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.
Newly discovered genes could help develop natural ‘antibiotic cocktails’ to battle plant disease
Yezhang Ding, Alisa Huffaker, and Eric Schmelz of the University of California San Diego and their colleagues have developed a ...
Podcast: Farming without chemicals: Pesticide-carrying bees poised to revolutionize agriculture?
While the GMO controversy rages, a handful of companies are taking another innovative approach to crop protection ...
Examining Sweden’s ties to anti-GMO conference in Africa, through taxpayer-funded Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
How the environmental movement neglects the environment ...
Podcast: GMO insects loose in the wild? Inside scoop on controversial Oxitec mosquito in Brazil
The tiny mosquito is a nuisance in the industrialized world, yet in developing countries it is a ruthless killer, spreading ...
Viewpoint: Growing GMO crops provides 4 major health benefits you probably didn’t know about
While the application of agricultural chemicals is highly mechanized in industrial countries, the same cannot be said for developing countries, ...
German government, farm group face off over impact of potential glyphosate ban
The German agriculture ministry strenuously rubbished a claim by farmers association DBV that the country’s new insect protection plan, which ...
Viewpoint: How organic industry opposition to CRISPR gene editing encourages pesticide use
The organic food movement has a bigger problem than the double standard it relies on to attack synthetic chemicals ...
Viewpoint: ‘GMO’—the dirty three-letter word used to demonize life-saving biotechnology
The demonization of this technology funds numerous NGOs and has even become a cottage industry ...
Podcast: Recent study poses new glyphosate-cancer link. Plant geneticist Kevin Folta breaks down the data
Despite the endless stream of dramatic headlines and warnings from environmental activist groups, an overwhelming number of studies indicate that ...
North American bird populations dropped 30% over 50 years, but causes hard to ‘pin down’
North America’s birds are disappearing from the skies at a rate that’s shocking even to ornithologists. Since the 1970s, the ...
Infographic: USDA data reveal dramatic growth of GMO crop adoption in US since 1996
Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops, which tolerate potent herbicides (such as glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba), provide farmers with a broad variety of ...
Despite glyphosate-cancer legal battle, farmers defend their use of Roundup
The faith that American farmers .... have in Roundup is what prompted the German company Bayer to spend $63 billion ...
From GMOs to BPA, why the wealthy are more likely to fall for food pseudoscience
Socioeconomics play a significant role in attitudes about food ...
Germany’s ‘save the bees’ anti-pesticide campaign ‘existential threat’ to local vineyards, wine industry says
In the vineyards of Oberrotweil and Oberbergen numerous green crosses were set up [over] the weekend. “They are meant as ...
GMO mosquitoes produced hybrid offspring in the wild? New study says yes—but under fire from critics
A field experiment in Brazil that deployed genetically modified mosquitoes to control wild populations of the pest may be having ...
USDA: Dry weather, neonicotinoid insecticide ban caused ‘substantial decrease’ in EU rapeseed production
Rapeseed is the dominant oilseed produced in the EU making the EU one of the world’s leadingproducers of rapeseed and ...
Viewpoint: ‘Roundup game plan’—How ‘environmental’ activists, IARC’s Chris Portier plotted attacks on Monsanto-Bayer to get glyphosate banned and cripple ag biotechnology
The failure to retract the monograph despite overwhelming rejections from the scientific community points to a Glyphosate Gameplan at IARC ...
EPA proposal to roll back animal testing and ‘cut unnecessary research’ gains backing from PETA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it plans to reduce the use of pesticide testing on birds as part of ...
Pesticide residues on ‘vast majority of foods’ well below legal safety limits, new FDA data show
The vast majority of foods tested for pesticide residues were found to be well within federally prescribed limits, the Food ...
Viewpoint: Do neonicotinoid insecticides really boost crop yields? New study raises doubts
Ever year, farmers in the United States devote at least 80 million acres, a combined landmass three-quarters the size of ...
GMO eggplant developed by Bangladesh government cuts toxicity of pesticides used 41%, farmers increase revenues 27%, study finds
"Bt brinjal can improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in a developing country while protecting the environment.” ...
Pesticide-carrying bees help cut synthetic chemical use on farms
Bees are great at retrieving tiny cargo: their main job is to visit flowering plants in order to gather pollen ...
Viewpoint: IARC glyphosate-cancer controversy highlights need for tighter conflict of interest rules in science
In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the scientific community (and beyond) about the possible conflicts of ...
Viewpoint: GMO, CRISPR-edited crops can cut pesticide use—if environmental activists do not block them
Anti-GMO activists should take a step back and look closely at some of the benefits that new genetically modified crops ...
EU Court of Justice dismisses activist lawsuit challenging Monsanto GMO soy approval
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled on [September 12] that the authorization of genetically modified soy produced by ...
Farmers, anti-glyphosate activists lobby EPA as agency mulls herbicide’s future in US
Pro- and anti-glyphosate companies and organizations lined up to praise — or bash — the active ingredient in the most ...
Paris bans synthetic pesticides as French anti-chemical movement ‘gains momentum’
Paris and four other French cities on [September 12] banned the use of synthetic pesticides within their boundaries, as an ...
