(Beyond Pesticides, June 5, 2026) With increasing research covered by Daily News showing pesticides linked to epigenetic effects (alter gene expression), the mechanism has far-reaching implications for protecting health and the environment. It also raises issues related to the regulatory review process, which is inadequate in assessing this mechanism. Since the discovery of DNA, a principle called the “central dogma” has dominated genetics. This dogma states that genetic processes are a one-way street: only changes to DNA in germ cells (eggs and sperm) trigger processes in RNA and then proteins to effect changes in tissues and cells throughout the body. Any suggestion that environmental exposures, for example, could alter gene expression except in the first, exposed generation, was dismissed as “Lamarckian” and unscientific. And only changes to genes themselves could be inherited.

The theory of epigenetics began developing in the 1950s, and it gradually became clear that gene expression was modifiable by external factors. Cells do have numerous ways of choreographing genes, determining which ones are turned on and off at which times and in which places. In fact, this choreography is absolutely necessary for the development of an individual from pre-conception through fertilization and the progress of an embryo to a fetus to a newborn.

Epigenetics is conserved across every domain of life, from archaea and bacteria to humans. Epigenetic mechanisms do not change genes themselves, but they manage that vast library of potential tools that cells and whole organisms have to work with. The gene may be selfish, as Richard Dawkins, PhD, famously claimed, but it is highly regulated by the rich tapestry of other cellular agents and influenced by many external factors.

Epigenetic mechanisms consist mostly of a small set of molecules that attach to particular sites along the DNA helix, controlling whether proteins can access a gene and activate it. External forces—food, toxicants, pharmaceuticals, reproductive status, and other hormonal states—can affect how molecules attach to the DNA helix and regulate gene expression. The epigenetic unit of most interest is the methyl molecule, which attaches to the helix often at points where cytosine and guanine are connected by a phosphorus bridge, known as CpG islands. These sites play profound roles in numerous diseases, including metabolic and autoimmune disorders, blood cancers and tumors, as well as reproductive disorders.

In the late 1990s, it was discovered that interference with epigenetic processes during development could have consequences for ensuing generations. There are three generations defined as “multigenerational epigenetic inheritance”: A pregnant woman’s exposure to a fungicide, for example, would affect not only her and her embryo or fetus, but also her offspring’s children, because a female develops all the eggs she will ever produce while a fetus, and they will be exposed to the substance while she is in utero. A male fetus’s machinery for producing sperm later will also be configured in utero in response to the fungicide. Thus, those three generations have all been directly exposed to a disruptive substance. From the fourth generation on—the founding mother’s great-grandchildren—the process is “transgenerational” rather than “multigenerational”; those descendants have never been directly exposed, yet multiple types of damage continue to manifest. 

Michael Skinner, PhD, a systems biologist emeritus at Washington State University and a pioneer of transgenerational epigenetics, has now shown that these effects can persist for 20 transgenerational iterations—and they change over time. Dr. Skinner has long worked with the fungicide vinclozolin, used on fruit, beans, onions, and turf, and to control residential mold. It is an endocrine disruptor with reproductive effects, a possible carcinogen, toxic to aquatic organisms, and a sensitizer/irritant. It is a potent anti-androgen, meaning that it damages normal male development of reproductive structures, reducing fertility. Vinclozolin and its metabolites attach to androgen receptors, suppressing the function of testosterone and a suite of related steroid hormones.

Dr. Skinner’s experiments with a lineage of Sprague-Dawley rats are carefully structured to track the effects of exposure during development. He outbreeds each generation to an unexposed mate to avoid confusion and complications from inbreeding. Because the number of eggs produced by females is relatively small compared to the number of sperm produced by males, the researchers use only sperm to follow the epigenetic consequences in each generation, although they observe the effects in both male and female offspring. They analyze both the DNA methylation patterns and the physical health of each generation.

The results of Dr. Skinner’s most recent research, published on February 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, are heartbreaking and horrifying. The effects, Dr. Skinner and his colleagues suggest, accumulate over time, disturbing reproduction from many angles. Over 20 generations, mating failure increases. In males, every generation experiences significant levels of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in testicular cells destined to produce sperm. Although this trend stabilizes through the 17^th generation, after that, apoptosis spikes. Male fertility declines overall. The female rats experienced severe and fatal difficulties during labor, which was often prolonged beyond exhaustion, and their pups usually died. These parturition abnormalities begin to appear in about the 14^th generation and worsen through the 23^rd generation. The Skinner group notes that most of the female rats suffering from labor distress are also obese or overweight. These conditions raise cholesterol, and high cholesterol can disrupt and inhibit uterine contractions.

But reproduction is not the only domain affected. As the authors write, “The modified germline epigenome influences the epigenetic profiles of embryonic stem cells and will subsequently affect the epigenomes of all somatic cells in the next generations (emphasis added). This means that all tissues, not just reproductive organs, are influenced by that original exposure. In addition to ovarian, prostate, and testis pathologies, the researchers find sharp increases in kidney pathologies in both sexes between the first transgeneration and the 23^rd. Sprague-Dawley rats are susceptible to kidney disease as they age, but these pathologies emerge at one year.

Dr. Skinner has also demonstrated epigenetic transgenerational effects of exposure to DDT, glyphosate, atrazine, dioxin, DEET, permethrin, methoxychlor, hydrocarbons and plastics-derived compounds. He published a study in 2023 in which he exposes the first gestating female rat to vinclozolin, her gestating daughter to jet fuel, and her gestating granddaughter to DDT to try to determine the cumulative transgenerational epigenetic effects of multiple toxicant exposures. The fifth, or first transgenerational descendants, experience significant spikes in testicular, prostate, kidney, and ovarian diseases as well as obesity. The transgenerational females, in particular, suffer from multiple diseases—33 out of 47 female animals compared to 17 out of 50 males.

Clearly, given the evidence from both Dr. Skinner’s earlier research and the current study, the transgenerational epigenetic effects of chemical exposures affect males and females differently, but both likely contribute to the increasingly severe reproductive problems faced by thousands of species, including many wildlife species, shellfish, and insects, in addition to humans. (Not everyone accepts the principle of heritable epigenetic patterns. For a skeptical view of transgenerational epigenetics, see University of Edinburgh professor Adrian Peter Bird’s critique here. But see also Beyond Pesticides’ granular analysis of Dr. Skinner’s current study here.)

The question of whether and how many more than 20 generations these disastrous effects persist remains unanswered. Things appear to get worse with each generation, but the researchers also suggest that epigenetic changes can eventually result in phenotypes with adaptive traits, and DNA methylation patterns can become stable enough to qualify as heritable evolutionary mutations. But Dr. Skinner’s body of research shows that a beneficial outcome from exposure to a pesticide cannot be expected any time soon. If the sorts of effects he is finding in rats are extrapolatable to humans, the consequences over 20 generations will last for 500 years.

Given the current social concern about falling birthrates and declining fertility, it is curious that few analysts consider environmental factors. For example, a May 26 piece by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic suggests phones, contraception, social media, Weltschmerz, and housing costs, but wrote nary a word about the exposome.

Yet, the evidence that the consequences of environmental exposures can be transmitted epigenetically to ensuing generations continues to accumulate and adds enormously to the urgency of eliminating pesticides and other chemical exposures in the environment. The best thing you can do for yourself, your family, and your environment is to eat organic, grow organic, and support regenerative/organic agriculture. See Beyond Pesticides’ action brief on the Farm Bill, currently under consideration in the Senate. Tell your elected representatives and local authorities to build a sustainable agricultural sector that can produce healthy people, healthy livestock, healthy plants, and healthy wildlife in perpetuity.

***
“Climate change is no longer a future threat: it is reshaping life across the planet.” — UNEP

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Sources:
Stability of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult-onset disease and parturition abnormalities
Korolenko et al.
PNAS 2026
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2523071123

Ancestral plastics exposure induces transgenerational disease-specific sperm epigenome-wide association biomarkers
Thorson et al.
Environmental Epigenetics, 2021
https://academic.oup.com/eep/article/7/1/dvaa023/6208501?searchresult=1

Studies Find Genetic and Epigenetic Effects from Pesticide Exposure, Threatening Future Generations
Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2026
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2026/03/studies-again-find-genetic-and-epigenetic-effects-from-pesticide-exposure-threatening-future-generations/

Epigenetics Archive
Beyond Pesticides
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/category/diseasehealth-effects/epigenetic/

Meta-Analysis Catalogues Pesticides’ Adverse Impact on How Genes Function
Beyond Pesticides, April 30, 2024
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2024/04/meta-analysis-catalogues-pesticides-adverse-impact-on-how-genes-function/

(Beyond Pesticides, June 4, 2026) In a study published in Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, researchers in Brazil find that organic farming coupled with agroecological conservation practices “promote[s] biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.” The proxy for biodiversity in this study is anurans, a type of frog or toad native to the Brazilian Pampa—a section of the South American Pampas grasslands, a globally underrecognized biodiversity hotspot. According to a scientific report reviewed by Mongabay in 2024, “nearly a third of the Brazilian portion…has been lost since 1985, largely to agricultural expansion and forestry plantations.”

In the U.S. context, public health and environmental advocates continue to call for the transition to organic land management as a solution that validates the ecosystem services that biodiversity-forward agricultural systems can provide under values-aligned stewardship.

Methodology and Main Findings

The authors in this study, researchers at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, surveyed 26 artificial ponds across 16 family farms with different land management systems—9 organic farms and 7 conventional farms—located in the Serra do Sudeste region of the Brazilian portion of the Pampa grasslands. All farms were sampled three times during the 2023 to 2024 breeding seasons (twice in the October to November 2023 period and once in March 2024). The metrics used to assess biodiversity include species richness (number of frogs per pond/farm) and functional diversity (via traits analyzed, including: activity period, use of habitat, body size, larval type, and spawning site). Functional diversity is assessed using a respected methodology known as the Petchey & Gaston (2006) Index. It is important to note that this does not necessarily account for functional evenness (the spread of a given species distributed across functional roles/niches within a given ecosystem) or functional divergence (location within a space where the most abundant species inhabit). For further details on this aspect of the methodology, please see page 4 of the study PDF.

In terms of the landscape analysis, the composition is quantified in two spatial scales, one to assess the structure of the local habitat around individual ponds (200-meter buffer) and the second to assess the broader landscape (500 meters around the center points of any given farm).

On the primary objectives of this study, the authors state, “We aimed to compare taxonomic, functional, and beta diversity, as well as community composition of anurans between organic and conventional agroecosystems in the Brazilian Pampa.” They continue: “Additionally, we evaluated how local habitat characteristics of ponds and landscape composition at different spatial scales influence diversity patterns and community assembly.” In the context of this study, this metric is used to characterize potential differences in species richness on organic farms versus chemical-intensive systems. Researchers defined “conventional” farming as systems that use pesticides and high land-use intensity, whereas “organic” systems rely “on natural alternatives for pest and soil management, lower chemical inputs, and reduced land-use intensity.”

The main findings of this study include:

• Species Recorded around Organic Farms vs. Conventional. A total of 20 native anuran species (plus one exotic species, Aquarana catesbeiana) are recorded across the study; organic farms host 20 species while conventional farms host 17 species, with four species (Boana faber, Leptodactylus mystacinus, Limnomedusa macroglossa, and Rhinella achavali) found exclusively in organic systems.
• Organic Farms Statistically Significant Species Richness at the Pond Scale. Artificial ponds in organic systems support higher species richness than conventional.
• Organic Farms Outcompete Conventional on Functional Diversity. Researchers find a statistically significant relationship between organic systems and functional diversity. Moreover, organic farms adjacent to native forest patches have the highest values in this biodiversity metric, whereas plantation forestry (“silviculture cover”) does not have a statistically significant relationship. In other words, organically managed systems that are grown in sync with nature rather than industrial models demonstrate higher functional diversity.
• Notable Analysis on Functional Diversity from Study Authors. “At broader spatial scales, landscape context emerged as a key driver of functional diversity. While landscape composition within 200 m of ponds was not associated with diversity metrics, functional diversity at the farming level increased with forest cover in organic systems. This scale-dependent response suggests that local breeding habitats alone are insufficient to maintain functional diversity and that access to surrounding natural habitats is critical for sustaining a wider range of ecological strategies (Ribeiro et al., 2017; Moreira et al., 2020). Forest patches likely function as refuges and sources for recolonization, enhancing functional complementarity in organically managed landscapes (Ribeiro et al., 2017).”

Previous Coverage

The research just in the past year alone continues to mount on the relationship between thriving biodiversity and organically managed agroecological systems.

In the context of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) in Rajasthan province, India, research published in Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition determines that long-term organic management enhances various soil health indicators to a greater degree than conventionally managed systems. The organic soil qualities include greater microbial diversity, increased microbial biomass carbon (MBC), higher dehydrogenase activity (DHA), and higher alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), among other favorable outcomes. (See Daily News here.) In the Ben Tre Province of Vietnam, researchers published their findings in Environmental Technology & Innovation, finding that organically managed coconut farms significantly improve soil health across numerous markers when compared with conventional (chemical-intensive) plantations. Organic plots are found to have better porosity and bulk density, meaning lower compaction and better aeration, to support air and water movement through the soil system; in addition, at a system-level, organic plots show stronger correlations between organic matter, nutrients, microbes, and enzyme activity than chemical-intensive coconut plots. (See Daily News here.)

