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: How to build a coronavirus; alcohol doesn’t shrink your brain; and locusts threaten famine in East Africa
Kevin Folta and Cameron English break down four of the latest headlines from the world of genetics and biotech ...
Agricultural effects of Coronavirus: China’s industry slowdown threatens US access to pesticides and fertilizers
The ripple effect of the Coronavirus in China is being reported in the supply of active ingredients and fertilizers. Exactly ...
Trump urges Colombia to restart aerial glyphosate weedkiller spraying to wipe out coca crops
Colombia will have to restart aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in order to destroy crops of coca, the chief ...
Viewpoint: Proposed EU fungicide ban would sabotage efforts to curb global food contamination
One of the biggest dangers to our food supply comes from mold through a process that’s all-too-natural. Mold thrives in ...
New ‘super weed’ crisis emerging? Dicamba herbicide failing to stop growth of Palmer amaranth pigweed in greenhouses experiments
University of Tennessee weed scientist Larry Steckel has spent the past two months coaxing Palmer amaranth weeds to grow from ...
GMO blight-resistant potato expected to help over 300,000 farmers in Uganda cut pesticide use, boost yields
Stakeholders working within the potato sector in Uganda are confident about the wide adoption of a new bioengineered late blight ...
How the pigweed Palmer amaranth became a ‘super weed’—and what it tells us about preventing herbicide resistance
Bound up with the bad news of super weeds is good news for farmers -- a window of opportunity ...
Bayer in ‘no rush’ to settle Roundup-cancer litigation following endorsements from EPA, Department of Justice
.... Bayer was at pains on [Feb. 27] to quell expectations it was nearing an out-of-court settlement laying to rest ...
Bayer Chairman to step down as potential $12 billion Roundup-cancer litigation settlement looms
Bayer Chairman Werner Wenning, one of the architects of a $63 billion takeover deal that has left the German crop ...
Vaccines, glyphosate weedkiller cause obesity? Dr. David Gorski debunks new round of ‘bogus’ health claims
Those of us who have been following the antivaccine movement and the sorts of claims that its members [make] are ...
Viewpoint: ‘Anti-insecticide crusade’ threatens food security of 20 million people as locusts swarm across East Africa
A plague of locusts has hit Africa. Massive swarms are devouring crops and other vegetation in their path, imperiling millions ...
As France phases out common pesticides, regulator says farmers still need crop chemicals to control new plant diseases
France needs to retain pesticides to combat new plant diseases spread by international trade and climate change even as it ...
Remember the questionable study claiming glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? Lead author reasserts her claim, EPA refutes it, and we take a second look
Sheppard and her co-authors are intent on favoring data that appears to support the existence of a risk from glyphosate ...
$265 million dicamba weed killer verdict paves way for more successful lawsuits against Monsanto, BASF
A $265 million verdict .... against two global agribusiness giants [in late February] has now created another legal headache for ...
Bayer likely to fight new wave of Roundup-cancer litigation in Australia, despite looming US settlement
As tens of thousands of cases against the makers of the weedkiller Roundup mount up in the United States, a ...
Viewpoint: We can sustainably feed 10 billion people. Here’s how CRISPR and GMO crops can help
If adopted widely, genetic engineering will bring us closer to meeting the EAT-Lancet dietary targets ...
‘Bee-washing’ by advocacy groups and product pushers: We should shift the focus to native bees not honeybees
Amid the worry over the loss of honey bees, a far quieter but just as devastating loss is occurring among ...
Kenya begins pesticide spraying to fight ‘locust swarm of the century,’ but critics abound
As the devastating locust invasion continues to spread in East Africa and a new wave of locusts is gathering, pesticide ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s paranoid fear of chemicals fueled by disinterest in learning
In a season of resolutions, a site like [European Scientist] has one hope: that the 2020s will be the decade ...
Viewpoint: How Europe’s risk aversion has turned the continent into an agricultural backwater
With tariffs announced against Brazil and Argentina, and a threat against France, Donald Trump is dragging the world deeper into ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate causes kidney disease? Debunking anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva’s herbicide junk science
Seeing Vandana Shiva hosted at the University of California made me embarrassed to be a UC parent, alum, and faculty ...
What’s Bayer’s argument in its appeal of the $265 million Bader Farms-Monsanto dicamba weedkiller jury verdict?
What’s next in the Bader Farms lawsuit? Both Bayer and BASF deny Bader [Farms] suffered any dicamba damage. They blame ...
What do the latest studies say about IARC’s lone conclusion that glyphosate could cause cancer? Faulty memories, statistical bias undermine conclusion
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is used to control many types of plants worldwide. The International Agency for Research ...
FDA reports 38% decline in animal antibiotic sales since 2015, easing public health concerns
For several years, an area of focus for those of us involved in farm animal care has been a commitment ...
Viewpoint: Science losing out to anti-glyphosate hysteria, farmers in a quandary as there are no alternative weedkillers as effective
Confirmation [in January] by the U.S. [EPA] that glyphosate is not carcinogenic is welcome, but .... it doesn’t matter. What ...
Viewpoint: Anti-chemical ‘activist-legal complex’ fuels public fear of scientific innovation
In his Farewell Address, President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex, a partnership between the military and defense industry that ...
East Africa faces two plagues: Once-in-a-generation insect infestation and swarms of European activists trying to block the only effective tool, pesticides
European activists are putting lives at risk in East Africa, turning a plague of insects into a real prospect of ...
