Chemical Controversies
How western organic food companies are threatening China’s farmers
As Chinese consumers have prioritized food quality, imported organic products have soared in popularity, with some supermarkets following in the ...
Viewpoint: ‘Heritage’ of emotional decision-making fuels EU’s opposition to biotech crops
As Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician and diplomat famously put it, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are ...
Health and environmental dangers of copper-based natural pesticides spark division among French organic winemakers
The vice-president of the CIVB (Conseil interprofessionnel du vin de Bordeaux) Bernard Farges launched a bomb on October 15, announcing that ...
Germany’s environment minister pitches plan to ban glyphosate by 2023
Germany plans new conditions for pesticide approval and will seek an end date for the use of glyphosate-based weed killers, ...
Earth-friendly GMOs: How Bt crops eliminated 6 million tons of pesticides
[W]hen I first heard about genetic engineering when visiting my eventual graduate school home, I was really excited about the ...
UK neonicotinoid ban invites spread of deadly virus yellows disease, sugar beet farmers warn
When I was elected to the role of NFU Sugar vice-chairman, it was foremost in my mind that every grower’s ...
Bayer might seek settlements in some Monsanto glyphosate-cancer suits, but prepares to fight large claims
Bayer AG’s chief executive said .... the company might consider settling lawsuits over Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing weed-killers depending on how high ...
273 Colombian farmers sue government spraying glyphosate to destroy coca plants used to make cocaine
The Colombian government faces 273 lawsuits stemming from damages to crops, land and water caused by the spraying the herbicide ...
Viewpoint: Why a jury verdict against Monsanto doesn’t change anything regarding the safety of Roundup herbicide
The common weed killer Roundup (glyphosate) is back in the news after a US court ruled it contributed to a man’s terminal cancer (non-Hodgkin ...
Legal challenges expected after EPA re-authorizes controversial weed-killing herbicide dicamba
Farmers can use the pesticide dicamba to clear fields of stubborn weeds for two more growing seasons after the EPA ...
Plaintiff accepts reduced damages in first glyphosate-cancer trial, Bayer to appeal verdict
A Northern California groundskeeper said [October 31] that he will accept a judge’s reduced verdict of $78 million against Monsanto ...
Can biotechnology help protect the world’s chocolate supply?
[K]eeping pace with global cravings can be a tall order for chocolate producers — a challenge made even tougher as ...
Replacing neonicotinoid pesticides is no easy task, Canadian farmers say
In 2015, the Canadian province [Ontario] instituted regulations requiring farmers to prove they have soil pest populations in corn and ...
6 things agroecology can do for farming and the environment
Agroecology has returned to the global spotlight, as one approach to bring farmers closer to meeting challenges [like rising food ...
Environmental Working Group or the EPA: Who should parents trust about glyphosate safety?
Remember a couple months back when an advocacy group found what it called “a hefty dose” of glyphosate, the active ingredient in weedkillers such ...
EU delays decision to re-approve ‘toxic’ copper compounds, widely used as pesticides in organic farming
EU countries have delayed a decision on whether or not to reauthorize the use of copper compounds — chemical substances ...
Despite FDA safety data, media promote glyphosate scare stories to drive readership, farmer says
FDA Testing Finds No Glyphosate Residues in Over Half of Commodities Tested. And what they did find was well within ...
Announcing appeal of reaffirmed Roundup-cancer verdict, Bayer develops defense strategy of Monsanto’s flagship product
Bayer AG’s $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto .... made the German drug and chemicals company the world’s biggest supplier of crop seeds and ...
Viewpoint: Chemophobia epidemic—Fanning fears about trace chemicals obscures real risks and ‘damages public health’
When is a chemical dangerous? This is not a question we consciously ask ourselves much, but in fact, we interrogate ...
Using gene editing to control forest fires? It could be a reality if anti-biotechnology activists don’t block it
The American west has experienced devastating wildfires in recent years; while the number of fires has decreased a little over ...
Judge upholds landmark glyphosate-cancer verdict, cuts punitive damages 84% to $39 million
A California judge has rejected Monsanto’s appeal to overturn a landmark jury verdict which found that its popular herbicide causes cancer. The ...
Argentina approves first drought-resistant, herbicide-tolerant GMO soybean
The Argentine government approved the first soy that is tolerant to drought and that also combines better weed control by ...
Viewpoint: FDA pesticide report should alleviate public fears of chemicals in food, but no one is listening
The International Food Information Council Foundation’s (IFIC) 2018 Food & Health survey identified carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals in food as ...
There are literally no more studies we can do to show glyphosate is safe, expert says
Several days ago I wrote a column about the wrong-headed claim that glyphosate is a carcinogen and the huge number of tort ...
Oxitec, Gates Foundation aim to curb pesticide-resistant insects, malaria with new ‘self-limiting mosquito’
Oxitec [a] UK-based biotechnology company ..... [October 18] announced that it is expanding its collaboration with the Bill & Melinda ...
Mother Nature? More like ‘Mad Scientist Mama’—creator of chemicals good and bad for humans
Nature is not some sort of cosmic mother figure. On the contrary, nature is composed of diverse biological and physical ...
After successful demonization campaign against herbicide glyphosate, anti-GMO activists and environmental groups take aim at atrazine
In July, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued an extensive report that reviewed decades of science and declared that a ...