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.
Podcast: How ‘activist science’ behind IARC’s glyphosate assessment fuels unjustified cancer lawsuits
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph concluding that glyphosate, the active ingredient in ...
Argentina approves new Monsanto Bt corn variety—60th GMO crop in nation’s history
Argentina has approved the 60th transgenic seed in its history, a new corn variety resistant to insects and herbicides. ...
Bayer plan to launch GMO dicamba-resistant soybean in Brazil sparks pushback from some farmers
A genetically modified soy seed technology from Germany’s Bayer set to launch soon in Brazil has sparked concern from some ...
Infographic: Eliminating synthetic fertilizer won’t solve agriculture’s nitrogen pollution problem
The proposed solution is worse than the problem it hopes to solve ...
Turkish scientist gets 15-month prison sentence after publishing study that links chemicals in food and water in western Turkey to cancer
A Turkish food engineer and human rights activist was sentenced .... to 15 months in jail after publishing the results ...
Nestle expands glyphosate testing on imported coffee as trials feed Roundup-cancer scare
Nestle SA is increasing checks on the coffee it buys, after recent tests showed beans from some countries had levels ...
Viewpoint: ‘Big Ag’ owns scientists who endorse safety of GMOs? Busting the anti-biotech movement’s favorite myth
Scientists are generally inclined to dislike big companies--but they know that biotechnology has made our food supply safer and more ...
AI-powered devices deliver ‘micro-dose’ of herbicide to cut agriculture’s chemical use
Above a Saskatchewan field, a line of drones rises in formation, sensors primed to pick out enemy targets below. But ...
Can controlled burns crack down on herbicide-resistant weeds?
Weeds are thieves. They steal nutrients, sunlight and water from our food crops. In the case of sugarcane, yield refers ...
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 ...
