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.
EU bans popular fungicide chlorothalonil, citing ‘high risk’ to amphibians, fish and bumblebees
One of the world’s most common pesticides will soon be banned by the European Union after safety officials reported human health and ...
Viewpoint: Activists hurt farmers by fueling public’s disconnect with modern agriculture
Farmers are increasingly frustrated and dispirited by the demands and unrealistic expectations of food advocacy groups and activists such as ...
Without glyphosate, farmers in seven Asian countries face $1.4-$1.9 billion increase in weed control costs, study finds
A new paper published in the journal Agbioforum points to higher weed control costs, less effective weed control, more difficult access ...
EPA may override state pesticide regulations, including stricter dicamba weed killer rules
State regulators are worried that the Environmental Protection Agency is getting ready to override them on a host of pesticide ...
Roundup lawsuit: Jury in glyphosate-cancer case awards plaintiff $81 million
A U.S. jury on [March 27] awarded $81 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG's glyphosate-based ...
Viewpoint: Anti-glyphosate ‘true believers’ circumvent democracy with legal crusade against Bayer’s Roundup weed killer
Between the opportunists and the 'true believers'...which is worse? ...
Oregon’s proposed neonicotinoid insecticide restrictions spark debate over necessity of pesticides
Two bills restricting certain pesticides [got hearings on March 26] in the Oregon legislature. Marie Bowers is a fifth generation ...
Roundup trial: Plaintiff in glyphosate-cancer lawsuit asks for $18 million in damages as jury deliberations continue
Arguing that agrochemical company Monsanto has spent decades deceiving consumers about the dangers of its popular Roundup weed killer, attorneys ...
Viewpoint: EU neonicotinoid insecticide restrictions could ‘disrupt global trade flows’
Farmers and the agri-chemical industry are criticizing the European Parliament for seeking to export the EU’s stringent standards on pesticides ...
Many farmers endorse glyphosate as safe weed killer while Bayer battles Roundup-cancer lawsuits
Farmers are standing by Bayer AG’s Roundup herbicide despite rulings from two juries that the world’s most widely used weedkiller caused ...
Do Roundup Ready GMO crops harm Monarch butterflies? Ecologists weigh in as new data comes to light
Monarch butterfly populations have been declining since the 1990s, and several studies have linked this to the proliferation of crops ...
Latest ecological fake news scare: Like the ‘honeybee armageddon’ narrative, pesticide-driven ‘insect-pocalypse’ claim is collapsing
The 'bee-pocalypse' was an exaggerated fiction grounded in genuine concerns. The 'insect-pocalypse' is more of the same ...
Roundup lawsuit: Bayer shares tumble as legal battle against glyphosate-cancer claims continues
Shares in Germany’s Bayer’s fell more than 12 percent on [March 20] after a second U.S. jury ruled its Roundup ...
Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’: If you eat 18,615 servings of kale daily, pesticides still won’t harm your health
[On March 20] the Environmental Working Group (EWG) [released] their so-called “dirty dozen” list. Before covering or using this “list,” ...
Glyphosate on trial: Second jury says Bayer’s Roundup weed killer carcinogenic
A US jury has found that one of the world's most widely-used weedkillers was a "substantial factor" in causing a ...
Podcast: Primer on bees, varroa mites and the ‘beepocalypse’ that never was
This time it’s all about the bees! From the composition of a working hive to the diseases that plague honey ...
Pseudo-science alert: For $9,500, Politico provides disinformation about crop biotechnology, GMOs and pesticides
When Politico strays from politics into agricultural biotech, its naiveté and lack of science expertise shows through ...
As EU glyphosate-cancer debate rages, 4 countries may take over herbicide safety evaluation from Germany
France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden have agreed to take over from Germany as the lead countries responsible for assessing ...
Malawi inches closer to commercializing GMO Bt cotton as crop yields double in field trials
Malawi is inching closer to commercializing Bt cotton as research into the genetically modified crop is at an advanced stage ...
Bayer lawsuit: Here’s how plaintiffs in next Roundup trial will try to show glyphosate causes cancer
A late March start date is scheduled for a California state court trial of plaintiffs, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, against ...
Whispering down the ‘fake news’ lane targeting conventional farming: No, Lou Gehrig’s Disease not caused by pesticides spread by chemical-spraying airplanes
Is it sensationalism to get traffic, lazy reporting -- or intentional misrepresentation of facts? ...
Bayer lawsuit: First federal glyphosate-cancer trial heads to jury
A trial in which a California man alleged his use of Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused his cancer ...
Viewpoint: Neonicotinoid ban puts UK sugar beet yields at risk for first time in 25 years
For the past 25 years, sugar beet agronomy hasn’t been complicated by the threat of virus yellows – it’s only ...
Ban on aerial glyphosate spraying of coca crops could ‘derail’ peace efforts, Colombia’s president warns
A judicial ban on aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eliminate coca crops should be modified, Colombia’s President Ivan ...
Viewpoint: Farmers’ crops are failing, and Europe’s precautionary assault on neonicotinoid insecticides is to blame
Farmers will never forget the last five years of incompetence from the European Commission ...
Court-mandated release of unpublished glyphosate studies could ‘reinvigorate’ EU’s Monsanto Roundup controversy
An EU court ruled [March 7] that European lawmakers must be given access to scientific studies examining the safety of ...
Viewpoint: Sri Lanka’s glyphosate-kidney disease scare illustrates why science, not politics, should dictate public health policy
On Feb. 4, the [American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)] announced that “two public health researchers who battled powerful ...
