pesticides

Viewpoint: How a small group of scientists and pliable media created a ‘catastrophe narrative’ that hurts bees and farmers
The scientists who glommed onto the “bee-pocalypse” narrative never bothered to go back and correct the record ...

Has modern agriculture ‘tainted’ your Thanksgiving dinner?
The Environmental Working Group knows how to grab headlines with ominous claims about America's food supply. In 2018, the Washington, ...

Viewpoint: Absolute opposition to GMOs, gene edited crops and pesticides threatens food security and harms the environment
Every time an outspoken pundit calls GMOs categorically unsafe it undermines decades of past and in-progress scientific research and reminds ...

Pesticides endanger humans, animals, beneficial insects? Rethinking simplistic notions, understanding trade-offs in sustainability and health
As much as pesticides are a threat to certain ecosystems, they’re also responsible for providing the planet with food in ...

Thailand glyphosate ban could boost weed-control costs by $268 million, pesticide trade group says
A trade group representing pesticide firms urged Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha to delay a ban due Dec. 1 on ...

Bill reinstating neonicotinoid pesticide ban on wildlife refuges gains traction in Congress
A bill that would reinstate a regulation banning certain pesticides from wildlife refuges was approved by the House Committee on ...

Nanotechnology helps farmers battle increasingly pesticide-resistant weeds, insects with fewer chemicals
A University of Toronto graduate school project is now extending the life of widely used crop protection products. Vive Crop ...

Podcast: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat explains how junk science gets published—and how to spot it in the headlines
Bad research can put people's lives at risk, so addressing problems with peer review is essential ...

Nanosensor detects trace amounts of chemicals, helping farmers cut pesticide, fertilizer use
Good things come in small packages. Sadly, so do bad things. That’s where Iowa State University’s (ISU) Department of Mechanical ...

Anti-pesticide group As You Sow, food industry spar over glyphosate sustainability
San Francisco-based shareholder advocacy group As You Sow rated 14 major food companies on what—if anything—they’re doing to address the ...

California investigates pesticide safety limits for marijuana, fearing users exposed to ‘unsafe’ chemical levels
Starting this January, California cannabis users can get a $20 gift card by anonymously sharing their consumption habits with a ...

Commonly used pesticide 1,3-D has smaller impact on soil microbes than tillage, cover crops or irrigation, study shows
It started with curiosity. How does a fumigant, commonly used for nematode management in potato cropping systems, influence soil microbial ...

‘Post-organic produce’: Expanding indoor farming industry aims to make agriculture more sustainable
If you live in the U.S., the last time you ate a salad, the lettuce inside it almost certainly came ...

Eat your veggies! California testing confirms organic and conventional produce well below EPA pesticide limits
Once again, evidence that our food supply is safe and incredibly diverse ...

Microbes living in plant roots fight off fungal infection, cutting need for pesticides, study shows
Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant's growth and tolerance to stress. An international research team ...

Viewpoint: Anti-pesticide Environmental Working Group spreads chemophobia at taxpayer expense
.... It may sound crazy, but the federal government funds a network of activists that spew tons of needlessly alarming ...

Global consensus finds neonicotinoids not driving honeybee health problems. Why is Europe determined to ban them?
Why is Europe allowing what has been called 'a bizarrely one-sided piece of politicized science' to determine agricultural policy? ...

Rat-munching monkeys could protect palm oil, most widely consumed vegetable oil, from rodents
Found as an ingredient in many processed and packaged foods, palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil. Now, ...

EU lawmakers: New bee safety rules won’t protect pollinators from neonic pesticides long term
The European Parliament on [October 23] blocked a diluted proposal by the 28-nation bloc’s executive arm on protecting bees from ...

California grows 1/3 of US produce—95% of state’s fruits, vegetables below EPA pesticide limits, and none pose a health risk
Once again, tests showed that the vast majority of fresh produce collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) ...

Rodale Institute lashes out at Swedish study that finds yield shortfall, increased land use, ‘huge climate change downside’ in organic farming
Not surprisingly, the debate over organic versus conventional farming is heavily polarized in academic circles .... In December 2018, researchers ...

Avoid produce because of pesticides? No ‘sound science’ behind that recommendation, new report says
A new report from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology aims to reduce consumers’ worries by describing how information ...

Farm biodiversity helps control pests without chemicals, boosts crop yields, study shows
Ecologists and biologists compared data of about 1,500 agricultural fields around the world, including corn fields in the American plains, ...

Farmers, scientists face off against activists as New Hampshire mulls neonic insecticide ban
Farmers, lawn service scientists and educators supplied stinging criticism [October 8] of legislation that activists are pursuing to ban the ...

Do farmers really need neonic insecticides? Study sparks debate over pesticides’ future
New research has found a widely used and increasingly controversial insecticide has “negligible” benefits for commercially grown soybeans. Pesticide makers ...

Over 99% of farmers follow EPA pesticide rules, so why is the public scared of chemicals?
[In September] the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its 2017 pesticide residue sampling data results. FDA concluded: “The ...

Viewpoint: Critical flaws plague new study linking ‘heavy’ pesticide exposure to cardiovascular disease
What do the results really show? ...

Turkish scientist gets 15-month prison sentence after publishing study that links chemicals in food and water in western Turkey to cancer
A Turkish food engineer and human rights activist was sentenced .... to 15 months in jail after publishing the results ...