Meanwhile, moving to the European continent’s Sicilian citrus orchards, research published in Microbiological Research finds that organic farming enhances microbial diversity in citrus orchard soil systems, both in terms of nutrient cycling and aiding in the development of more complex microbial networks pivotal to biodiversity. One notable result from this study is that organic systems harbor more complex and diverse microbial communities in their soils, as evidenced by higher fungal alpha diversity in organic soils and higher species richness under organic land care. Additionally, organic management promotes various nutrient cycling capacities (inorganic nitrogen consumption and organic phosphorus assimilation) and soil fertility functions (carbon content and carbon fixation). (See Daily News here.)

There are also pollinator benefits associated with organically managed systems. For example, a study of organic tomato agroecosystems with managed and wild bees, published in Apidologie, affirms the importance of protecting natural systems to support organisms that contribute to crop productivity. (See Daily News here.) Researchers in Germany and Brazil investigated the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes in organic and nonorganic areas in “bee hotels,” finding that there is a positive correlation between organically managed fields and numerous indicators of improved pollinator health, including an “increase in bee abundance, species richness, and diversity.” (See Daily News here.)

There are also climate resilience benefits of organic farming and food systems. In a literature review of peer-reviewed research published in the Cambridge University publication Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, researchers at the Institute for Applied Agriculture Research (Germany) and Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems (Arizona State University, USA) have determined that organically managed systems have better performance indicators under climate-induced stressors, emit less nitrous oxide emissions, increase overall soil organic carbon, and reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The researchers also point out the potential socio-ecological benefits of organic management systems, including their potential for building local and regional food systems. In terms of climate mitigation findings, Organically managed systems reduce indirect CO2 emissions largely due to the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers. (See cited studies here and here.) Additionally, organic agriculture increases soil organic matter, offering potential long-term offsets for agricultural emissions more broadly. (See cited studies here and here.) In terms of climate adaptation, organic systems have been found to emphasize local seed breeds and genetic diversity, lending to climate adaptation potential relative to the chemical-intensive status quo. (See cited studies here, here, and here.) (See Daily News here.) An Egypt-based study published in Scientific Reports highlights the benefits of organic agriculture in comparison to different farming systems over five years in four crops (maize, tomato, faba bean, and potato). “Soil carbon sequestration is a long-time storage of carbon in soil which represents 70% of the carbon in land,” the authors note. They conclude, “Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the agricultural practice systems on the soil carbon sequestration and properties, productivity, water consumption, soil carbon sequestration, CO₂ emission and cost of some agricultural crops.” (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

To review additional research on the relationship between transitioning to organic systems and biodiversity, please visit What the Science Shows on Biodiversity.

You can take action by subscribing to the Weekly News Update and Action of the Week to receive updates each week! If you would like to review previous Actions of the Week that are still live, see the Action of the Week Archive.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation

(Beyond Pesticides, June 3, 2026) A study, published in PeerJ today, by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S. and the University of Pisa in Italy, finds that the widely used fungicide fludioxonil and its breakdown products, including a ‘forever chemical’ per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), threaten environmental and human health. Through a review of scientific literature (from 2021-2025) of the ecological and health effects of fludioxonil, the authors find evidence of this chemical’s mechanisms of toxicity, including oxidative stress, that are enhanced as it degrades in the environment. Oxidative stress occurs when there is a disruption of normal cell-signaling and molecular damage, leading to an imbalance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals (unstable oxygen molecules) that the body is unable to detoxify. In particular, sunlight exposure causes fludioxonil to break down into a PFAS that is linked to adverse health implications for the environment, wildlife, and humans. 

One of the authors, Warren Porter, PhD, is a board member for Beyond Pesticides and presented at the 2021 National Pesticide Forum. Dr. Porter is an emeritus Professor of Integrative Biology and an Ardath and Robert Rodale Professor of Environmental Toxicology, with previous research showing that combinations of commonly used agricultural chemicals in concentrations that mirror levels found in groundwater can significantly influence immune, endocrine, and neurological health in animals. His research also links pesticide exposure in utero to impaired learning, changes in brain function, and altered thyroid levels. 

Importance and Background 

Fludioxonil, originally developed by Ciba-Geigy (now Syngenta) in 1993, was created as a preservative and anti-fungal coating for seed storage before being registered as a multi-use fungicide. The original data indicated that fludioxonil “functioned by acting directly upon a single enzyme, a kinase that was unique to specific species of fungi,” which suggested that the compound would not harm nontarget organisms. Fludioxonil was also described as being “resistant to UV photolysis/hydrolysis [degradation pathways using sunlight] and free from concerns regarding toxic synergy with other pesticides,” which led to an increase in usage for a myriad of applications. 

In the U.S. alone, fludioxonil is registered for use on over 900 different types of plants, including a wide array of field and vegetable crops, fruit trees, berries, herbs, and grasses. This compound can be used for large-scale applications with sprayers on crops to prevent fungal infections during growth, as well as in post-harvest applications to prevent mold in transport. One study finds that fludioxonil is among the seven pesticides most likely to reach consumers through residues in food, while additional research shows this fungicide is frequently found in imported produce at levels that surpass regulatory limits. 

“The highly hydrophobic fungicide is particularly difficult to wash off of produce, ensuring that a substantial percentage of the fungicide used in treatment remains on food at time of consumption,” the review authors state. As they point out, even though fludioxonil is often added to produce after it has been boxed for shipment, it is not considered a food additive by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is only regulated through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA, however, “does not distinguish this form of concentrated application from pesticides that may take days or even weeks to be degraded in the field, detoxified or leached from the surface of produce by natural actions of sunlight, wind, rain and metabolism by microorganisms,” leaving high levels of this pesticide on products that are directly ingested by consumers. 

Methodology and Results 

In this review, the researchers analyze evidence that fludioxonil poses a threat to both ecosystems and human health within scientific literature. The results reveal that the mechanism of toxicity that causes adverse effects is based on the fungicide’s ability to induce oxidative stress by exhausting levels of glutathione (GSH). 

Through the research available in peer-reviewed articles, patents, and policy documents, among others, fludioxonil is shown to disrupt GSH homeostasis, which serves to buffer against oxidative stress. “Glutathione depletion via fludioxonil may thus comprise a key mechanism for its toxicity in living organisms,” the authors explain.  

They continue: “It should be emphasized here that the biological functions of GSH are critically important as this tripeptide serves as the master antioxidant in animals, plants and fungi, protecting them from oxidative damage derived from stress, pollution and disease.” (See research here and here.) 

This process is particularly driven by a breakdown product of fludioxonil that is formed under the UV radiation present in sunlight. As the researchers share, “Of note, while the toxicity of many pesticides is reduced by environmental forces such as the UV rays in sunlight, fludioxonil seems to behave in the opposite manner.” (See here.) The breakdown products generated after exposure to sunlight are “approximately 100-fold more toxic than the parent compound,” highlighting the additional concerns as pesticide active ingredients degrade in the environment. 

Previous Research 

A 2018 survey by the Environmental Working Group of pesticide levels in common brands of baby food finds that the levels of fludioxonil significantly exceed the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) established by EPA. A repeat of the study in 2023 again finds fludioxonil, and other pesticides, present in multiple baby food samples. (See Daily News here.) Additional studies cited within the review find that nontarget organisms are also at risk, including aquatic organisms, phytoplankton, plants, bacteria, benthic macroinvertebrates, amphibians, honey bees, terrestrial earthworms and nematodes, and large mammals, including humans. 

A Daily News post, entitled Widely Used Fungicide Found to Adversely Affect Enzyme Common to All Cells, documents how a study in Scientific Reports, with research led by Tristan Brandhorst, PhD (an author on the current study), sheds light on a mechanism of toxicity for fludioxonil as it acts on a sugar-metabolizing enzyme common to all cells. This mechanism threatens all organisms, proving the initial claims that fludioxonil acts solely on specific species of fungi incorrect. Additional research by Dr. Brandhorst suggests that fludioxonil also decreases the human body’s ability to defend itself against illnesses, like COVID-19, and promotes disease permanency. This lack of bodily defense against disease is linked to the pesticide-induced reduction in the antioxidant GSH, further supported by the current review. 

Although previous studies report that fludioxonil disrupts hepatic (liver), endocrine, and neurological systems, the mode of action by which this fungicide causes these issues only recently came to light. According to research by Dr. Brandhorst, fludioxonil may impede the antioxidant GSH from protecting the body from illnesses while prompting disease endurance, as GSH is a natural antioxidant important in blood pressure and glucose regulation, preventing the formation of free radicals which damage cells in hypertension and diabetes mellitus. However, the endocrine disruption properties of fludioxonil can cause intracellular GSH deficiency, resulting in oxidative stress that influences the development of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. A decrease in GSH biosynthesis and/or an increase in depletion of the intracellular GSH pool can impair oxidation-reduction homeostasis and promote oxidative stress that may account for individual susceptibility to a disease like COVID-19. (See Daily News here, as well as additional coverage on fludioxonil here.) 

The Path Forward 

Removing all petrochemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers will protect the environment, all wildlife, and human health. Having fungicides like fludioxonil on crops, during and after harvest, leads to deleterious impacts on the soil, ecosystems, and all organisms, with heightened risks associated with PFAS breakdown products when fludioxonil is degraded by sunlight. The health and environmental threats associated with this fungicide, as well as all other pesticide active ingredients, are far beyond the “unreasonable adverse effects” as outlined by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

Food choices have a direct effect on the health of the environment and those who grow and harvest what consumers eat. That’s why food labeled “organic” is the right choice. In addition to serious health questions linked to actual residues of toxic pesticides on the food we eat, our food buying decisions support or reject hazardous agricultural practices, protection of farmworkers and farm families, and stewardship of the earth.  

It is important to eat organic food—nurtured in a system of food production, handling, and certification that rejects hazardous synthetic chemicals. USDA organic certification is the only system of food labeling that is subject to independent public review and oversight, assuring consumers that toxic, synthetic pesticides used in conventional agriculture are replaced by management practices focused on soil biology, biodiversity, and plant health. This eliminates commonly used toxic chemicals in the production and processing of food that is not labeled organic—pesticides that contaminate water and air, hurt biodiversity, harm farmworkers, and kill bees, birds, fish, and other wildlife. 

Adopting a fully organic diet can also reduce pesticide levels within the body, as well as facilitate faster DNA damage repair, according to findings from a randomized clinical trial published in Nutrire. (See Study Demonstrates Health Benefits of Organic Diet Over That Consumed with Toxic Pesticides for more information.) Learn about additional health and environmental benefits of organic practices here and here, as well as how to Grow Your Own Organic Food. 

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.  

Source: 

Roelans, L., Brandhorst, T, Tonelli, M., Chiellini, G., and Porter, W. (2026) Breakdown products of the fungicide Fludioxonil may account for observed environmental impact: potential implications for human health, PeerJ. Available at: https://peerj.com/articles/21290/.

(Beyond Pesticides, June 2, 2026) “Show me what democracy looks like; this is what democracy looks like” is a common chant at rallies across the United States and worldwide when people come out to express their outrage at the complacency of the political system to address current societal hardships and inequities. On the eve of the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the state of U.S. politics has become especially divisive and polarized. One area of agreement, however, that continues to break through the fractious political climate was on display recently in South Carolina, when the state’s House of Representatives unanimously passed a House Resolution encouraging local communities to transition to organic land management across the state earlier this spring. This action serves as one signal among many of widespread agreement that the protection of people and the environment from pesticides has bipartisan support.

Passed in March, H.5305 was introduced by William G. “Bill” Herbkersman (R) and cosponsored by a bipartisan group of over 100 House members. State Representative Herbkersman is chair of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. The Resolution seeks to “encourage counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of the State, including school districts” to establish the adoption of organic practices as a priority. While falling far short of a mandate, environmental and public health advocates view this as a foundational shift in the right direction toward building broader momentum for the transition to pest management in sync with biodiversity, public health, climate resilience, and prosperity, rather than actively undermining these critical pillars of American society.

The Resolution begins with a recognition that there is a shared public good in ensuring safe shared community spaces, stating, “South Carolina’s public lands, parks, roadside corridors, and waterways are shared community assets.” The Resolution continues, “Routine synthetic pesticide and herbicide applications create avoidable exposure pathways for residents, workers, and wildlife, and increase stormwater and watershed risks.” Additionally, it says: “The use of organic practices can help create and maintain healthy landscapes and ecosystems while reducing chemical dependence.”

