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: 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 ...
Nigeria approves two GMO cotton varieties anticipated to boost production from 60,000 to 150,000 tons
Nigeria approved two genetically modified varieties of cotton for use by the nation’s farmers to help boost supply to its ...
Toxic chemicals in your food? How regulation, technological innovation protect consumers from pesticides
Understanding the magnitude and impact of dietary pesticide exposures is a concern for some consumers. However, the ability of consumers ...
Higher CO2 emissions, pesticide use raise doubts about sustainability of organic wine
The popularity of organic food and wine is not going away anytime soon. Yet as the European viticultural debate increasingly ...
Washington Post dietitian: Environmental Working Group, activists irresponsibly fan fears by citing ‘scary-sounding’ but harmless chemicals in food
Would you worry if you knew your food contained sucrose octanoate esters or tocopherols? They might sound frightening, but don’t ...
May election offers Europe chance to embrace gene editing and ‘smart agriculture,’ boost sustainable farming
On May 26, Europeans will be able to vote to elect new MEPs. This election will no doubt provide an ...
Roundup on trial: Cancer cases plateaued while glyphosate use exploded, Bayer expert witness testifies
Alva Pilliod’s lymphoma likely had no known cause, but his singularly abnormal immune system allowed it to flourish, an oncologist ...
As IARC glyphosate-cancer finding draws more scrutiny, WHO rebukes agency for ‘undermining’ other UN chemical safety assessments
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was once a serious, revered organization with the somber task of tackling ...
EPA requests public comment on activist proposal to cut glyphosate tolerance in oats
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking for public feedback on a petition by a national environmental research and advocacy ...
Will weed-killing robots replace controversial herbicides on the farm?
Weeds are the bane of a farmer’s existence—the “most important of all crop pests,” as one scientist put it. They ...
Viewpoint: Defending IARC’s designation of glyphosate as carcinogenic undermines evidence-based science
The apologetics of the decision's defenders are becoming all too predictable ...
Neonicotinoid insecticides threaten birds? Friends of the Earth botches the science, entomologist says
Usually the Friends of the Earth emails are about some environmental cause that makes me chuckle. They’re always on the ...
Viewpoint: Why grow GMO crops? Because they cut pesticide use 37%
The development and utilization of GMOs is not well understood by most consumers, causing them to be susceptible to misleading ...
EPA reaffirms glyphosate weed killer safe, calls IARC cancer designation an ‘outlier’ inconsistent with multiple assessments
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on [April 30] reaffirmed its finding that glyphosate, the world's most popular herbicide, is not ...
Podcast: Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list is an unscientific scam
Scammers are having a moment. On this episode of Biotech Facts and Fallacies, plant scientist Steve Savage tackles scams within ...
Following two glyphosate-cancer lawsuit defeats, here’s how Bayer may shore up its legal losses
San Francisco federal judge Vince Chhabria’s decision to split up the pivotal bellwether trials over an alleged link between Monsanto’s ...
Burkina Faso cotton production plummets after phasing out insect resistant Bt GMO crop
Cotton production in Burkina Faso is continuing its downward slide three years after the nation phased out the use of ...
Costly glyphosate-cancer legal battles spark Bayer shareholder ‘revolt’
You can't blame the Americans at Monsanto any more. Europe's most politically inflammatory chemical — the ubiquitous weedkiller glyphosate — ...
