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.
Disease-resistant GMO tomato that could eliminate need for copper pesticides blocked by public fears
Field trials have shown that a disease-resistant GMO tomato variety eliminates the need for copper pesticides that pollute soil and ...
Viewpoint: Climate change, pesticides endanger monarch butterfly populations
The life cycle of the monarch hinges on the availability of milkweed, but the prevalence of the herbicide Roundup has ...
Ben and Jerry’s announces organic dairy line in Europe, pledges ‘no glyphosate traces’
Ben & Jerry’s has moved to cut all glyphosate-tainted ingredients from its production chain and introduce an “organic dairy” line ...
Conventional agriculture holds multiple ecological advantages over organic, analysis shows
Conventional farming outperforms organic in several key measures -- particularly crop yield, according to a meta analysis of 164 research ...
Talking Biotech: Can we fight herbicide-resistant weeds with non-GMO RNAi technology?
Monsanto biochemist Doug Sammons: RNAi technology increases weed sensitivity to targeted herbicides. This could counter the growing problem of glyphosate-resistant ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate herbicide’s ‘tough year’ could get much worse
Monsanto’s flagship weed killer, Roundup, has had a tough year. And it could get worse. With Roundup at the center ...
Despite drift issue, Monsanto sees ‘surge’ of farmers buying dicamba-resistant GMO soybean seeds
Monsanto Co. posted a surprise fourth-quarter profit and said it still expects a surge in sales of a controversial line ...
Kevin Folta looks back 5 years after release of controversial Séralini GMO rat study
The heavily criticized and retracted paper linked GMO consumption and glyphosate exposure to cancer in rats. The brouhaha that erupted ...
India investigating reports of cotton farmers growing unapproved improved Monsanto GMO variety
A top Indian cotton-producing state has ordered an inspection of fields planted with an unapproved variety of genetically modified seeds ...
Crops and chemicals: What does the future hold for GMOs and pesticides?
[Editor's note: The following is a Q&A with Paul Vincelli, a plant pathology professor at the University of Kentucky.] Farmers are ...
State bans of dicamba herbicide could increase soybean, cotton prices
Efforts to ban the herbicide [dicamba] could benefit the prices of agricultural products such as soybeans and cotton. At the ...
EU delays vote on whether to extend license for glyphosate herbicide
Health experts from European Union countries [were] expected to discuss whether or not to extend the license for herbicide glyphosate ...
Trace amounts of neonicotinoid pesticides found in 75% of honey samples worldwide—’far below’ levels dangerous to humans
A new study has found traces of neonicotinoid chemicals in 75% of honey samples from across the world. The scientists ...
Do GMOs, pesticides cause cancer? The Amish would say ‘no’
Amish farmers may not get cancer as much, but it's not because they don't use pesticides or GMOs. In fact, ...
UK environmental groups ramp up effort to ban ‘bee-harming’ neonicotinoids
Environmental group Friends of the Earth has released a YouGov survey showing that over three quarters of the UK public ...
Brazil regulator says Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto could be ‘detrimental to competition’
A unit of Brazil’s competition regulator Cade said the $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. by German life sciences firm ...
Guided evolution of wheat and other grains could feed growing population
Can we breed wheat and other cereal grains with the ability to fertilize themselves? Researchers report promising results that could ...
Are ‘free-from’ (gluten, GMO) food labels informative—or misleading?
What could be conceptually simpler than labeling a food product? You tell the customers what’s in the product, or maybe ...
Calls to ban glyphosate, neonics highlight need to ‘protect science’, say French corn farmers
At a meeting hosted on Wednesday [27 September] by CEPM, the maize lobby in Europe, maize farmers stressed the need ...
Why Indian farmers are buying unapproved herbicide-resistant GMO cotton seeds
If market and industry estimates are true, Indian farmers have, in the current kharif season, bought and planted about [350,000] ...
Viewpoint: Conventional farmers take better care of soil health than media portrays
[Editor’s Note: Amanda Zaluckyj is a practicing attorney and farmer's daughter who shares her family's story at The Farmer's Daughter ...
European Commission works to garner support for glyphosate herbicide re-authorization
The European Commission is exploring ways to bridge the gap between different member state requests regarding the re-authorization of the ...
Scientist who found no glyphosate in breast milk faced anti-pesticide activist attacks
[Editor's note: Karl Haro von Mogel has a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.] ...
Monsanto glyphosate lobbyists barred from EU parliament
[Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)] have decided to bar lobbyists for Monsanto, the US agrochemical company, from the European ...
Viewpoint: Restrictions on GMOs a ‘catastrophe’ for Australian farmers
Onerous and expensive regulations have denied farmers’ access to new and existing Genetically Modified (GM) crop varieties and reduced their ...
Decoded fall armyworm genome could aid fight against destructive corn pest
Until now limited to America and the Caribbean, Spodoptera frugiperda [also known as the Fall Armyworm] is estimated to cause ...
Uganda on track to pass ‘biotech bill’ that should pave way for GMO crop commercialization
Uganda’s long-awaited national Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill was delayed again yesterday, but is likely to be passed next Tuesday [Oct ...