The Resolution emphasizes the public health and environmental risks of pesticides, the stewardship opportunity and examples of local ordinances in other contexts, and the benefits of organic practices. Also identified are local ecological concerns, including monarch butterfly and honey bee populations facing pesticide and chemical pressures, in addition to growing community demand for safer pest management on parks and playing fields, athletic fields, and rights-of-way.

The Resolution expresses bipartisan solidarity for pesticide accountability, similar to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in April that struck from the House Agriculture Committee-passed Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026 provisions weakening protections from toxic pesticides, with 73 Republicans representing 25 states joining with Democrats. See here for a vote tally on the amendment introduced by U.S. Representative Anna Luna (R-Florida), which was identical to the Protect Our Health Amendment, introduced by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).

Model Policies

Most states have explicitly preempted local governments from restricting pesticides on both private and public lands at the behest of the chemical industry after the Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Mortier (1991) (see court decision) upheld the right of local jurisdictions to restrict pesticides under federal pesticide law. This does not stop local and state governments from banning or regulating pesticides on public land, as advocates have successfully organized to adopt ordinances across the United States, including New York City, New York; Maui, Hawai’i; Stamford, Connecticut; and Montgomery County and Baltimore, Maryland, among numerous others. The ordinances embrace organic management standards and allowed materials under relevant sections of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA),

One model policy that advocates point to includes various local ordinances in Maine, including the coastal town of Falmouth. Maine does not preempt the authority of local political subdivisions from restricting pesticides more stringently than the state. Several years after the adoption of the original lawn care ordinance in Falmouth, Maine (2020), the town’s Conservation Commission studied the issues, the Town Council held hearings, and public input was collected, leading to the town’s adoption of a stronger ordinance with an effective date that was later extended to 2026. See here for the testimony of Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, delivered to the town council of Falmouth at an April 2024 hearing. This followed landmark policy adopted first in South Portland and then in Portland, Maine.

The updated Falmouth ordinance, like the ones in South Portland and Portland, embraces the core purpose of protecting health and the environment, while extending the ordinance’s restrictions to all petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer users (residents, commercial groups, and licensed applicators).

The model ordinance is explicit in restricting substances to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances in OFPA and updated by the National Organic Standards Board. Synthetic substances are banned under OFPA unless they are listed on the National List. For example, the bee-toxic neonicotinoid insecticides, always highly toxic to ecosystems and human health, are prohibited under OFPA’s allowed and prohibited list. For additional information on Falmouth, Maine, please see the following Daily News, Community Votes Down Ballot Initiative To Repeal Local Pesticide Restrictions in Maine.

In Massachusetts, as distinguished from Maine, there is a circuitous (some would argue undemocratic) process for local communities to pass ordinances on private and public lands. Four towns—Orleans, Wellfleet, Truro, and Eastham— have passed local ordinances; however, the home rule petition process prevents these common-sense protections from going into effect until both chambers of the legislature approve the measures. On many matters, ranging from the incorporation of a new fire department, establishing a real estate transfer fee for local properties, or prohibiting the use of a pesticide that is not prohibited statewide, actions of local governments—after voting on a measure by the locality’s governing body—must go through review by the State Attorney General’s office and both chambers of the state legislature before becoming local law.

For our model ordinance in Massachusetts, please see here. If you are a Massachusetts resident, take action to pass a local ordinance in your town.

Previous Coverage

The core criteria of organic land management, as defined by the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), are sixfold:

1. Definition clarity and enforceability;
2. Creation of a Systems plan to establish a baseline for pest management practices
3. Rigorous standard for allowed/prohibited substances list;
4. Certification and enforcement system (third-party enforcement);
5. Bi-annual Public Comment Process
6. Funding

In the agricultural context, the Rodale Institute determined significant benefits of organic versus conventional agriculture (See Daily News here and here):

• Organic systems achieve 3–6 times the profit of conventional production;
• Yields for the organic approach are competitive with those of conventional systems (after a five-year transition period);
• Organic yields during stressful drought periods are 40% higher than conventional yields;
• Organic systems leach no toxic compounds into nearby waterways (unlike pesticide-intensive conventional farming;
• Organic systems use 45% less energy than conventional systems; and,
• Organic systems emit 40% less carbon into the atmosphere.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) arrive at similar findings, according to data published in the Journal of Environmental Quality. They reported that a 4-year organically managed corn-soybean-oat system reduces nitrogen (N) loads by 50 percent with corn and soybean yields “equivalent to or higher than conventional [chemical-intensive] in most years.” The findings from a 7-year study comparing nitrate loss in organic and chemical-intensive management found that organically managed perennial pasture reduced nitrogen loads significantly. The study, which focused on nitrate pollution in agriculture that harms biodiversity, threatens waterways, drinking water, and public health, and releases nitrous oxide (an extremely potent greenhouse gas), was conducted at USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment. See Daily News here.)

Consumption of organic food has also been found to reduce pesticide levels in humans, according to multiple studies. (See Daily News here and here.) One recent analysis leveraging data from University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study (HRS) – “a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of more than 20,000 Americans over the age of 50 every two years” —as well as an HRS supplemental study, the Health Care and Nutrition Study (HCNS)— “utilizing validated Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) to assess food consumption and nutritional status, conducted in 2013” – found that consumption of organic animal-based and plant-based foods is positively associated with higher cognitive scores. (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

Integrated pest management without strict criteria for synthetic input elimination will only perpetuate pesticide poisoning and contamination. See Defining a Strong IPM or EPM Program to learn how to engage with decision-makers in your community, your state legislature, or Congress.

Beyond Pesticides engages with communities and local governments across the nation through the Parks for a Sustainable Future Program to transition public parks and playing fields to organic land management. You can become a Parks Advocate today and bring about the organic transition to your community!

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: H.5305

(Beyond Pesticides, June 1, 2026) In the face of U.S. government inaction, the California state Assembly last week passed legislation to phase out existing agricultural uses and ban new uses of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pesticides. The legislation, AB 1603, which accurately defines PFAS pesticides in accordance with international standards, does allow continued residential, school and park, playing field, and community PFAS pesticide use (including mosquito spraying). The bill now moves on to the state Senate.

While advocates say the bill is an important step forward, they point out that the legislation is one of many examples that compromises public and environmental health, as pesticide-associated cancer, degenerative diseases, multigenerational effects, and ecosystem decline escalate. This attack on health and the environment is happening at the same time that organic agriculture and land management prohibits the use of PFAS pesticides and all the petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers with profitable and cost-effective practices.

The California victory paves the way for state action as regulators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refuse to act on clear scientific findings identifying devastating health and environmental threats. In this context, the bill serves as a call for all states to push for this type of legislation in all statehouses across the country, in the U.S. Congress, and, at EPA. Communities, on the frontline of public health and environmental protection, are increasingly phasing out all toxic pesticide use and advancing organic land and building management systems, which include eliminating all PFAS pesticide use.

ℹ️ [For community leaders interested in advancing cost-effective practices instead of a lengthy and often compromised whack-a-mole, chemical-by-chemical approach, see Beyond Pesticides’ model local pesticide policy and implementation plan. Beyond Pesticides assists communities through its Parks for a Sustainable Future program and other pest prevention programs, and collaborates through its organic agriculture and Keeping Organic Strong program.]  

PFAS chemicals have become the new DDT. Like DDT, PFAS are persistent, leading to the nickname “forever chemicals,” and they are highly toxic. 

Through an action, Beyond Pesticides is calling for accurately defining and banning PFAS pesticides, starting in California, and asking Congress and EPA to stop dismissing the serious health and environmental threat of these pesticides with the current PFAS definition, which defies international standards. 

Because of their toxicity and persistence, the agrichemical industry looks to PFAS chemicals for new pesticides. Given the likelihood of water contamination, there is public health concern that drinking water health advisories issued by EPA show PFAS levels as low as .02 parts per trillion (ppt) having the potential to cause adverse health effects.  

EPA continues to ignore the widely accepted definition of PFAS, which is supported by scientists and by the international forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). EPA’s current definition is at odds with the prevalent scientific thinking of scientists worldwide who have challenged the agency’s position and its resulting risk assessments. The OECD definition should be used as a basis for evaluating pesticides, and EPA should not allow PFAS pesticides, as defined by OECD to be registered. 

Recent research by independent scientists finds, “[T]he biggest contributor to PFAS in pesticide products was active ingredients and their degradates. Nearly a quarter of all US conventional pesticide active ingredients were organofluorines and 14% were PFAS, and for active ingredients approved in the last 10 years, this had increased to 61% organofluorines and 30% PFAS.” 

Fortunately, legislators in the California Assembly passed a bill (AB 1603) that adopts the OECD definition of PFAS and states that no one shall, “Use, or market, for agricultural use a pesticide that contains any of the PFAS pesticide ingredients;” or “Manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale in commerce, a pesticide registered for agricultural use that contains any of the PFAS pesticide ingredients.” It now moves to the state Senate. The bill states findings on the hazards of PFAS, their presence in the California environment, and their presence in food grown in California. The agricultural use of PFAS is responsible for this widespread contamination, but PFAS ingredients are also found in the excluded products with “uses to treat pets, livestock, and other animals to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate fleas, mites, ticks, heartworms, or other insects, parasites, or organisms.” Using California pesticide use data, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) calculates that farmers applied 15 million pounds of PFAS pesticides across all 58 California counties between 2018 and 2023. Based on the state’s Surface Water Database and other releases, PFAS pesticides were also found in up to 50% of California surface water samples, and in about 45% to 55% of sediment samples, according to an EWG analysis. 

But, California is not unique. This is a serious nationwide problem and EPA continued in the last year to register new PFAS pesticides, in addition to ignoring the need to clean up existing contamination.

The PFAS pesticide now bill faces a crucial vote in the California Senate. Because of the state’s importance in agriculture, adoption of AB 1603 by California would have national impact, even if the legislative action is restricted to agricultural pesticides and all new uses, as the bill is currently worded. The OECD chemical definition of PFAS states: “PFASs are defined as fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it), i.e., with a few noted exceptions, any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) is a PFAS.” This definition of PFAS encompasses gases, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, many of which can degrade to form additional PFAS, such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), that regulatory bodies like EPA do not include in their definitions.

Thus, while the OECD defines PFAS as industrial chemicals that have at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom—which is a carbon atom with two or three fluorine atoms attached to it— EPA has narrowed the definition to those containing two fully fluorinated carbon atoms. 

More on PFAS: 
EPA links PFAS to an increased risk of many health effects, including decreased fertility and hypertension in pregnant people; increased risk of prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers; developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes; hormonal irregularities; elevated cholesterol and risk of obesity; and reduced immune system response. Like DDT, PFAS residues are persistent in food and drinking water, with over six million U.S. residents regularly encountering drinking water with PFAS levels above the EPA health advisory of 70 ng/L. Therefore, PFAS are detectable in almost all of the U.S. population—disproportionately afflicting people of color communities—and have implications for human health. From epigenetic to immunotoxic effects, there is a wide range of health implications with PFAS exposure. Because of their ubiquitous use, studies report that PFAS compounds are detectable in infants, children, and pregnant women. Like DDT, the effects of PFAS endure through generations—pregnant women can readily transfer compounds to the developing fetus through the placenta.   

EPA and other federal regulators have been behind the curve in preventing and responding to the threats posed by PFAS compounds. Despite evidence on the dangers of PFAS stretching as far back as the 1950s, federal agencies failed to respond as the plastics industry continued use of the material in new products. Now, EPA is similarly expanding PFAS use with the registration of pesticides in the PFAS group.   

The detection of any level of PFAS is cause for concern, and the parallels with DDT continue. From widespread presence in farm fields and sewage sludge (biosolids) to contaminated water bodies throughout the U.S., PFAS have made their way into the environment and human bodies. PFAS are even present in remote environments like the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Eastern European Tibetan Plateau. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that almost all Americans have some level of PFAS in their bloodstream, which highlights PFAS as a chronic danger to people that demands urgent regulatory action. Like DDT, PFAS are implicated in endocrine disruption. In a literature review published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety earlier this year, the authors highlight a multitude of studies on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and endocrine-disrupting pesticides (EDPs) showing epigenetic effects from exposure, as the chemicals imitate the action of endocrine hormones and lead to gene damage and multigenerational adverse effects to health. In summarizing these results, the researchers state, “As a class of particularly representative endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the accumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances potentially leads to adverse health effects, including hormonal disruptions, developmental issues, and cancer.” These effects result from complex mechanisms that are not yet fully assessed in EPA’s pesticide registration process, creating a major deficiency in the regulatory review of pesticides that must be addressed before products are approved.   

Meanwhile, EPA continues to register PFAS pesticides through its normal registration review process. (See Daily News At Odds with Intl Regulatory Bodies, EPA Defines Away PFAS Problem, Allows Widespread Contamination.) The latest pesticide proposed for EPA registration, epyrifenacil (agricultural weed killer), joins cyclobutrifluram (soil fungicide/nematicide), isocycloseram (household and agricultural insecticide), diflufenican (lawn and agricultural weed killer), and trifludimoxazin (agricultural weed killer), making a total of five PFAS pesticide proposals in 2025 that have been associated with national and worldwide contamination of food, land, and water. Two of these, cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram, have been approved as of last fall.

