: Mexico’s activist government pushes glyphosate ban that threatens food security and farmer welfare
Biotech giant Bayer is currently in the fight of its life against more than 100,000 lawsuits alleging its flagship weedkiller ...
Evidence may not matter: Roundup cancer settlements could trigger international pesticide suits regardless of health impacts
Since litigation began a couple years ago, Roundup, a particular brand of glyphosate based pesticide, is now firmly established as ...
Viewpoint: Are synthetic food additives dangerous? Here’s the science anti-chemical activists ignore
Always take chemical advice from EWG with a grain of (inorganic) salt ...
Indian farmers’ union says illegal GMO herbicide-tolerant cotton cultivation continues, despite arrests
Under the new regulated cropping system, farmers in Telangana have grown cotton on 60 lakh acres, setting a new record ...
Viewpoint: Court-ordered dicamba weedkiller ban could fuel new legal strategy to restrict Bayer’s Roundup
On June 3, 2020, a panel of three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San ...
