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.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
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 ...
Viewpoint: Effort to ban 262 pesticides in Kenya threatens nation’s ability to stop locust swarms from devouring crops
As locusts rage in the biggest attack for 25 years, the majority of Kenyans will never have seen the like ...
Glyphosate harms soil microbes? USDA research challenges common criticism of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide
There are dozens of conspiracy theories about glyphosate. One of those theories goes something like this: glyphosate, the active ingredient ...
Afraid of glyphosate and other synthetic pesticides? You eat 10,000 times more of the natural ones made by plants
Fruits and vegetables have evolved thousands of built-in pesticides chemically similar to the ones created in labs ...
Natural pest-control market could hit $10 billion by 2025, as farmers seek new tools to battle pesticide-tolerant bugs
For decades, Adam Baldwin’s family used chemicals with multisyllabic names to keep caterpillars such as earworms and podworms from chomping ...
EPA to decide the future of dicamba, neonicotinoids and other controversial pesticides in 2020
The EPA this year will deliver important decisions to U.S. agriculture, including on chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, the neonicotinoids, pyrethroids, atrazine and ...
Luxembourg outlines plan to ban glyphosate weed killer in January 2021
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is in the process of becoming the first country to ban the use of the ...
Bayer close to settling more than 75,000 glyphosate-cancer lawsuits, mediator says
Bayer AG’s settlement of cancer lawsuits over its Roundup weed-killer may be only weeks away and is likely to cover ...
Does organic mean ‘pesticide free’? 5 things to know about the USDA organic label
Here's what you're actually getting for that 'organic' premium price ...
CRISPR gene editing yields corn resistant to widely used sulfonylurea herbicide, study shows
Researchers from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other institutions reported precise based editing of maize genes using CRISPR-Cas9, leading ...
EU Green Party aims to halve synthetic pesticide use by 2025, phase it out completely in 15 years
The EU’s European Green Deal drafters may have succeeded in dodging some of the most immediately contentious issues in the ...
Viewpoint: ‘Conspiracy theorist’ Zen Honeycutt spins tall tales about GMOs, glyphosate weed killer on CBS Los Angeles
If the media has a question about biomedical science, one would assume that a scientist or doctor would be the ...
EU bans Bayer neonicotinoid insecticide thiacloprid, citing threat to human reproductive health, bees
The European Commission decided on [Jan. 13] not to renew approval for a pesticide linked to harming bees, effectively banning ...