Beyond Pesticides is calling for accurately defining and banning PFAS pesticides, starting in California, and asking Congress and EPA to stop dismissing the serious health and environmental threat of these pesticides with the current PFAS definition, which defies international standards.

Californians, Tell Your State Senator:

Please support passage of AB 1603 to restrict PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pesticides, now under consideration in the state Senate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of California continue to ignore the widely accepted definition of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence, which is supported by scientists and by the international forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). EPA’s current definition is at odds with the prevalent scientific thinking of scientists worldwide who have challenged the agency’s position and its resulting risk assessments. The OECD definition should be used as a basis for evaluating pesticides, and EPA should not allow PFAS pesticides, as defined by OECD to be registered.

PFAS chemicals have become the new DDT. Like DDT, PFAS are persistent, leading to the nickname “forever chemicals,” and they are highly toxic. Because of their toxicity and persistence, the agrichemical industry looks to these chemicals for new pesticides. Given the likelihood of water contamination, it is disturbing that drinking water health advisories issued by EPA show PFAS levels as low as .02 parts per trillion (ppt) have the potential to cause adverse health effects for public health. 

Recent research by independent scientists finds, “[T]he biggest contributor to PFAS in pesticide products was active ingredients and their degradates. Nearly a quarter of all US conventional pesticide active ingredients were organofluorines and 14% were PFAS, and for active ingredients approved in the last 10 years, this had increased to 61% organofluorines and 30% PFAS.”

Fortunately, legislators in the California Assembly have passed a bill (AB 1603) that adopts the OECD definition of PFAS and states that no one shall “Use, or market, for agricultural use a pesticide that contains any of the PFAS pesticide ingredients;” or “Manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale in commerce, a pesticide registered for agricultural use that contains any of the PFAS pesticide ingredients.” It now moves to the state Senate. The bill states findings on the hazards of PFAS, their presence in the California environment, and their presence in food grown in California. The agricultural use of PFAS is responsible for this widespread contamination, but PFAS ingredients are also found in the excluded products with “uses to treat pets, livestock, and other animals to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate fleas, mites, ticks, heartworms, or other insects, parasites, or organisms.” I urge you to consider removing the restriction to agricultural pesticides.

Because of the state’s importance in agriculture, adoption of SB 1603 by California would have national impact, even if restricted to agricultural pesticides.

The OECD chemical definition of PFAS states: “PFASs are defined as fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it), i.e., with a few noted exceptions, any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) is a PFAS.”  

This definition of PFAS encompasses gases, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, many of which can degrade to form additional PFAS, such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), that regulatory bodies like EPA do not include in their definitions.  

Thus, while the OECD defines PFAS as industrial chemicals that have at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom—which is a carbon atom with two or three fluorine atoms attached to it EPA—has narrowed the definition to those containing two fully fluorinated carbon atoms. 

I urge you to support SB 1603 and move for its passage in the state Senate. Thank you.

Letter to Congress:

Legislation is urgently needed to restrict PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to ignore the widely accepted definition of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence, which is supported by scientists and by the international forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). EPA’s current definition is at odds with the prevalent scientific thinking of scientists worldwide who have challenged the agency’s position and its resulting risk assessments. The OECD definition should be used as a basis for evaluating pesticides, and EPA should not allow PFAS pesticides, as defined by OECD to be registered.

PFAS chemicals are the new DDT. Once hailed as a miracle solution for agriculture and public health, DDT became recognized as the antithesis of that—a highly toxic, persistent chemical whose effects endured through generations. PFAS substances have a wide variety of uses—from nonstick pans to waterproofing fabrics to firefighting foams to pesticides—and similarly lead to the characterization as “miracles.” PFAS also share the hazardous characteristics of DDT. Like DDT, PFAS are persistent, leading to the nickname “forever chemicals,” and they are highly toxic.

Like DDT, PFAS residues persist in food. Over six million U.S. residents regularly drink water with levels above the EPA health advisory level, with a wide range of health implications. PFAS compounds are detectable in infants, children, and pregnant women. Like DDT, the effects of PFAS endure through generations—pregnant women can readily transfer compounds to the developing fetus through the placenta. 

Federal agencies have failed to respond as the plastics industry continues to use the material in new products. Now we are seeing an expansion of use with the registration of PFAS pesticides. 

Parallels with DDT continue. From widespread presence in farm fields and sewage sludge (biosolids) to contaminated water bodies throughout the U.S., PFAS have made their way into the environment and human bodies—even in remote environments like Antarctica. CDC has determined that almost all Americans have some level of PFAS in their bloodstream. 

Like DDT, PFAS are implicated in endocrine disruption. A literature review published this year highlighted a multitude of studies on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) showing epigenetic effects leading to gene damage and multigenerational adverse effects to health. In summarizing these results, the researchers state, “As a class of particularly representative endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the accumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances potentially leads to adverse health effects, including hormonal disruptions, developmental issues, and cancer.” These effects result from complex mechanisms not yet fully assessed in EPA pesticide registration, creating a major deficiency in the regulatory review of pesticides that must be addressed. 

Instead of eliminating fluorinated pesticides—persistent and highly toxic compounds defined as PFAS internationally—EPA attempts to define away the problem. The internationally accepted definition of PFAS states: “PFASs are defined as fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it), i.e., with a few noted exceptions, any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) is a PFAS.” This definition of PFAS encompasses gases, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, many of which can degrade to form additional PFAS, such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), that EPA does not include in its definition—narrowed to those containing two fully fluorinated carbon atoms.

It is time to act on lessons learned from DDT. Please take urgent action to eliminate PFAS.

Thank you.

Letter to EPA:

Action is urgently needed to restrict PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to ignore the widely accepted definition of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence, which is supported by scientists and by the international forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). EPA’s current definition is at odds with the prevalent scientific thinking of scientists worldwide who have challenged the agency’s position and its resulting risk assessments. The OECD definition should be used as a basis for evaluating pesticides, and EPA should not allow PFAS pesticides, as defined by OECD to be registered.

PFAS chemicals are the new DDT. Once hailed as a miracle solution for agriculture and public health, DDT became recognized as the antithesis of that—a highly toxic, persistent chemical whose effects endured through generations. PFAS substances have a wide variety of uses—from nonstick pans to waterproofing fabrics to firefighting foams to pesticides—and similarly lead to the characterization as “miracles.” PFAS also share the hazardous characteristics of DDT. Like DDT, PFAS are persistent, leading to the nickname “forever chemicals,” and they are highly toxic.

Like DDT, PFAS residues persist in food. Over six million U.S. residents regularly drink water with levels above the EPA health advisory level, with a wide range of health implications. PFAS compounds are detectable in infants, children, and pregnant women. Like DDT, the effects of PFAS endure through generations—pregnant women can readily transfer compounds to the developing fetus through the placenta. 

As a regulatory agency, EPA has failed to respond as the plastics industry continues to use the material in new products. Now we are seeing an expansion of use with the registration of PFAS pesticides. 

Parallels with DDT continue. From widespread presence in farm fields and sewage sludge (biosolids) to contaminated water bodies throughout the U.S., PFAS have made their way into the environment and human bodies—even in remote environments like Antarctica. CDC has determined that almost all Americans have some level of PFAS in their bloodstream. 

Like DDT, PFAS are implicated in endocrine disruption. A literature review published this year highlighted a multitude of studies on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) showing epigenetic effects leading to gene damage and multigenerational adverse effects to health. In summarizing these results, the researchers state, “As a class of particularly representative endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the accumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances potentially leads to adverse health effects, including hormonal disruptions, developmental issues, and cancer.” These effects result from complex mechanisms not yet fully assessed in EPA pesticide registration, creating a major deficiency in the regulatory review of pesticides that must be addressed. 

Instead of eliminating fluorinated pesticides—persistent and highly toxic compounds defined as PFAS internationally—EPA attempts to define away the problem. The internationally accepted definition of PFAS states: “PFASs are defined as fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it), i.e., with a few noted exceptions, any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) is a PFAS.” This definition of PFAS encompasses gases, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, many of which can degrade to form additional PFAS, such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), that EPA does not include in its definition—narrowed to those containing two fully fluorinated carbon atoms.

It is time to act on lessons learned from DDT. Please do not register PFAS pesticides, as recognized internationally.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 29, 2026) In a new study published in Environmental Pollution, researchers detected 15 currently used pesticides (CUPs)—including 10 pesticide compounds detected but not applied within the study’s managed fields— in the pollen of beehives in an environment meant to reflect a typical honey bee foraging range.

The detection of pesticides that were not directly applied within the study’s target radius demonstrates the pervasiveness of pesticide drift into soils, streams, and bodies. In this context, public health and environmental advocates continue to call for a wholesale transition to organic land management.

The findings are particularly concerning given the toxicity hazards to honey bees associated with pesticide exposure in this study and bolstered by other studies, resulting in documented threats to their health—as reviewed in this Daily News below.

Methodology and Background

Researchers at the University of Bern and Agroscope, the Swiss government’s agricultural research arm, conducted this research with agricultural land-use data for 2023 and 2024 from the Zurich (provincial/Canton) government. The study area was defined as a 2-kilometer radius around the hive placement site, with 4 active hives over the course of a two-year period (April 10, 2023, through May 3, 2024). The land use within the target site was roughly 42 percent agricultural, 16 percent forestland, 21 percent urban built environment, and 16 percent urban green space. There are detailed pesticide application records available for just 9 percent of the agricultural use area. Five honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) hives were installed and positioned in Agrocope-managed fields.

To gather samples, pollen traps were set on each hive and activated one per week for a 24-hour period to minimize any colony stressors. Each sample consisted of 2 grams of pollen per colony, which were combined into a single 10-gram pooled sample per week. The goal with this approach is to create a composite sample of exposure across foraging areas and provide sufficient data on site-level pesticide contamination. For more details on the methodology and statistical analysis, please see pages 8-11 of the study PDF.

Out of the 50 target currently-used pesticides (CUPs) screened by the researchers, 15 (or 30 percent) were detected across both sampling seasons, including the neonicotinoid insecticide Acetamiprid, herbicides Prosulfocarb, Terbuthylazine, and fungicides Difenoconazole and Mandipropamid.

The core findings can be broken down into several groups:

• Applied CUPs Detected in Pollen. Acetamiprid is one example of a pesticide detected following applications to rapeseed in both 2023 and 2024. In 2023, it was applied on April 5 and detected in the first available sample (April 28), with concentrations ranging 0.5–3.0 µg/kgdw and declining gradually thereafter. In 2024, concentrations were notably higher (0.6–9.6 µg/kgdw), peaking at 9.6 µg/kgdw on April 26 following a March 15 application. There was no detectable contamination following Acetamiprid applications to potato fields, which is notable given the exposure pathway of pollen at the focus of this study.
• CUPS Detected but not Applied in Agroscope Fields. Ten CUPs were found in pollen despite no application records within the Agroscope-managed fields, suggesting broader contamination and pesticide drift. These include the insecticides Spirodiclofen and Chlorpyrifos, fungicides (Azoxystrobin, Mepanipyrim, Cyprodinil, Trifloxystrobin, Fluopyram, and Fludioxonil), the fungicide metabolite desthio-prothioconazole, and the pesticide synergist Piperonyl butoxide to boost toxicity.
• Persistence Beyond Application Periods. Acetamiprid was detected in samples for several weeks after pre-flowering application, challenging the toxic regulatory status quo that permits the application of insecticides before flowering based on the purported claim that it adequately protects pollinators.
• Off-Target Contamination of Non-Crop Fauna. Pesticide residues were detected in the pollen of untreated, non-crop plants within the Agroscope-managed areas, including dandelions, bird cherry, and other wildflowers.
• Pesticides and Climate Change: Seasonal and Meteorological Influences. The 2024 season was notably more humid than the 2023 season, which created conditions that could likely promote fungal disease pressure, in turn leading to further synthetic fungicide applications.

Previous Coverage

The intersection of the climate crisis and pollinator health has never been clearer than in the latest peer-reviewed science. A study of ecotoxicity risk from neonicotinoid insecticides, published in Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, finds that chemicals in this class of pesticides, particularly Dinotefuron, increase the body temperature of Apis mellifera (European honey bee) and subsequently accelerate the translocation (movement) of contaminants into hives by the honey bees. The research indicates that neonicotinoids affect acetylcholine receptors in the nervous system, leading to an “elevation in octopamine titer [neurotransmitter/hormone] and subsequent increase in the body temperature of honeybees,” the authors report. They continue: “Furthermore, we observed a considerable upregulation [of] the expression of a flight gene flightin in honeybees. This gene accelerates the homing behavior of honeybees and facilitates the rapid and frequent transport of neonicotinoid pesticide-contaminated nectar to the hive.”

