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.
How ‘pollinator entrepreneurs’ helped stave off ‘beepocalypse’
[Editor's note: Shawn Regan is a research fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana.] Despite ...
Organic water? Asarasi exploits loophole to get USDA-certified label on bottles
Much like asparagus water and water sommeliers, organic water is giving us pause. Though the concept isn’t new, it’s surprising to see it making ...
Monoculture: Do intensive farming and GMOs really threaten biodiversity?
Many critics claim GMOs increase the practice of monoculture cropping, but is this accurate? Does intensive farming damage our land ...
Add Tennessee to list of states restricting dicamba herbicide after drift complaints
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture, facing some 70 suspected dicamba-drift complaints largely in western Tennessee, has issued new rules on ...
Sen. Pat Roberts: ‘Uncertainty and dysfunction have overtaken’ USDA organic program
The far-reaching difficulty that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has in determining whether imported “organic” food meets standards or is ...
Garbage? Study challenges claim that Americans waste $165 billion of food each year
Say you’re a journalist, and you’ve been assigned a story about food waste. You’re on a deadline, and you need ...
Scientists skeptical EU neonicotinoid ban would help bees
As the EU prepares to rule on extending a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, a large-scale study opened the door for industry to argue ...
Lesson from debate over Food Evolution movie? ‘Doesn’t make sense to judge GMOs as a monolithic entity’
[Marion] Nestle told The Outline that her comments in the film were taken “out of context” because its narrow focus on the ...
Protectionism? Italian farmers ‘demonize’ Canadian products made from wheat grown using glyphosate
They came from up and down Italy, setting up their protest headquarters just a few dozen cobblestone steps from the ...
Irish professor: Don’t listen to ‘lunatic fringe’ myths that foods cause—or cure—cancer
Most cancers are caused by bad luck and genetic factors, with little evidence to link specific foods to the disease, ...
USDA approves first release of GE diamondback moths, in New York cabbage fields
A proposal to release genetically engineered diamondback moths in cabbage fields in upstate New York has received a green light ...
Lead author of controversial bee study: ‘Don’t give up on neonics’ although they may have ‘subtle’, mitigable effects
[Editor's note: Ben Woodcock is an ecological entomologist at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the UK. He is the ...
Glyphosate herbicide may alter ecosystem by increasing tadpole population
[A] common herbicide has turned out to be a boon for tadpoles making them more toxic to predators, researchers said.... Common ...
Swedish court: Coop grocery chain ‘misled’ consumers by claiming organic food safer, healthier
The makers of the viral 2015 “Organic Effect” video, which claimed that switching to an all organic diet can eliminate ...
Talking Biotech: Benefits and unanticipated consequences of neonicotinoid insecticide use
Penn State entomologist John Tooker: Neonic coated seeds are not a silver bullet for pest control in all situations ...
Missouri temporarily halts sale, use of dicamba due to drift complaints
The Missouri Department of Agriculture halted the sale or use of any products containing the Monsanto-made herbicide Dicamba.... In a ...
Less toxic cigarettes? ‘Genetic road map’ of tobacco could lead to reduced carcinogen levels
A new genetic road map of tobacco has been used to successfully identify and clone two mutated genes associated with ...
Opinion: ‘Fear-based’ food labels—like Dannon’s GMO-free claims—undermine confidence in safe food system
[Editor's note: Kent Messer is a professor at the University of Delaware.] As a behavioral economist, I analyze what motivates ...
Is pink bollworm pest developing resistance to GMO Bt corn in India?
Genetically modified or Bt cotton is no longer resistant to pink bollworm - a major pest in Mahahrashtra, prompting the state government to write ...
NYU ethicists: ‘Biologically’ modified mosquitoes should be deployed to fight Zika
[Arthur Caplan and Kelly Folkers are ethicists at New York University.] Zika is here to stay as a highly dangerous warm-weather pest ...
Infographic: Understanding ‘hazard vs risk’ illustrates lack of science behind IARC’s glyphosate cancer designation
Lately in the news of agriculture there has been a lot of controversy over the popular herbicide glyphosate being labeled ...
Harmful, beneficial or no effect? Flawed European bees and neonicotinoids study could be misused to support ban
A widely-discussed 3-country study showed no clear impact of neonics on bees. Why did the authors appear to explain away ...
‘Game changer’ herbicide that could supplement glyphosate developed from anti-malaria chemical
Researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have used chemicals destined to develop new treatments for malaria as a ...
LA Times: Food Evolution GMO movie persuasive not polemical, ‘potentially revolutionary’
Calm, careful, potentially revolutionary, "Food Evolution" is an iconoclastic documentary on a hot-button topic. Persuasive rather than polemical, it's the ...
Organic crop farming in US slides even as demand for organic food increases
The time is ripe for Jeff Bezos to work his business acumen on an area of the US food system ...
Hollywood Reporter on Food Evolution: ‘Polished and provocative’, challenges ‘enviro-activist orthodoxy’
THE BOTTOM LINE: A polished and provocative call for activists to be as scientifically minded as they believe they are ...
Independent health agencies disagree with IARC’s glyphosate cancer designation
The list of [Proposition 65] labeled substances [in California] includes marijuana smoke (but eating marijuana is fine, by California standards), ...
