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.
Will Australia ban neonicotinoid insecticides despite no evidence of bee declines on the continent?
European farmers are facing a total ban on a common group of pesticides after a report confirms they harm bees, ...
German coalition could lead to eventual ban of glyphosate in Europe despite ‘no harm’ findings
Perhaps as a sign of how unstable Germany’s political landscape has become, a weed killer has become an unlikely bargaining ...
Greece approves glyphosate herbicide for 5 years, reversing prior position supporting rejection by EU
The Greek ministry of agriculture officially approved on Tuesday (6 March) the re-authorisation of the world’s most commonly used weedkiller, ...
Risk In Perspective: Hazard and Risk Are Critically Different Things
The difference between hazard and risk is a critical distinction. Hazard and risk describe two different but related concepts. The ...
Herbicides make sweet corn sweeter and boost crop’s beneficial mineral levels, study finds
New work shows [that] changes in treated crops are substantial enough to change both their nutritional value and flavour. [The ...
Viewpoint: While wildlife habitat loss is a real problem, organic farming is not the solution
A recent article in the Independent is, in my opinion, a good example of how ideology can overwhelm evidence and ...
Lawsuits against Monsanto alleging glyphosate-cancer connection face court scrutiny
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria will spend a week hearing from experts to help decide whether there is valid scientific ...
Lifting Sri Lanka’s glyphosate herbicide ban welcomed by tea industry
Editor's note: The following is part of an editorial by The Island, a daily English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka The reported ...
Viewpoint: US funding for IARC cancer agency should be frozen until changes are made
Question: When is a carcinogen not necessarily a carcinogen? Answer: When the labelling is done by the World Health Organization’s ...
European farm groups defend neonicotinoids as environmental NGOs calls for total ban to protect bees
[Editor's note: On Feb. 28, the European Food Safety Authority issued a report concluding that neonicotinoid insecticides pose risks to ...
‘Living paints’: GMO bacteria could be used to make biodegradable paints
Now here's a bright idea. Researchers in Europe have developed a technique for growing genetically modified bacteria that can be used as ...
On India’s black market, herbicide-tolerant GMO cotton seeds sell for 1.7 times what Monsanto charged
[W]hile the government wanted to keep prices low for Indian farmers, as [the South Asia Biotechnology Centre] points out, the ...
‘The taste of pesticides in wines’: Dissecting Gilles-Eric Seralini’s latest ethically and scientifically questionable study
The notorious Gilles-Eric Seralini published a paper recently called “The Taste of Pesticides in Wines.” As a part of the ...
Viewpoint: Why environmentalists should support GMO crops
[G]enetic modification increases corn yields, by a lot. This is not surprising: pests account for a loss of almost one-third ...
Neonicotinoid insecticides pose risks to wild bees and honeybees, European Food Safety Authority says
The world’s most widely used insecticides pose a serious danger to both honeybees and wild bees, according to a major ...
Viewpoint: Bans on neonicotinoid insecticides may not actually help bees
Public pressure is growing in Australia to ban the sale of pesticides called neonicotinoids because of their harmful effects on bees. The ...
Federal judge halts California’s plan to require cancer warning label on glyphosate products
A federal judge on Monday halted California’s plan to require Monsanto to place warning labels on its Roundup products, saying scientists haven’t ...
Video: How GMO cotton helps farmers save fuel and water—and reduces pesticide use
When I think of cotton, I think of the southern United States. Australia may not come to mind, but they ...
Viewpoint: How ‘Big Food’ co-opted the organic movement
I was recently dispatched to a Target to buy some Goldfish, which was a more daunting task than you might ...
Canadian beekeepers sue Bayer and Syngenta, blame neonicotinoid manufacturers for bee deaths
A Quebec class-action lawsuit against two producers of neonicotinoids — commonly used insecticides that have been linked to a declining population of honeybees — ...
Neonicotinoid, fipronil insecticides largely ineffective as pests develop resistance, study says
A new study raises questions about the effectiveness of the two most popular types of agricultural pesticides, noting overreliance on ...
Sri Lanka lifts ban on glyphosate herbicide after farmers protest
In its first reform act after the humiliating defeat it suffered in the local bodies elections held on February 10, ...
Viewpoint: Dissecting the Food Babe’s anti-‘natural flavors’ pseudoscience
Our good friend the Food Babe has published an interesting piece of pseudoscience writing entitled ‘Are Natural Flavors Really That ...
Farmers, environmental advocacy groups disagree on neonicotinoids’ impact on bees
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group is among the organizations lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the pesticides, known ...
Farmers, ag companies launch court challenge of California’s Prop 65 listing of glyphosate
On [Feb. 20], a national agricultural coalition presented arguments for a preliminary injunction before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern ...
Non-GMO herbicide-tolerant canola to be grown in Canada this year
Supporting modern agriculture while also selling into the market for non-genetically modified food seems like a contradiction. But an American ...
Viewpoint: Total ban on ‘bee-harming’ neonicotinoid insecticides is not the best path forward
Calls to ban ‘bee-harming pesticides’ heightened last year following the release of new field studies on the effects of neonicotinoids, ...
