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.
Patent war may stop Bayer from selling new GMO Bt insecticide cotton in India
German chemical and pharma major Bayer AG, which has acquired biotech company Monsanto .... said it cannot introduce new Bt ...
Famous chemist Bruce Ames a chemical ‘industry apologist,’ anti-GMO group claims
[The] Ames test .... is literally textbook science that is taught to students all over the world. .... It was ...
As ‘Dicamba drift’ crop damage declines, will EPA re-approve controversial herbicide?
The world’s largest agribusiness expects the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to announce a renewal and an updated label ...
How anti-GMO research is manufactured: Challenging two Séralini-lab studies that fueled renewed safety concerns over GMOs and glyphosate
In the wake of the decision by a California federal court concluding that Monsanto’s Roundup, whose active ingredient is glyphosate, ...
Can I drink glyphosate? Answers to common questions about the controversial weed killer
In recent weeks, there has been an uptick in the conversation about the safety of glyphosate, a common weed killer, ...
Viewpoint: US should cut funding to ‘politically-driven’ IARC cancer agency
[September 19th], Congress passed an appropriations bill that kept funding intact for the .... International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The ...
China’s adoption of GMO cotton launched 25-year decline in ‘hazardous’ pesticide use
China has experienced large and sustained reductions in pesticide use as a result of adopting GMO cotton, according to the largest-ever ...
Will glyphosate-cancer lawsuits block development of safer pesticides?
Dewayne Johnson sued Monsanto because he claimed the Round-Up he sprayed as part of his job as a schoolyard groundskeeper ...
Viewpoint: UC-San Francisco is the ‘academic home of the anti-GMO movement’
Being anti-GMO is the biotech equivalent of being anti-vaccine. The scientific literature overwhelmingly and definitively has concluded that GMOs are safe ...
Organic farming’s positive impact on bees may be ‘overestimated,’ new study suggests
Intensive agricultural landscapes can be hostile for bees due to a lack of floral and nesting resources, and due to ...
EU politician says Parliament ‘misrepresents’ its own pesticide safety data
A conservative agricultural spokesperson, has spoken out against a report on pesticides which she says “misrepresents” the findings of the ...
Bayer asks judge to toss ‘flimsy’ $289 million glyphosate-cancer verdict
Bayer on [September 18th] said it wants a California state court judge to overturn the jury’s verdict, order a new ...
Ontario study: Some good news about glyphosate
These days we are exposed to a great deal of negative, one-sided and inaccurate information in the media and online ...
French National Assembly rejects glyphosate weed killer ban for second time
The heated debate lasted all night, but the [French] National Assembly rejected all amendments to include a [glyphosate] herbicide ban ...
Biotech experts open their labs to combat misinformation about GMOs
Scientists are demonstrating the efficacy of plant biotechnology by taking Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows through the process ...
Viewpoint: No, wild bees haven’t been decimated by neonicotinoids, glyphosate
Bees and pesticides (and not just insecticides) have been the focus of activists and scientists alike, particularly since a 2006-2008 ...
New farm bill would stop cities from banning glyphosate and other pesticides
House lawmakers are seeking to halt .... local ordinances to ban or restrict pesticides that opponents say conflict with state ...
Viewpoint: Letting juries settle scientific disputes puts us on ‘a dangerous path’
[In August 2018], Monsanto was ordered to pay American groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson $289 million .... Because a jury determined that ...
Viewpoint: Coffee cancer warning illustrates failure of California’s Prop 65 law
On August 29, the FDA threw its hat into California’s eternal does-or-doesn’t-coffee-cause-cancer fight. “Requiring a cancer warning on coffee, based ...
Earth’s carrying capacity and why the status quo ‘could be collectively suicidal’
The co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute has a cheery vision of the future. If only that vision were plausible ...
Quaker Foods vice president says breakfast cereals aren’t tainted by weed killer glyphosate
Quaker Oats had an “aha moment” about a year ago, said Robbert Rietbroek, senior vice president and general manager for ...
New environment minister says France will stick to 3-year phase out of weed killer glyphosate
The [French] President Emmanuel Macron has committed to phase out the herbicide glyphosate in three years. The new Minister ...
Bt and other biopesticides might stop fall armyworm advance across India
Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive insect which had severely affected maize crops in Africa has now spread to fields ...
Viewpoint: America’s courts must keep ‘junk science’ out of legal proceedings
When jurors hear cases, they reasonably expect that they are presented only with reliable scientific information to support their deliberations ...
Despite continued public debate, weed killer glyphosate is safe, EPA says
An EPA official said [September 10th] the agency’s work shows that glyphosate — the herbicide found in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup ...
Roundup in breast milk? Disturbing new details in the plot to discredit nutritionist Shelley McGuire
In July 2015, Michelle (Shelley) McGuire, a nutrition professor and lactation expert then at Washington State University (WSU), was targeted ...
Court blocks Monsanto subpoena of glyphosate documents from activist group Avaaz
On September 6th, a New York judge blocked Monsanto's attempt to subpoena documents from the political activist group Avaaz. The biotech firm requested ...