In describing their results, the researchers state: “For the first time, we propose that neonicotinoid pesticides accelerate the homing ability of honeybees by affecting their body temperature, which leads to more neonicotinoid pesticides entering the hive and explains the prevalence of neonicotinoids and at higher concentrations in terms of their effects on the honeybee body temperature that enhances homing.” This accelerated movement of neonicotinoid pesticides into honey bee hives heightens the toxicity hazards to honey bee populations. (See Daily News here.)

A study of two pollinator species, honey bees (Apis mellifera) and small carpenter bees (Ceratina calcarata), finds oxidative stress (OX)— an imbalance between antioxidant defenses and excess reactive oxygen molecules (species), or ROS—resulting from exposure to non-living (abiotic) stressors, such as synthetic chemicals, leading to cell damage. Regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), do not routinely evaluate oxidative stress as a standalone or required endpoint in standard pesticide registration protocols. In comparing pollinator responses to different pesticides and pest control management practices, the lowest levels of OX are exhibited in organically managed systems, as described in the research published in Physiological Entomology. (See Daily News here.) Another study published in Insects finds threats to Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) following exposure to insecticides with contrasting toxicity levels. Both the high-toxicity and low-toxicity compounds impact honey bee gut bacteria and gut microbial composition, showing how even “reduced risk” insecticides can have sublethal effects and jeopardize pollinator health. As the authors point out, “Honey bees depend on a small but highly specialized community of gut bacteria that help them digest food, resist infections, and cope with environmental stress.” (See Daily News here.)

Pesticide contamination is a global threat. A study published last year in Science of The Total Environment reports widespread pesticide contamination collected from beehive monitoring across the European Union (EU). “This study has produced the first EU-wide distribution map of terrestrial pesticide contamination and demonstrates widespread pesticide contamination of EU environments,” the authors write. The study, led by a cohort of citizen-scientists, documents pesticide drift across the European continent. The results found that 188 of the 429 targeted pesticide compounds were detected in noninvasive, in-hive passive samplers (APIStrips) across 27 EU countries between May and August of 2023. This finding emerges at a time when public health and environmental advocates raise concerns about the European Union’s backtracking on commitments to reduce pesticide use by 2030, although the European Commission announced in July 2025 that “the use and risk of chemical pesticides has decreased by 58% by 2023 [from the 2015-2017 reference period], while the use of more hazardous pesticides fell by 27% over the same period.” (See Daily News here.)

The benefits of organic versus chemical-intensive land management have continued to emerge in the latest science. Researchers in Germany and Brazil investigated the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes in organic and non-organic areas in “bee hotels,” finding that there is a positive correlation between organically managed fields and numerous indicators of improved pollinator health, including an “increase in bee abundance, species richness, and diversity.” This study was published in Global Ecology and Conservation. (See Daily News here.) A study of organic tomato agroecosystems with managed and wild bees, published in Apidologie, affirms the importance of protecting natural systems to support organisms that contribute to crop productivity. The study finds that the strategy of introducing social bees, even those native to other nearby areas, to enhance pollination in open-field conditions provides no direct benefits to the crops that are better served by wild bees. In evaluating the addition of Melipona quadrifasciata stingless bees, not native to the study site, for assisted pollination of tomato plants cultivated in open organic fields, the researchers note that “the presence of M. quadrifasciata hives did not influence fruit quality, indicating that wild bees primarily drove pollination benefits.” (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

To learn more about the science on pesticides and how they impact ecosystem functioning, see What the Science Shows on Biodiversity. Learn more about your potential exposure to toxic pesticides and chemicals in over 90 non-organic crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and related items in the Eating With a Conscience database.

You can also take action by telling EPA, FDA, and Congress that regulations must consider the effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the organic alternative.  

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Environmental Pollution

(Beyond Pesticides, May 28, 2026) Researchers from France and Germany, as published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, find that declines in bird populations are strongly linked to their diets, with insectivorous birds experiencing the greatest impacts. “Overall, our results emphasize the strong association between insecticide use and insectivorous bird declines,” the authors state. They continue: “We found a consistent negative association between insecticide use and population trends of insectivorous birds, the most abundant group, regardless of migration strategy. This pattern suggests indirect effects linked to the depletion of insects as a food source.”

In analyzing bird population trends in France over 15 years and comparing bird responses across diets and pesticide types, this study highlights the negative association between insect population declines and insectivorous bird population declines that are linked to agricultural intensification.

Study Background
The impacts of pesticides on birds, as described on Beyond Pesticides’ resource page, can occur through various routes of exposure. Birds can be exposed to pesticides directly through ingestion of seeds that have been treated with pesticides, or indirectly through consumption of small insects and other animals that have ingested the pesticides themselves, leading to secondary poisonings of the birds. They can also be indirectly affected through declines in insect populations, as shown in the current study. When insect populations are reduced, this natural food source for birds is also reduced, creating cascading trophic effects.

The adverse effects of pesticide use on bird populations cannot be understated. The latest State of the Birds 2025 report finds concerning news for bird species across the country. As the article reports: “Whether they hop around the prairie, dabble in wetlands, flit through forests, or forage along the shore, birds are suffering rapid population declines across the United States… If these habitats are struggling to support bird species, it’s a sign that they’re not healthy for other wildlife, or even humans—but working to restore them will have benefits across ecosystems.” (See more here.) Additionally, a 2025 study in Science of The Total Environment shows pesticide residues in birds’ nests correlate with higher numbers of dead offspring and unhatched eggs. The data reveals higher insecticide levels are linked to increased offspring mortality and threaten biodiversity. (See here.)  

In recent Daily News, Pesticide Contamination Moves Through the Food Web, From Aquatic Insects to Terrestrial Birds and Bats, international researchers find increasing threats to both aquatic and terrestrial food webs with insect transmission of pesticide residues from water to land. As the researchers explain, insects with aquatic and terrestrial phases act as vectors, transferring pesticides from water bodies into terrestrial food webs. The study results illustrate that pesticide contamination occurs through the ingestion of contaminated prey from aquatic systems, as all of the substances recovered in the fecal samples are detected in the water bodies within the study region, and highlight how the transfer of pesticides from emerging insects to other species in the food web further threatens biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Methodology and Results
In the current study, the researchers examine trends in common bird populations as they relate to pesticide toxicity. Bird data obtained from the French Breeding Bird Survey, conducted between 2008 and 2022, shows the annual abundance of common bird species. “Using long-term monitoring of 81 breeding bird species encompassing four contrasting diets across 2783 plots in France over a 15-year period, together with a national database of pesticide sales, we assessed the negative effects of pesticide exposure with several novel features,” the authors report. The results show pesticides as a key driver in bird population dynamics, impacting birds directly and indirectly through insect declines.

Notably, an increase in insecticide use by only one gram per hectare, per year correlates with decreased insectivorous bird abundance by 0.16–0.28% per year. As the researchers summarize: “Our study reveals a clear negative association between pesticide use and the trends in total abundance of birds, which depends both on bird diet and pesticide type. Consistent negative associations were observed between the trend in total abundance of hawking and gleaning insectivorous birds and the trends in insecticide use, regardless of their migration strategies.” [Hawking is a feeding strategy of catching flying insects in mid-air, while gleaning incorporates plucking invertebrates, such as spiders, caterpillars, or beetles, directly from a surface.] These results are supported by previous research that shows negative associations between insecticides and the decline of insectivorous birds. (See here, here, and here.) Research shows that the depletion of insect prey is also linked to reduced reproductive success in birds. (See here, here, here, and here.)

Previous Coverage
The adverse effects on birds, insects, and other wildlife from pesticide exposure have been widely documented by peer-reviewed, independent scientific literature. The delicate balance of biodiversity required for ecosystem functioning is severely disrupted with environmental contaminant exposure, particularly with impacts on insects and other pollinators that cause cascading impacts throughout the food web.

Research in 2019, published in Science, estimated a net loss of nearly 3 billion birds since 1970. The authors “report widespread population declines of birds over the past half-century, resulting in the cumulative loss of billions of breeding individuals across a wide range of species and habitats.” The study shows that “declines are not restricted to rare and threatened species—those once considered common and widespread are also diminished. These results have major implications for ecosystem integrity, the conservation of wildlife more broadly, and policies associated with the protection of birds and native ecosystems on which they depend.” Despite these staggering results that had advocates calling for action, over five years later, bird populations are still declining. As mentioned in Daily News, the decline in bird populations reflects overall ecosystem health that is directly impacted by harmful agricultural practices. These issues have been of concern for decades, back to when Rachel Carson warned the world how insidious pesticide use can be. She wrote in Silent Spring:

“For each of us, as for the robin in Michigan or the Salmon in the Miramichi, this is a problem of ecology, of interrelationships, of interdependence. We poison the caddis flies in a stream and the salmon runs dwindle and die. We poison the gnats in a lake and the poison travels from link to link of the food chain and soon the birds of the lake margins become its victims. We spray our elms and the following springs are silent of robin song, not because we sprayed the robins directly but because the poison traveled, step by step, through the now familiar elm leaf-earthworm-robin cycle. These are matters of record, observable, part of the visible world around us. They reflect the web of life — or death — that scientists know as ecology.”

An additional study in Science measured local population abundances of 261 North American bird species between 1987 and 2021 and the speeds at which the species’ populations rose or fell. (See Daily News here.) The study was based on data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, a program of the U.S. Geological Survey in coordination with the Canadian Wildlife Service. The researchers note that agricultural intensification and land use changes have been linked to changes in bird populations, and they integrate a set of related indicators, including climate, habitat, and human impacts, with the observational data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. (See more on coverage of birds here and insects here.)

The Organic Solution
Birds, insects, and all other organisms, including humans, can be protected with the full elimination of petrochemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. A study published in Environmental Pollution, in analyzing the role of neonicotinoid insecticide exposure on bird populations in France before and after the 2018 ban of neonicotinoids, highlights not only the significant negative effects of imidacloprid use on insectivorous bird abundance but the weak recovery of bird populations. The research shows that despite the ban, the persistent nature of imidacloprid, as well as the continued use of other petrochemical pesticides that have adverse effects on bird species, continues to impact populations of all types of birds and other wildlife, leading to cascading impacts on biodiversity. These results confirm that pesticide bans of single active ingredients or pesticide classes are not enough to ensure full biodiversity recovery to protect all species. (See Daily News here.)

Banning single active ingredients or pesticide classes fails to address the larger issue of dependence on chemical-intensive practices, where the elimination of one toxic chemical leads to replacing it with another, potentially more toxic, chemical. In this case, the pesticide treadmill continues to be perpetuated, and full-scale recovery of any wildlife species requires a systems-wide transition to organic land management to be implemented.

Given the urgent need to protect health and the environment, now is the time to adopt the organic solution, which science has proven is more productive and cost-effective than chemical-intensive methods. More importantly, organic practices prevent pesticide risks and protect and enhance biodiversity, safeguard public health, and mitigate climate change. Visit the Eating with a Conscience database to learn more about why food labeled “organic” is the right choice.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

Perrot, T. et al. (2026) Declines in insectivorous bird abundance are related to increasing agricultural insecticide use, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880926002343.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 27, 2026) In a perspective analysis published in Frontiers in Agronomy, researchers at the University of Nebraska and Serbia’s Maize Research Institute point out the growing availability of organic-compatible herbicide controls (referred to as bioherbicides) as an opportunity to “complement crop diversification and improve soil health, they may serve as a foundational component of agroecological cropping systems, driving a transition toward reduced external inputs and strengthening essential ecosystem services for long-term sustainability.”

The researchers distinguish between biopesticides based on their mode of action, regulatory status, including whether they are compliant to federal organic standards as defined under Organic Food Production Act (OFPA), the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, and guidance from the National Organic Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The article references biopesticides listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), which undertakes its own review process contingent on three core factors, according to the authors:

• Must not be prohibited on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, as defined here;
• Manufacturing process does not include prohibited methods (genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, etc.); and
• All ingredients are compliant with organic standards and do not have any prohibited contaminants (contamination of crops, soil, and water with heavy metals or other toxins).

This distinction is critical given active attempts in Congress and federal agencies to enable greenwashing and undermine corporate accountability. For example, there is an ongoing effort to change/amend regulatory definitions of pesticide-related compounds in Section 10201 of the House-passed Farm Bill so that they are exempt from the standard registration review process under federal pesticide law, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). (See Daily News here and action alert here for further information.)  Similarly, the organic community also staved off a multi-year effort to permit the use of synthetic materials (“compost feedstocks”) in the January 2026 National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting. (See Daily News here.)

It should be noted that, under the NOP’s classification of materials guidance (NOP 5033, 2016), natural and synthetic are clearly defined as follows:

4.5 Materials Derived from Agricultural Products

Materials derived from agricultural products may be agricultural or nonagricultural, depending on the manufacturing and processing methods used.

The decision tree, NOP 5033-1, includes questions to differentiate between chemical reactions caused by naturally occurring biological processes, such as composting, fermentation, use of enzymes, and by heating or burning biological matter (e.g., cooking, baking, etc.).

