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.
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 ...
Controversy emerges over proposed bill blocking local preemption of federal pesticide regulations
In the past three years, Irvine went from treating its parks .... with more than .... 60 gallons of synthetic ...
Why are all Roundup-cancer lawsuits filed in the US?
The unique conditions present in the U.S. led to the filing of more than 8,000 court claims alleging the use ...
Viewpoint: Activists promotion of ‘fog of misinformation’ about GMOs challenges science communicators
Activists spend all day peddling nonsense. If they spent that kind of time on constructive issues…sigh. [A] local radio station ...
Beyond pesticides: Engineered crops that fertilize themselves from air
Plants are surrounded by nitrogen, but it's unusable as found in the atmosphere. Scientists may be able to change that ...
Viewpoint: Experts must ‘shut down’ junk science on social media before it causes real damage
[A] new study by the Pew Research Center found over two out of three Americans (68 percent) now get at least some ...
Conflicting pesticide regulations may fuel needless food safety disputes
Since 1961, the Codex Alimentarius has provided a common set of standards for food safety, ranging from nutrition labeling to ...
Viewpoint: Frankenstein’s legacy is a ‘distrust of science’—and GMOs
The novel ushered in a concept that actively harms the Global South two centuries later ...
Plaintiff’s attorney ‘manipulated’ jury in Roundup-cancer trial, Bayer claims
Calling Monsanto’s efforts to hide the alleged carcinogenicity of its Roundup weed killer “reprehensible,” attorneys for a school groundskeeper dying ...
First ever FDA glyphosate study finds weed killer exposure ‘not concerning for public health’
FDA testing of glyphosate residues in food found no detectable amounts of the herbicide in over half of commodities tested ...
Viewpoint: New glyphosate study suggesting danger to honeybee microbiota is detailed, sophisticated—and wrong
Erick Motta and colleagues at the University of Hawaii just published a paper in PNAS entitled "Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees." ...
