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.
Viewpoint: Dicamba is controversial, but herbicide’s benefits outweigh its costs
.... Palmer Amaranth, Tall Waterhemp, and Giant Ragweed .... they’re among the worst invaders in a farmer’s soybean fields—prolific weeds that ...
Precision drones, driverless tractors bring automated agriculture closer to fruition in the UK
Farming drones from China may soon be buzzing across British fields as a result of a new partnership between Chinese ...
Brazil’s public health agency will appeal judge’s nationwide suspension of glyphosate
Brazil-based agrochemical companies plan to appeal a ruling suspending the use of best-selling weed killer glyphosate .... an industry spokeswoman ...
Counterfeit pesticides in Kenya threaten crop harvests and farmers’ health
[Kenya] is losing [millions of dollars] in revenue to unregistered agro-chemicals dealers and counterfeit pesticides, according to [the] Agrochemicals Association ...
As honeybee population grows, scientists question link between neonicotinoids and bee health
Some argue that an increase in insecticide use and a much-publicized Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD] issue have caused honey bees ...
Monsanto Roundup trial: First lawsuit alleging glyphosate-cancer link goes to jury
A trial in which a school groundskeeper alleged that his use of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer caused his terminal cancer ...
Success of insect resistant Bt eggplant in Bangladesh opened door to GMOs in the developing world
Bt brinjal is the first genetically engineered crop to be commercially released in Bangladesh, and other GE crops are in ...
Biotech firm Pivot Bio beta testing ‘clean, alternative’ nitrogen fertilizer to spare farmland, protect waterways
Across the Corn Belt this summer, Pivot Bio and farmers in the company’s Intent to Pivot program are beta testing the first sustainable nitrogen ...
Grapes genetically resistant to mildew rot could cut pesticide use and French wine prices at the same time
French wineries have to use a lot of pesticide to keep their grapes healthy, and that's both expensive and costly ...
Brazilian judge suspends glyphosate use, citing concerns about herbicide’s toxicity
A Brazilian judge has suspended the use of products containing the agrochemical glyphosate, a widely employed herbicide for soy and ...
Congressional committee cuts funding to IARC over WHO agency’s controversial glyphosate-cancer finding
The House Committee on Appropriations has withheld funding for the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer—which receives about $2 million from ...
Ghanaian farmers enlist drones to combat fall armyworm invasion
Farmers at Janga in the West Mamprusi municipality of the Northern Region [in Ghana] are learning how to use drones ...
Regulators reverse Obama-era ban on GMOs, neonicotinoid pesticides in wildlife refuges
The Interior Department announced plans [August 3rd] to reverse a rule that banned the use of pesticides in national wildlife ...
Indian farmers double yields with Bt cotton, but pest resistance issues complicate its advantages
Ever since India adopted genetically modified Bt cotton in 2002, a bitter battle has been raging to define the narrative ...
Video: New education campaign gives ‘farmer moms’ a voice in the GMO debate
A Fresh Look is one of the newest efforts to give farmers a voice about GMOs and speak directly to the ...
Viewpoint: Eliminating pesticides from farming isn’t realistic—or desirable
In about 1980, I visited several International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) research sites in Mexico. The trip included ...
Kenya, Ethiopia show neighboring Uganda how to revive its dying cotton industry with pest-tolerant technology
Cotton, once a cash cow in Uganda where growers aspired to outcompete each other in the acreage covered and income ...
Video: Biochemist Myles Power dresses down Indian anti-GMO philosopher and ‘green revolution’ critic Vandana Shiva
Anti-GMO activists have attacked innovation in agriculture since the start of the Green Revolution in the mid-20th century. Assuming everyone ...
Glyphosate cancer lawsuits ‘needlessly alarm’ the public abut a ‘critical farming tool’
[A] federal district judge presiding over class-action litigation in California [recently] made a troubling decision that will reverberate across the ...
‘Factory farms wreck the environment’ and other myths farmers are tired of hearing
Here are [some] of the biggest myths spread on social media and in the mainstream media, and some stuff we ...
EPA investigates illegal use of dicamba as it mulls herbicide’s re-approval
Despite being banned for in-crop use this summer in Arkansas, dicamba is a suspect in damage to thousands of acres ...
Even as managed honeybee colonies hit record numbers, another threat to their health is identified: Mystery viruses
The quest to figure out what's behind honeybee deaths has become as much a political question as a scientific one. Recent ...
Chemical giant Bayer challenging Europe’s neonicotinoids ban
Bayer will appeal...the recent ruling of the General Court of the European Union (EU) to ban neonicotinoids. [T]he German multinational pharmaceutical company ...
Monsanto, expert witness spar over validity of IARC’s glyphosate-cancer finding
An agricultural economist refuted Monsanto's assertion that the International Agency for Research on Cancer "cherry picked" studies to conclude that Monsanto's ...
CRISPR: How gene editing could provide clean water, cut pesticide use and protect the environment
CRISPR has been making headlines for its potential to treat or prevent diseases. But medicine isn’t the only science where ...
Viewpoint: Activists fret about neonics, but viruses are the real threat to bees
While environmentalists raise millions of dollars insisting they will get targeted pesticides (e.g. neonicotinoids) banned to save bees that aren't ...
Questioning EU neonics ban: Pesticides are ‘not a curse but a blessing’
Plant protection products and green genetic engineering [tools] are not a curse but a blessing, says Dr. Klaus Schlüter, a ...