Agricultural materials that are chemically changed due to allowed agricultural processing methods (e.g., cooking, baking, etc.) do not result in the classification of the processed agricultural product as synthetic.

4.6 Extraction of Nonorganic Materials

Some materials are produced using manufacturing processes that involve separation techniques, such as the steam distillation of oil from plant leaves. Separation and extraction methods may include, but are not limited to, distillation, solvent extraction, acid-base extraction, and physical or mechanical methods (e.g., filtration, crushing, centrifugation, or gravity separation).

For purposes of classification of a material as synthetic or nonsynthetic, a material may be classified as nonsynthetic (natural) if the extraction or separation technique results in a material that meets all of the following criteria:

• At the end of the extraction process, the material has not been transformed into a different substance via chemical change;
• The material has not been altered into a form that does not occur in nature; and
• Any synthetic materials used to separate, isolate, or extract the substance have been removed from the final substance (e.g., via evaporation, distillation, precipitation, or other means) such that they have no technical or functional effect in the final product.

4.7 Products of Naturally Occurring Biological Processes

Products of naturally occurring biological processes, such as fermentation and composting, are statutorily considered natural and nonsynthetic. Examples of nonsynthetic materials produced from naturally occurring biological processes include vinegar, citric acid, compost, gibberellic acid, and spinosad. Additional examples are provided in Table 1 of NOP 5033-1.

NOP has also published Guidance on Materials for Organic Crop Production (2016).

Background and Main Findings

The researchers in this article broadly define bioherbicides as “weed control agents derived from phytopathogenic microorganisms, plant- or synthetic-derived compounds (discussed later in this review), or their natural metabolites.” The main groups of bioherbicide classifications include microbial fungi, microbial bacteria, microbial viruses, essential oils, allelochemicals, natural products, and fatty acid-based substances. There are numerous challenges and features of biopesticides the authors refer to, including:

• Bioherbicides hold different modes of action based on the group. For example, essential oils “[r]apidly disrupts cell membrane integrity (burn-through)” or “inhibits respiration and reduces chlorophyll content” and fatty acid-based bioherbicides like pelargonic acid and ammonium nonanoate “disturb cell membranes.”
• Some bioherbicides like pelargonic acid have been available on the market for over a decade, whereas others have limited data due to their relatively new status, which could slow adoption/prohibition into organic systems that could benefit from new inputs if they comply;
• Regulatory protocols for bioherbicide approval in the European Union and United States differ widely, with EU regulations for bioherbicides (and pesticides more broadly) adopting the precautionary approach, whereas the United States adopts a risk-based certification system based on permissible levels of exposure. (See EU regulations here for their approval criteria for active )
• Bioherbicides require a greater volume of product relative to synthetic inputs based on their inherently positive quality for not translocating across other plants or insects that are central to scrutiny for many EPA-registered pesticides, such as neonicotinoid insecticides.

It is important to note that federal organic law sets strict evaluation criteria for allowed synthetic and prohibited natural materials, with a required holistic assessment to protect against adverse effects (related to material production, use, and disposal), ensure compatibility with organic systems, and determine material essentiality— distinguishing it from the federal pesticide law, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which focuses on narrow risk assessments associated with use only. Elements of review include:

1. “The substance cannot be produced from a natural source and there are no organic substitutes;
2. The substance’s manufacture, use, and disposal do not have adverse effects on the environment and are done in a manner compatible with organic handling;
3. The nutritional quality of the food is maintained when the substance is used, and the substance, itself, or its breakdown products do not have an adverse effect on human health as defined by applicable Federal regulations;
4. The substance’s primary use is not as a preservative or to recreate or improve flavors, colors, textures, or nutritive value lost during processing, except where the replacement of nutrients is required by law; and
5. The substance is essential for the handling of organically produced agricultural products.

As the researchers state, and upon a closer analysis, there are a handful of organic-compliant bioherbicides with peer-reviewed literature identifying their efficacy data for weed-killing potential:

• Essential or horticultural oil-derived inputs have competitive reported efficacy data based on recent research, including a 50-90 percent efficacy rate of manuka oil on various weeds, including rigid ryegrass (Lolium rigidum), sterile coat (Avena sterilis), and crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) (Travlos et al., 2020) and a 92-100 percent efficacy rate of cinnamon oil on common tumbleweed (Amaranthus retroflexus). (Campiglia et al., 2007).
• Ammonium nonanoate, a fatty acid-based input, had an 88-98 percent efficacy rate on spiny amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus), tumbleweed (Amaranthus albus), carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata), and Palmer’s pigweed (Palmer amaranth). (Parkash et al., 2022 ; Webber et al., 2010). However, it is annotated (or limited) to “use in farmstead maintenance (roadways, ditches, right of ways, building perimeters) and ornamental crops” (§ 205.601(b)(1) and “soaps, insecticidal” (§ 205.601(e)(8)).

Previous Coverage

While the green revolution is often heralded in conventional agriculture circles as the key agricultural innovation of the last century, recent research finds that biological controls likely had a bigger beneficial impact on world crop production. The study, Ecological Pest Control Fortifies Agricultural Growth in Asia–Pacific Economies, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, makes the case that the introduction of predators to manage non-native pest species was just as important as the introduction of new cereal grain varieties. “Our work constitutes an empirical demonstration of how insect biological control helped solidify the agrarian foundation of several Asia-Pacific economies and, in doing so, places biological control on an equal footing with other biological innovations such as Green Revolution germplasm,” said study co-author Michael Furlong, PhD, of the University of Queensland, Australia. (See Daily News here.)

In a 2021 study published in Phytoparasitica, a promising new biocontrol agent for the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima)—considered an invasive species in the U.S. and Europe by some—was recently discovered by French-based scientists at USDA. The finding centers on a small mite of the Eriophyidae family, Aculus mosoniensis, which has been found to feed on tree of heaven. The finding is encouraging for the future management of this species in conjunction with balanced ecosystems. “In Europe, this Eriophyid mite is considered one of the most promising biological control agents of tree-of-heaven,” said Javid Kashefi, senior support scientist at the European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL) in France. “This finding provides encouraging evidence that the geographic occurrence of this species is expanding in the continent.” (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)—a stakeholder board created by Congress to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on organic standards under USDA and manage the list of allowed materials in organic production—met earlier this month. Join with Beyond Pesticides in advocating for continuously improving organic standards on issues such as:

1. Microplastics should not be broadcast into organic crops and orchards. Pear ester is a chemical kairomone (chemical signals) synthesized to be structurally and functionally identical to a volatile substance emitted by mature and ripening pears and other fruits. It attracts codling moths and is used in various ways to control them. Pear ester should be added to the National List with an annotation that describes its use and prohibits use of a product microencapsulated in plastic: “use of pear ester is limited to passive traps/monitors and not for use in microencapsulated formulations.”
2. Chitosan is a material in search of a market in organic. It is a synthetic material that is not well characterized—and different forms have radically different uses. It is not necessary for organic production, and the NOSB has a Technical Review that summarizes many allowed substances for the petitioned use in wine made with organic grapes.
3. Limits should be placed on the use of chlorine in livestock drinking water. Chlorinated drinking water is unavoidable for anyone using public water supplies, but many livestock producers supply drinking water from wells, cisterns, or ponds. The NOSB should propose guidance and/or instructions for certifiers regarding the application of this use in the various situations faced by livestock producers, including “shocking” wells with high concentrations of chlorine. The NOSB must perform a comprehensive review of cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing materials that can support annotations for these materials on the National List.
4. E-Commerce must provide all information about organic products that is required by law. Probably every organic consumer who has shopped online has encountered product names, including the word “organic” or descriptions of products as “organic” or containing organic ingredients, and wondered whether that description is true. There is inconsistency between the requirements for a product offered for sale by a “brick and mortar” establishment and the requirements in eCommerce, and this inconsistency provides an opportunity for fraud. The requirements for eCommerce should be brought into line with those for physical establishments. The NOSB must immediately identify any obstacles to eliminating this loophole and propose a rule change that will address them.

For more information on organic, please see Beyond Pesticides’ organic program page. and Keeping Organic Strong page. For additional information on organic-compatible products, see Pesticide Products Compatible with Organic Landscape Management and Fertilizers Compatible with Organic Landscape Management.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Frontiers in Agronomy

(Beyond Pesticides, May 26, 2026) Earlier this month, with global attention focused on 12 known or suspected cases of hantavirus, including three deaths, on a cruise ship expedition in the South Atlantic, issues of rodent management, vector control, and disease transmission have made headlines around the world. The incident raises important questions about rodent biology, identification of virus location, method of disease transmission, cleaning practices, and ultimately control and prevention measures that are not harmful to people, wildlife, and ecosystems. The incident also shines a spotlight on the critical importance of the United States’ collaboration in international organizations, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), in a world of international travel (18 on the ship live in the U.S.), where transmissible diseases extend beyond countries’ borders. With the Trump Administration defunding international programs and withdrawing from WHO, most medical experts agree that the world and U.S. residents are at heightened threat from transmissible diseases that move throughout the world. (See U.S. Abandons International Collaboration on Existential Health Challenges at Time When Most Needed.)

In this context, Beyond Pesticides has launched a local campaign to Tell local officials to use good sanitation and management to prevent rodent problems and not use hazardous rodenticides. 

In the cases of this M/V Hondius cruise incident, the first important issue is to identify the virus, where it is found, and how it is transmitted. According to WHO, “It is a rare but severe disease that can be deadly. Although uncommon, limited human-to-human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of Andes virus (a specific species of hantavirus).” Moreover, “Andes virus, found in South America [primarily Argentina and Chile], is a currently known hantavirus for which limited human‑to‑human transmission among contacts has been documented,” according to WHO’s Hantavirus “Key fact” factsheet. The individual, who boarded the ship on April 1 from its port of departure in Ushuaia, Argentina, after three months of travel in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, was the first to show symptoms on April 6 and died on April 11. On May 2, a cluster of patients showed symptoms, which are expressed as severe respiratory distress.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) set the following protocol: “ECDC has classified all people on board the ship and for the purpose of disembarkation and repatriation to be high-risk contacts; Monitoring/quarantine up to six weeks (42 days); Day 0 = 10 May 2026. [Please note: this follows discussions between ECDC and Member States on 12 May. This text previously stated that Day 0 was 6 May.]; High-risk contacts: self-quarantine, daily symptom monitoring, test if symptomatic; Low-risk contacts: passive monitoring; isolate and test if symptoms develop.” News outlets are reporting passengers have returned to several states, including, including Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia.

From the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S.: “On May 18, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that 18 recently repatriated U.S. passengers from the M/V Hondius cruise ship were requested to remain at the Nebraska Quarantine Facility through May 31, 2026, which would be the 21-day mark of their monitoring period. Since the passengers disembarked from the ship, three additional cases of hantavirus have been identified — one each in France, Spain, and recently, Canada.” Two passengers who had chosen to leave quarantine were issues mandatory order signed by CDC’s Acting Director and issued under the Public Health Service Act and implementing regulations (42 CFR parts 70 and 71). According to CDC, “Quarantine is a public health measure, available at the federal, state, and county level, and used as necessary to protect communities.”

In the U.S. since 1993, people in the Four Corners area of the U.S. Southwest—the area where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet— have faced periodic outbreaks of a different species from the hantavirus on the cruise ship and is not transmitted by people, known as the “New World” hantaviruses. According to CDC, “They are most commonly transmitted (spread) to humans [only] through contact with infected rodents (e.g., urine, droppings, saliva). Rarely, infection can occur from rodent bites or scratches.” 890 cases have been recorded nationwide since 1993, when surveillance began under the Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). Although the virus is found outside the Southwest, the ecology of the rural areas of the region—including geography, climate, housing patterns, and close human contact with deer mice, the vector—produces ideal conditions for the disease to flourish. Understanding this ecology can help prevent hantavirus outbreaks in humans, as well as other rodent-borne diseases. 

Much of the rural American Southwest offers ideal habitat for deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), who do well in semi-arid environments, grasslands, woodpiles, sheds, cabins, and outbuildings, and carry the virus without becoming sick themselves. Weather patterns of abundant moisture following drought lead to increased rodent activity. Climate change may also affect risk. The American Southwest has experienced sharper shifts between drought and heavy rainfall. These conditions may periodically boost rodent populations. Wildfires and habitat disturbance may also affect how rodents interact with human communities. 

Because people typically become infected by inhaling viral particles from these rodents’ urine, feces, or saliva, it is critical that precautionary steps are taken while cleaning a remote cabin infested with wild rodents—ways to avoid infection. Vacuuming or sweeping up areas that may have been contaminated by live or dead rodents is discouraged because the activity releases viral particles into the air.

Instead, while cleaning:
*Wear gloves.
*Spray the contaminated area with the disinfectant or bleach solution until very wet, and let it soak for at least 5 minutes. 
*Use paper towels, a sponge, or a mop to clean up the contaminated area. 
*Wear an N95 mask to provide another level of protection. 

