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.
Environmental Working Group or the EPA: Who should parents trust about glyphosate safety?
Remember a couple months back when an advocacy group found what it called “a hefty dose” of glyphosate, the active ingredient in weedkillers such ...
EU delays decision to re-approve ‘toxic’ copper compounds, widely used as pesticides in organic farming
EU countries have delayed a decision on whether or not to reauthorize the use of copper compounds — chemical substances ...
Despite FDA safety data, media promote glyphosate scare stories to drive readership, farmer says
FDA Testing Finds No Glyphosate Residues in Over Half of Commodities Tested. And what they did find was well within ...
Announcing appeal of reaffirmed Roundup-cancer verdict, Bayer develops defense strategy of Monsanto’s flagship product
Bayer AG’s $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto .... made the German drug and chemicals company the world’s biggest supplier of crop seeds and ...
Viewpoint: Chemophobia epidemic—Fanning fears about trace chemicals obscures real risks and ‘damages public health’
When is a chemical dangerous? This is not a question we consciously ask ourselves much, but in fact, we interrogate ...
Using gene editing to control forest fires? It could be a reality if anti-biotechnology activists don’t block it
The American west has experienced devastating wildfires in recent years; while the number of fires has decreased a little over ...
Judge upholds landmark glyphosate-cancer verdict, cuts punitive damages 84% to $39 million
A California judge has rejected Monsanto’s appeal to overturn a landmark jury verdict which found that its popular herbicide causes cancer. The ...
Argentina approves first drought-resistant, herbicide-tolerant GMO soybean
The Argentine government approved the first soy that is tolerant to drought and that also combines better weed control by ...
Viewpoint: FDA pesticide report should alleviate public fears of chemicals in food, but no one is listening
The International Food Information Council Foundation’s (IFIC) 2018 Food & Health survey identified carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals in food as ...
There are literally no more studies we can do to show glyphosate is safe, expert says
Several days ago I wrote a column about the wrong-headed claim that glyphosate is a carcinogen and the huge number of tort ...
Oxitec, Gates Foundation aim to curb pesticide-resistant insects, malaria with new ‘self-limiting mosquito’
Oxitec [a] UK-based biotechnology company ..... [October 18] announced that it is expanding its collaboration with the Bill & Melinda ...
Mother Nature? More like ‘Mad Scientist Mama’—creator of chemicals good and bad for humans
Nature is not some sort of cosmic mother figure. On the contrary, nature is composed of diverse biological and physical ...
After successful demonization campaign against herbicide glyphosate, anti-GMO activists and environmental groups take aim at atrazine
In July, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued an extensive report that reviewed decades of science and declared that a ...
Sustainability failure: Anti-GMO France’s 10-year effort to slash pesticide use boosted spraying by 12%
In 2008, the French government announced a dramatic shift in agricultural policy, calling for pesticide use to be slashed in ...
Viewpoint: It’s time to replace our fear-based genetic engineering regulations
In the early 1970s a group of scientists -- none involved in agriculture or food -- raised concerns about the ...
Viewpoint: Europe has traded crop biotechnology for ‘faith-based’ agroecology
We are living in a new Dark Age in Europe where innovation and technology are being rejected at an alarming ...
Viewpoint: Should we be concerned that three biotech companies may control 70 percent of agrochemical industry?
In the past two years alone, three major corporate mergers have begun to reshape what was an already concentrated international ...
Viewpoint: How anti-GMO activist-journalist Carey Gillam primes the glyphosate litigation pump
The Guardian published an article by Sam Levin and Carey Gillam [on October 7] about the “new era of cancer lawsuits ...
Billionaires and Bacteria are Racing to Save Us From Death by Fertilizer
It was January 15, 1881, and the U.S. envoy to Peru had to duck for cover .... Chile had invaded Peru ...
‘Gold standard’ assessing neonicotinoids: Field bee hive studies find pesticides not major source of health issues
Some lab studies but almost no field ones suggest neonicotinoid pesticides are harming bee health. Why is there such a ...
Glyphosate-cancer case appeal: Judge inclined to set aside $250 million of damages, order new trial
Bayer AG won a tentative ruling slashing the lion’s share of a $289 million verdict in the first trial over claims ...
Viewpoint: Roundup is a ‘timid cousin’ of dangerous pesticides, and a blessing to agriculture
The public has found its witch to burn. Glyphosate — or, colloquially, Roundup — is shackled to the stake in ...
Viewpoint: Link between bee death and glyphosate still a ‘far-fetched’ story
Glyphosate is a herbicide, in other words, it is toxic to plants. Its target enzyme is not found in insects ...
Beet production drops, plant diseases threaten comeback following EU’s neonicotinoid ban, farmers say
Two weeks after Acor started the new beet reception campaign at the milling plant in Olmedo (Valladolid), field inspections continue ...
Why organic apple farmers spray their trees with insecticides 32 times on average during each growing season
A lot of people buy organic foods because they believe organic means free from chemicals and pesticides. But the truth ...
Ex-Reuters reporter Carey Gillam: Anti-Monsanto crusader or obsessed anti-GMO activist?
[Carey Gillam] the longtime reporter, who now works for a consumer advocacy group, is pegged by her detractors as an activist at ...
Environmental groups ‘hijack’ bee death narrative to push political agenda, citrus farmer says
As we enter the fall months, it is safe to say the 2017-18 California citrus crop year was a success ...
