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.
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Viewpoint: ‘Chemical alarmism’ — Scientist builds case that banning ‘forever chemicals’ PFOS and PFOAs could cause more harm than good
PFOA and PFOS were used early on to solve a problem in protecting human life. The problem? In 1967, a ...
GLP podcast: ‘Only 60 harvests left,’ debunked; Beating pesticide resistance; ‘Regulation through litigation’ threatens sustainable farming?
Have we so badly depleted the world's soil that we only have 60 harvests left? No. New "green" pesticides could ...
Viewpoint: ‘It undermines farmers and confidence in regulators’ — Real impact of Environmental Working Group’s organic-promoting ‘Dirty Dozen’ list
Nutrition experts agree that many Americans should eat more fruits and vegetables, but that can be challenging for those with ...
GLP podcast and video: EWG’s ‘Dirty Dozen,’ debunked; On pesticides, trust experts, not ideologues; Ukraine war derails EU’s Farm-To-Fork proposal
It's the time of year when Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out its much-ballyhooed "dirty dozen" list of fruits and ...
Here’s how natural biologicals can produce environmentally-friendly fertilizers and pesticides
There are few problems larger than the climate crisis. But one potential solution is so small it cannot be seen ...
Viewpoint: Challenging myths — Organic farming fleeces consumers and does not significantly promote sustainability
As I discussed in Part 1, many Americans have begun to seek “authenticity” in many aspects of their lives. There’s ...
Green pesticides are plagued by fast-developing insect resistance. Here’s how that can be addressed
For more than 70 years, agriculture’s response to pesticide resistance has been to seek new pesticides in an endless race ...
Viewpoint: We need fossil fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides — which improve crop production and keep food prices low
Thousands of Belgian and Dutch farmers are being sacrificed on the altar of climate change. They are losing their livelihoods ...
Viewpoint: ‘Now is not the time to make agriculture more difficult’ — Why Europe’s biotech and pesticide food policies do more harm than good
Centre right MEPs say they want to postpone the law proposal on pesticide reduction in its current form because it ...
Viewpoint: ‘Regulation through litigation’ — Activist groups team up with lawyers to sway government regulations
Speaking at the annual meeting of Southern Cotton Growers/Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association Jan. 21 at the Marriott Myrtle Beach Grand ...
Making moths avoid apples? Gene-edited bio-pesticides in development
William Walker of the Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Wapato, Washington, has three projects underway that aim to use genetic ...
Honeybee health: Driving problem is not climate or pesticides but the deadly Varroa mite
Some food grown in the US, especially high-cost luxuries like almonds, are pollinated using bees. Since bees are most often ...
99.8%: Rebuffing Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ pesticide claims, EPA says almost all fruits and vegetables are safe
We often talk about how government data shows over 99.8% of foods sampled are well below Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safety standards, commonly referred ...
How the war in Ukraine has derailed the European Union Farm to Fork initiative — and sparked debate about what constitutes sustainable agriculture
In March 2020, the EU, unveiled its Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, an ambitious policy designed to reduce agriculture’s carbon ...
Viewpoint: ‘Health impact of chemicals doubled in last 5 years’? Media misreporting flawed studies misleads the public
“Plastics and pesticides: Health impacts of synthetic chemicals in US products doubled in last 5 years, study finds," a July ...
Beepocalypse Myth Handbook: Assessing claims of pollinator collapse
After a decade of debate, the causes of the mid-2000s spike in bee deaths is coming into focus. Culprits are ...
Viewpoint: As New York debates limiting neonicotinoid pesticides, farmer explains how ban would escalate spraying of more hazardous chemicals
I’ve been growing grapes, cherries, and other crops for 45 years in western New York. I grew up on a ...
Viewpoint: No, pollinator declines are not causing 500,000 premature human deaths a year, as The Guardian and Le Monde report
Under the catchy title "The decline of pollinating insects causes 500,000 premature deaths per year", lepoint.fr published a brief translation ...
Snake oil? Are biologicals used by farmers to treat diseases, fend off pests and enhance soil health effective?
The aim of the European Seed series on Myths, Fake News, Misinformation and Disinformation is to dive deeper, taking a closer ...
Plastics make agriculture possible — but are microplastics harming soil?
Frequent extreme weather and growing food demand have exacerbated reliance on plastics to increase grain yield. Plastics used in agriculture ...
How the sausage gets made: A look inside the arduous and expensive process of pesticide regulatory approval
To get a new active ingredient product approved, there are a significant number of studies a company must complete first ...
Regulatory inconsistency and the precautionary principle: Why the European Court ruling limiting neonicotinoid pesticide use is misguided
Important questions loom, now that European sugar beet and oilseed rape farmers face a potential ban on the use of ...
Viewpoint: The Guardian cites ‘shocking’ statistics from environmental lobby groups claiming increasing dangers from pesticide poisonings. Here’s why they are wrong, yet again
The evidence is quite clear at this point. Properly used, pesticides do not pose a serious risk to human health ...
Viewpoint: Farms and judicious pesticide use pose no mortal threat to endangered butterfly, Monarch Conservation Consortium concludes
Here’s the situation. The North American monarch butterfly travels every summer to the northern United States where it breeds. Its ...
Viewpoint: How militant environmentalists deceived the public into believing glyphosate is cancerous
Marketed in 1974 under the brand name Roundup, glyphosate has been praised for several decades for its unique herbicidal qualities ...
Europe and Africa may take different stances on pesticides EU regulators have deemed harmful
Profenofos and cypermethrin, the active ingredients in the pesticide which Ugandan farmer Faustine Mugalula applies, have been banned within the ...
Mysterious kidney disease epidemic flares up in Central America with climate change and chemicals suspected as drivers
José Lopez didn't want to die, but the alternative — having a scalpel plunged through his abdominal wall to install ...