While deer mice may be mostly a rural problem, other rodents—including rats and house mice—affect urban dwellers. Rats and mice contribute to approximately 55 different diseases, including a diverse range of pathogens from viruses to parasitic worms. Unfortunately, facility managers often choose to deal with rodent infestations by primarily setting out poison (rodenticide) baits. Rodenticides are hazardous and pose a very dangerous threat to children and animals, making them either very sick or causing death if ingested. A significant number of peer-reviewed studies document the toxic nature of rodenticides. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) have been found in the tissue of various aquatic and terrestrial organisms, leading researchers and conservationists to increasingly scrutinize the role of toxic pesticide drift from bait stations to streams, forests, and other habitats.

An ecological approach to urban rat management begins by considering the reasons that rats are in an area in the first place. Such an approach would focus on improving the quality of life in low-income areas of degraded housing and other public amenities. Thus, an ecological approach to urban rodent management involves solving social problems as well as scientific problems. It also requires accepting that mice and rat problems can be a symptom of another problem.  Rodents in structures are symptoms of other problems because they are always a factor of “upstream determinants” like weak building codes, disrepair resulting in entry points, or inadequate landscaping practices. Municipal rodent problems are also always unique, with different outbreak sources, conditions, and goals, making clear best practices for rat management a function of conditions on the site. 

A review outlines a new paradigm in rodent management. It begins with mapping out the rat problem in the region, “to highlight, for example, where rats are considered problematic, who is vulnerable, who is resilient, what policies are in place to address them and do they work better in some areas, and which municipal departments and sectors of the urban environment are affected.” This new approach emphasizes the improvement of overall community health, rather than focusing on rodents as symptoms of a problem that occurs in a vacuum. In doing so, a community may be able to successfully use different intervening actions—such as proper waste disposal, keeping livestock out of water bodies, and alterations to butchering practices. 

Beyond Pesticides advises the following: Tell local officials to use good sanitation and management to prevent rodent problems. In the event that your local mayor is not in the system, we invite you to email this message (included below) to them personally. 

[Also, see commentary from Beyond Pesticides, January 2026: On Public and Environmental Health and Worldwide Collaboration. You can take action and tell Congress to support and fund international organizations critical to the global health of humans and the biosphere, AND Tell Governors/Lieutenant Governors to join (as well as thank them for joining) the Governors Public Health Alliance and to expand their support for international agencies that protect biodiversity and mitigate the climate crisis (IUCN, IPBES, and IPCC).]

Mayor or Local Official
Recent news concerning the hantavirus highlights the importance of addressing rodent problems with a socio-ecological approach. 

Since 1993, people in the Four Corners area of the U.S. Southwest have faced periodic outbreaks of hantavirus. Although the virus is found elsewhere, the ecology of the rural Southwest—including geography, climate, housing patterns, and close human contact with deer mice—produces ideal conditions for the disease to flourish. Understanding this ecology can help prevent hantavirus in humans, as well as other rodent-borne diseases. The problem raises issues of rodent management in our community and ensuring that we adopt practices that offer control, but do not harm human health and the environment.

Hantavirus is mostly carried by wild rodents—unlike the Andes strain infecting people on the cruise ship MV Hondius. People typically become infected by inhaling viral particles from these rodents’ urine, feces, or saliva—for instance, while cleaning a remote cabin infested with wild rodents. Vacuuming or sweeping up areas that may have been contaminated by live or dead rodents is discouraged because the activity releases viral particles into the air.

Instead, community education is needed to ensure that basic protective practices are followed, such as:
*Wear gloves. 
*Spray the contaminated area with the disinfectant or bleach solution until very wet, and let it soak for at least 5 minutes.
*Use paper towels, a sponge, or a mop to clean up the contaminated area.
*Wear an N95 mask to provide another level of protection.

While deer mice may be mostly a rural problem, other rodents—including rats and house mice—affect urban dwellers. Rats and mice contribute to approximately 55 different diseases, including a diverse range of pathogens from viruses to parasitic worms. Unfortunately, facility managers often set out poison (rodenticide) baits. Rodenticides are hazardous and pose a dangerous threat to children and animals, possibly resulting in illness or death. A significant number of peer-reviewed studies document the toxic nature of rodenticides. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) have been found in various aquatic and terrestrial organisms, leading researchers and conservationists to increasingly scrutinize the role of toxic pesticide drift from bait stations to streams, forests, and other habitats. 

An ecological approach to urban rat management begins by considering the reasons that rodents are in an area in the first place. Such an approach would focus on improving the quality of life in low-income areas of degraded housing and other public amenities—thus addressing social problems as well as scientific problems and accepting that rat problems can be a symptom of another problem, such as weak building codes or inadequate landscaping practices. This approach begins by mapping out the rat problem in the region, to highlight where rats are considered problematic, who is vulnerable, who is resilient, what policies are in place to address them, and with what success. Affected municipal departments and sectors of the urban environment need to be identified. This approach emphasizes the improvement of overall community health, rather than focusing on rodents as a problem that occurs in a vacuum. In doing so, a community may be able to successfully use different intervening actions—such as improved building codes, making needed repairs that seal entry points, and proper waste disposal and sanitation practices—to prevent rodent problems.

I urge you to adopt an ecological approach to preventing rodent problems.

Thank you.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 22, 2026) On Memorial Day, those who served and died in the armed forces are remembered for their ultimate sacrifice. And the victims of war are memorialized. Of critical note are the effects of war, that extend beyond the battlefield to those who return home or remain in the aftermath with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and ultimately take their lives by suicide, as well as those exposed to deadly chemicals that caused premature death.

A 2022 study finds, “ VA [Veteran Affairs] patients with current or past diagnosis of PTSD have been found to have an unadjusted rate of 50.7 deaths by suicide per 100,000 person years of risk, compared to a rate of 13.2 in the general adult population.” This statistic can be evaluated in the context of a recent observational cohort study to be in print in August 2026 that focuses on exposure to toxic substances and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) through the analysis of data from 248,926 U.S. veterans enrolled in the Million Veteran Program (MVP). In comparing self-reported exposures to nine toxicants, including Agent Orange, chemical/biological weapons, anthrax vaccine, solvents/fuels, petroleum combustion products, lead, other metals, pesticides, and open-air burn pits, and mental health records, the researchers find that military veterans with higher toxic exposures are more likely to have STBs. The study, reviewed in Daily News, will be published in Psychiatry Research,

Exposure to organophosphates, used as a chemical weapon in the Gulf War, is linked to suicide. A study published in August 2024 in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety has found that exposure to organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) is correlated with increased suicidal thoughts in some people. This study is just the latest in a long line of studies from around the world that have linked pesticide exposure to mental health conditions, including sleep disorders, depression, and suicidal ideation (SI). Research finds a strong causal evidence that Gulf War Illness (GWI) is the result of exposure to sarin gas, an organophosphate nerve agent used as a chemical weapon during the Gulf War.

Findings, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, have important implications for the hundreds of thousands of American service members suffering from a constellation of chronic symptoms. “Quite simply, our findings prove that Gulf War illness was caused by sarin, which was released when we bombed Iraqi chemical weapons storage and production facilities,” said Robert Haley, MD, lead author of the study and epidemiologist at University of Texas Southwestern. (See Daily News.)

A literature review of military personnel links their toxic exposure to poorer mental health outcomes. The review, written by medical professionals and researchers throughout the U.S. and published in Medical Care, analyzes the existing literature on associations between military environmental exposures (MEEs) to contaminants, including pesticides, and mental health (MH) outcomes. “We used evidence mapping methodology to systematically search MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and PTSDpubs for studies of toxic exposure during military service and psychiatric outcomes, which included psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric symptoms, and neurocognitive functioning,” the authors explain. The 49 studies in the review, covering chemical exposures for military members, involve chemical munitions from the Gulf War era and Agent Orange (the weed killer or defoliant) from the Vietnam War era that are associated with symptoms of depression, PTSD, and anxiety, among others. “Overall, available evidence suggests that veterans reporting environmental toxic exposures may report relatively high levels of mental health needs,” the researchers report.

Exposure to toxic chemicals also can lead to death after service members return home or victims remain in the aftermath of war. In passing The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (PACT Act), Congress recognized that chemical exposure through burn pits used during the Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the Southwest Asia theater of military operations, caused deadly diseases. In fact, President Biden attributed his son’s death from brain cancer in 2015 to his exposure to burn pits in Iraq during the war. Burn pits, a common practice, were open-air combustion of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment, and human waste, according to the VA. The Department of Defense says it has closed most burn pits and is planning to close the remainder. PACT Act has a long list of presumptive conditions for deadly diseases, including but not limited to (see Military.com for expansive list here): Cancers of the brain, head, neck, and nervous system; Brain and nervous system disorders (i.e., Parkinson’s Disease); Sarcomas; Spinal cord cancers; Gastrointestinal cancers; Kidney cancers; Lymphomas; Melanomas; Pancreatic cancers; Reproductive cancers; Respiratory cancers; and, various non-cancer conditions (High blood pressure/hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, among others.)

From the Veterans Administration: Help Prevent Suicide; Know about suicide prevention resources:

• Visit the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline website.
• Call 988.
• For the Veterans Crisis Line, dial 1 after being connected.

While helping a suicidal person can be a difficult process, remember that the assistance you provide could save someone’s life. If you think someone may be suicidal, you can directly ask him or her. Contrary to popular belief, asking someone if they are suicidal will not put the idea in their head.

Often the most difficult part of obtaining treatment is the initial call to a mental health professional. It is usually easier for a suicidal individual to accept professional help if they have assistance with this part of the process. For help making referrals see Get Help in a Crisis.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides; featured image attribution: JO1 Gawlowicz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 21, 2026) An important study by cancer researchers in Barcelona, Spain at once shows a path forward in illuminating the long-term, multi-generational, health damage from pesticide exposures and demonstrates how extraordinarily dilatory U.S. agricultural regulators are in protecting public health. The study, “Epigenetic fingerprints link early-onset colon and rectal cancer to pesticide exposure,” found a robust association between methylation markers (for gene expression associated with cancer) and exposure to a number of pesticides, with the herbicide picloram having the strongest link. Other pesticides with strong associations include the weedkillers atrazine, glyphosate, nicosulfuron, and insecticide esfenvalerate. Colon cancer is expected to double, and rectal cancer to quadruple, in this young age group by 2030. This sharp contrast between age groups suggests that environmental exposures, rather than strictly genetics, are involved.

The authors are concerned with the alarming rise in early onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) not only in the highly developed world but also in less-industrialized countries. This increase appears to be connected with age cohorts and the differences in lifestyle and environmental exposures between older and younger cohorts. According to a commentary on the study by researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in the U.S., the incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) declined steadily in people born between about 1890 and 1950 and then began to rise again. We are now at a point where people born after 1990 are diagnosed at two to three times the rate of those born in 1950.

Early CRC onset is defined as diagnosis before age 50, and among the known risk factors are “family history of colorectal cancer, a history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, and environmental and lifestyle-related factors such as lack of exercise, obesity, smoking, and alcohol consumption,” according to the Dana-Farber Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center.

The Barcelona researchers focused on methylation biomarkers to analyze the generational differences between CRC patients. Methylation is part of a complex system of gene regulation, called epigenetics, that controls which genes are switched off and on in individual cells and tissues. Epigenetic processes do not change genes themselves, but deeply influence the patterns of DNA expression. In recent years methylation status has become the target of extreme scientific interest, because too much or too little methylation in the wrong places affects cancer induction and development, along with chromosomal stability and other important genetic processes. Abnormal methylation is very common in CRC. The researchers developed methylation risk scores (MRSs) based on DNA sites known to influence cancer.

The Barcelona researchers used methylation data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, an archive of cell samples from 33 types of cancers. The archive contains genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data. The depth and breadth of this data are extremely useful, because while tissue samples over time from conception to adulthood are rarely available, “the epigenome accumulates damage beginning in the gamete’s preconception, continuing through fertilization, prenatal development, and longitudinally throughout the lifetime of an individual,” according to a review by researchers at the University of Michigan. This provides an unparallelled forensic record whose potential is just being realized.

The current study includes MRSs for lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking, obesity, birthweight, cannabis use, and education level. Environmental factors include exposures to air pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, PCBs, and particulates) and 14 herbicides and insecticides. The researchers then compare the scores between a set of EOCRC patients and a group of late-onset colorectal cancer (LOCRC) patients.

The data analysis produced 63 MRSs for comparison between age groups. Positive associations emerge between EOCRC and exposure to four pesticides, PCBs, and particulates. In particular, the herbicide picloram stands out, and the significant association with early onset cancer holds up through numerous validation processes. The researchers note that their analysis supports the reliability of using the MRSs as “proxies for true pesticide exposure,” meaning that this method can now be applied with confidence to capture evidence of pesticide exposures that are currently difficult to reach.

In addition, the study examines pesticide use intensity together with EOCRC incidence rates using population data from seven states and found 27 pesticides with significant associations to EOCRC. This gives the researchers an independent measure to compare with and refine the epigenomic data.

