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.
Arkansas bans dicamba herbicide use until fall following more than 1,000 crop damage complaints
As of May 26, farmers in Arkansas can no longer rely on dicamba to kill their weeds. The Arkansas Plant ...
Here’s how GMO crops preserve soil health and curb climate change
A healthy agricultural production system cannot exist without healthy soils. Aside from being the habitat of diverse organisms that contribute ...
German sugar beet planting drops nearly 3% following neonicotinoid insecticide ban
German farmers are estimated to have reduced sugar beet sowings by 2.8 percent to about 379,000 hectares for the 2019 ...
‘Green wave’: Environmentalist gains in EU elections could cut farmer access to key pesticides
The ‘green wave’ which saw environmentalist parties make major gains across the continent in the European elections could threaten the ...
Spider venom and fungi: The next generation of ‘eco-friendly’ biopesticides
The global population is predicted to reach 9.77 billion people by the end of 2050, before peaking at more than ...
‘Small victory’ for Bayer: Judge says firm can move upcoming glyphosate trials to farm states
In a win for Monsanto following more than $2 billion in cancer-trial losses in California against the company’s popular weed ...
Viewpoint: ‘Toxic’ chemicals fueled post-WWII economic boom in the United States—here’s why that’s a problem
[B]efore [World War II], the vast majority of Americans lived in cities, or they lived on farms. Suddenly, with all ...
Canada’s neonicotinoid insecticide rules haven’t hit farmers, and tighter regulations coming?
Health Canada’s April decisions on three neonicotinoid insecticides won’t change much for growers this year — but it also won’t ...
How pink bollworm may evolve resistance to GMO Bt crops
Insect resistant Bt crops are widely grown in many countries all over the world to prevent pest attacks in highly ...
Glyphosate-cancer lawsuits spur development of next-generation weed killers
"Total fear and shock." That's how Andrew Kniss, a weed scientist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, describes the ...
Viewpoint: Burkina Faso’s declining cotton yields illustrate need for GMO crops
At a forum on biotech crops and the Big Four Agenda at the University of Nairobi on April 24, critics ...
Bayer trial: Judge picks high-profile attorney Ken Feinberg to mediate Roundup-cancer settlement negotiations
A U.S. judge overseeing Roundup-cancer lawsuits against Bayer AG provisionally appointed high-profile mediator Ken Feinberg to lead settlement negotiations over ...
Vinegar, Epsom salts, Dawn weed killer mix superior ‘organic’ alternatives to synthetic herbicides? ‘Nonsense,’ gardening expert says
You know, the most wonderful thing about social media and the internet is that everything you read there is true! ...
‘Nature’s pest controllers’: How wasps reduce chemical pesticide use in farming
Scientists have put together a map of the UK's wasp population, showing the distribution of key species. Data recorded by ...
Glyphosate-tainted burgers? Impossible Foods rebuffs Moms Across America’s latest anti-GMO campaign
“Moms Across America” has escalated a year-long campaign against Impossible Foods to push its anti-vaccine, anti-GMO agenda to anyone gullible ...
Wall Street Journal: Costly glyphosate-cancer legal battle one of ‘worst crises’ in Bayer’s 155-year history
Stuck in one of the worst crises in its 155-year history, Bayer AG, the German company that invented aspirin and ...
What might be Bayer’s defense if one of the glyphosate cancer verdicts end up at the Supreme Court?
Bayer AG plans to argue that a $2 billion jury award and thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming its glyphosate-based weed ...
Podcast: Glyphosate, cancer and clickbait: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat on how to spot junk science in the news
A Google search for "glyphosate" returns 10,300,000 results—conflicting news stories, opinion articles and videos of varying accuracy. Some of these ...
Bayer to appeal $2 billion glyphosate-cancer verdict with EPA Roundup assessment excluded from trial
Bayer plans to make the EPA’s safety endorsement of a chemical in Roundup central to its case as the company ...
Viewpoint: $2 billion glyphosate-cancer damages highlight why science is ‘no match’ for a persuasive lawyer
Bayer AG hoped it could rely on science to establish the safety of its Roundup weedkiller. But it has clearly ...
Jury in third glyphosate-cancer trial orders Bayer to pay over $2 billion in damages—eighth-largest ever product-defect claim
Bayer AG was ordered to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a California couple that claimed they got ...
Bayer to investigate allegation Monsanto collected data of influential journalists, politicians to influence their views on pesticides
Bayer said on [May 12] it was hiring an external law firm to investigate French media complaints that Monsanto, the ...
Why the ‘chemical free’ organic industry has a ‘pesticide problem’
The organic label is often touted as meaning "pesticide free" and has become a rallying cry for anti-GMO activists. But ...
Vermont Senate approves bill restricting neonicotinoid insecticide use, ‘small step’ towards outright ban
Senators gave preliminary approval .... to a bill that would restrict the use of a class of pesticides considered to ...
French President Macron pledges glyphosate ban, halving of pesticide use by 2025 as EU election nears
Emmanuel Macron’s EU election campaign, dubbed Renaissance, finally released its manifesto for the European election taking place later [in May 2019] ...
Bayer sues former employee for allegedly sharing pesticide trade secrets with competitor
A former scientist at Bayer CropScience shared confidential information with his new employer, which was used to develop commercial biopesticide ...
UK issues emergency use exemption for neonicotinoid insecticide to prevent virus spread in sugar beets
An 120-day emergency authorization has been granted for the use of an insecticide for the control of peach–potato aphids to ...