Picloram is used mostly on pastures and rangeland to kill plants that compete with food for grazing animals, as well as on wheat, barley and oats, and in forests, rights-of-way, and other noncrop areas. According to EPA’s 2021 Interim Registration Review Decision, about 650,000 pounds of picloram were applied to about fiv million acres a year between 2014 and 2018. Pasture and rangeland accounted for 95% of those acres.

EPA’s only concern with picloram is the possibility that it may be contaminated with the carcinogen hexachlorobenzene. The EPA review found “no acute or chronic risks of concern for mammals” and no acute risk for birds, reptiles or adult honey bees. It did express some concern about chronic risk for bee larvae and birds, but merely notes the need for further studies. The review also reports numerous instances of compost contamination from used animal bedding and manure, with adverse consequences for ornamental plants and some food plants such as sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumber, soybeans and sugar beets. And while the review notes that “picloram and its salts are mobile and persistent,” it finds “no risks of concern” for fish, marine invertebrates or aquatic plants. EPA characterizes picloram as being of moderately to low toxicity to marine life. However, the chemical is not fully evaluated as mixture of chemicals that make up the formulation, as noted by the Australian and New Zealand “Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality.” The guideline report points to a matter of ongoing exposure, stating: “Picloram does not bind strongly to soil (KOC values of 0.026–100 L/kg). This property (combined with its low volatility, high solubility and high persistence) means picloram has a high potential to leach to groundwater and enter surface water (USEPA 1995, EFSA 2009, Tu et al. 2001, APVMA 2015, NCBI 2020). Once picloram has reached groundwater, it is unlikely to degrade, even over several years (USEPA 1995).” On a historical note, a  4:1 mixture of the 2,4-D and picloram herbicides, known as Agent White, was used as a jungle defoliant in Viet Nam war, along with Agent Orange (a mixture of 2,4-D and the herbicide 2,4,5-T).

Picloram was synthesized by Dow Chemical Company chemists in the early 1960s and first registered by EPA in 1964. The European Union recently extended its registration approval until 2028. Picloram acts by binding to cell receptors for the most common plant growth hormone, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), producing chaotic cell division and plant death. It is not correct to assume, as both regulators and pesticide corporates have done, that IAA pertains only to plants. IAA is ingested by mammals and produced by gut microbiota. According to a 2025 review in The FASEB Journal, IAA has numerous effects on human health, including exacerbating chronic kidney disease, liver stress and cardiovascular disease, but also has some potential protective effects against oxidative stress, inflammation and lipid metabolism. Picloram’s effects on the presence and activity of IAA in nontarget organisms are largely unknown, but as with the weed killer glyphosate’s effects on everything from cancer to reproduction to brain health, the failure to consider unintended consequences of pesticides including picloram rings loud and clear.

The coincidence of picloram and the reversal of the CRC curve in the early 1960s is highly suggestive. The Barcelona authors note that, “If the use of picloram in crops started in the mid and late twentieth century, then current patients with LOCRC were not exposed during their childhood, whereas cases of EOCRC were and have been for a longer part of their lives, which could explain our results.”

Dana-Farber experts point out in their online commentary that the study has several limitations. In its population-level analyses of pesticides, it relied on self-reported exposure data. The epigenomic data was derived from a small sample from The Cancer Genome Atlas of patients who were all males of European ancestry. Further, the MRSs for pesticide exposures are very new compared to those proven to reflect smoking exposure. However, in a parallel perspective in Nature, they wrote that the Barcelona study “lends support to the growing concerns regarding the role of pervasive environmental contaminants on early-onset cancer risk. In reality, picloram is only one of innumerable synthetic chemicals introduced during the post-World War II industrial expansion, as growth of the petrochemical industry in the 1950s drove their large-scale production and global environmental dissemination.”

It is difficult to calculate unintended consequences given that many diseases, including cancers, take decades—even generations—to manifest after early exposures to toxic chemicals. But the consequences are starting to be seen in the preserved cellular record, and with this knowledge comes the responsibility to adopt regulatory restrictions that stop causing the harms.

A further consideration in the context of this forensic resource is parallel emerging evidence that epigenetic changes to germ cells—sperm and eggs—acquired at any phase of life are transmissible to ensuing generations. Research by Michael Skinner, PhD, at Washington State University establishes that in mice exposed to the fungicide vinclozolin in the first generation produced reproductive abnormalities in the mice’s great-grandchildren. Dr. Skinner’s team has now identified 19 chemicals that produce transgenerational epigenetic damage, including eight pesticides. These changes involve DNA methylation. More ominously, Dr. Skinner’s recent work has extended the timeline to the 20^th generation, which continues to show “the generational stability of epigenetic inheritance over twenty generations in a mammalian model system; however, new pathology in later generations involving parturition abnormalities was also observed. The generational stability of transgenerational effects observed in this study has implications for human health, particularly regarding environmental toxicant exposures, reproductive health disorders, and disease susceptibility.”

Taken together, the Barcelona evidence and its innovative methodology, the existing epidemiological record, and the striking transgenerational evidence of harm by pesticides creates a moral imperative, one that the Barcelona authors call “a compelling rationale for addressing lifestyle and environmental exposures to mitigate EOCRC risk, highlighting the importance of both personal and policy-level interventions.”

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Sources:

Epigenetic fingerprints link early-onset colon and rectal cancer to pesticide exposure
Maas et al.
Nature Medicine 2026
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04342-5.pdf

Dana-Farber Experts Offer Perspective on Link Between Pesticide Exposure and Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute April 30, 2026
https://www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2026/dana-farber-experts-offer-perspective-on-link-between-pesticide-exposure-and-early-onset-colorectal-cancer

Studies Find Genetic and Epigenetic Effects from Pesticide Exposure, Threatening Future Generations
Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2026
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2026/03/studies-again-find-genetic-and-epigenetic-effects-from-pesticide-exposure-threatening-future-generations/

Beyond Pesticides
Daily News Blog Archive – Epigenetics
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/category/diseasehealth-effects/epigenetic/
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/category/diseasehealth-effects/epigenetic-effects/

Epigenetics and the exposome: DNA methylation as a proxy for health impacts of prenatal environmental exposures
Colwell et al.
Exposome 2023
https://academic.oup.com/exposome/article/3/1/osad001/7008330

Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management
Beyond Pesticides
https://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/pesticide-gateway

Picloram
Beyond Pesticides Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management
https://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/pesticide-gateway?chemfind=picloram

Picloram
Interim Registration Review Decision
Case Number 0096
September 2021
Docket Number EPA-HQ-OPP-2013-0740
www.regulations.gov

(Beyond Pesticides, May 20, 2026) A study of two pollinator species, honey bees (Apis mellifera) and small carpenter bees (Ceratina calcarata), finds oxidative stress (OX)— an imbalance between antioxidant defenses and excess reactive oxygen molecules (species), or ROS—resulting from exposure to non-living (abiotic) stressors, such as synthetic chemicals, leading to cell damage. Regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), do not routinely evaluate oxidative stress as a standalone or required endpoint in standard pesticide registration protocols. In comparing pollinator responses to different pesticides and pest control management practices, the lowest levels of OX are exhibited in organically managed systems, as described in the research published in Physiological Entomology.

Quantifying the oxidative stress levels in bees and their larval stages from three landscapes (conventional, organic, and roadside) shows that minimum exposure to agrochemicals and high traffic-related pollutants results in the lowest levels of OX. “Overall, these findings show that variation in pesticide residue profiles across landscapes is associated with different OX responses in bees,” the authors state. “Given the essential ecosystem services provided by bees, our findings underscore the urgent need for landscape-level strategies to reduce pollinator exposure to chemical stressors.”

Background
Oxidative stress occurs when there is a disruption of normal cell-signaling and molecular damage, leading to an imbalance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals (unstable oxygen molecules) that the body is unable to detoxify. When antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed, and there are too many free radicals, this causes damage to cells, proteins, and DNA. Chronic OX plays a major role in the development of many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

A wide body of science links pesticide exposure to oxidative stress and other adverse health effects, particularly in pollinators. Bees and other species play a critical role in agriculture by providing ecosystem services, and, as a result, the threats from chemical-intensive systems directly threaten productivity. “Despite the critical role of pollinators in crop production, modern farming systems are often not designed to support their health,” the researchers state. “In the United States, farming is dominated by conventional farms that rely on chemical pest control, and organic farms utilize non-chemical methods.” Organic farming practices represent an ecological approach that protects pollinators and all wildlife. By safeguarding biodiversity, organic methods offer a sustainable, holistic solution to land management.

Studies (see here and here) also show that insect abundance and plant diversity “are typically higher on organic farms, likely due to the greater availability of floral resources.” In analyzing honey bees and small carpenter bees, this study captures the effects of different landscapes on two ecologically important pollinator species with “contrasting sociality, foraging strategies, and nesting ecology,” both of which act as indicator species of healthy ecosystems.

Methodology and Results
In the study, the authors aim to determine “the changes of OX and pesticide exposures in different farm landscapes (conventional, organic, and roadside) on pollinator health.” The experiment was performed in three farm landscapes in Central Ohio, encompassing organic farms, conventional farms, and roadside habitats. At each collection site, bee hives were installed in 2022 and 2023, and bees were collected for sampling. Pesticide residues in pollen samples were also analyzed.

As the authors note: “Our findings demonstrate a clear landscape-dependent variation in oxidative damage, with significantly elevated lipid peroxidation levels (MDA) in roadside-collected bees compared to those from organic or conventional landscapes. However, pesticide residues and diversity were higher in conventional habitats compared to other organic and roadside habitats.” This highlights how organic farms hold the lowest risk of OX in pollinators, while roadside habitats contain many abiotic factors that cause OX.

The researchers continue, saying: “The present findings were consistent across both bee species and also suggest that local environmental conditions and management intensity have measurable physiological impacts on pollinators. While the present results of OX biomarkers for both bee species provide mechanistic insight into sublethal physiological responses, the ecological implications include potential effects in survival, reproduction and pollination efficiency.”

Previous Research
Additional scientific literature highlights the effects of pesticides and other environmental contaminants on oxidative stress. As the authors highlight, studies find that exposure to various pesticides in bees increases the production of ROS that can lead to OX. (See here and here.) Research shows that exposure to the herbicide atrazine elevates OX in honey bees. In one study, the insecticides flupyradifurone and sulfoxaflor are shown to cause an increase in ROS. More research shows that in bees, the accumulation of oxidative damage contributes to senescence (the process of aging). Additionally, chronic elevations in OX biomarkers are linked to adverse effects on pollinator health, such as impaired survival, immune functioning, and reproduction. (See here, here, and here.)

A study published in Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology finds that the widely used azole fungicide, tebuconazole, has damaging impacts on the redox homeostasis (the process of maintaining balance between oxidizing and reducing reactions) and fatty acid composition in honey bees’ brains via oxidative stress. Acute, field-realistic sublethal exposure to tebuconazole decreased the brain’s antioxidant capacity, key antioxidant defense systems, and oxidative degradation and alteration of lipids (fats) in the brain. Thus, this study adds to the scientific literature on the adverse effects of chemical exposure on pollinator health, especially in sublethal concentrations.

The results show that tebuconazole has a profound impact on oxidation in the brain. It decreases antioxidant capacity, reducing the ratio of oxidized glutathione for preventing damage to important cellular components and disrupting antioxidant enzymatic defense systems, inducing lipid (fat) peroxidation (oxidative degeneration of fats) through elevated malondialdehyde levels. This alters the fatty acid profile in honey bee brains. Degenerating cognitive skills can threaten honey bee survivability, decreasing colony fitness and individual foraging success. A multitude of research attributes the decline of insect pollinators (e.g., commercial and wild bees and monarch butterflies) over the last several decades to the interaction of multiple environmental stressors, from climate change to pesticide use, disease, habitat destruction, and other factors. (See Daily News here.)

Another study published in PLOS One finds that exposure to insecticides increases cell death (apoptosis) and oxidative stress in honey bees. “The average life span of a worker honeybee is five to six weeks in spring and summer, so if you are reducing its life span by five to 10 days, that’s a huge problem,” said Ramesh Sagili, PhD, study coauthor. “Reduced longevity resulting from oxidative stress could negatively affect colony population and ultimately compromise colony fitness.” (See more here.)

Previous Daily News, entitled “Neonicotinoid Insecticide Linked to Honey Bee Decline, Threatening Reproductive Function of Hive,” covers a novel study of chronic toxicity of the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam to honey bees. The research, published in Insects, finds sublethal effects that threaten the survival of bee larvae and the health of bee colonies. “We evaluated the effects of thiamethoxam on the entire larval development cycle of reproductive bees and conducted a comparative analysis, demonstrating that thiamethoxam significantly alters ecdysone [a hormone that controls molting in insects] and juvenile hormone titers [hormones for insect growth] in both queen and drone larvae, impairing metamorphosis and reproductive development,” the authors state. The results also show that enzyme activity, particularly in those related to oxidative stress and detoxification, is impacted, with both drone and queen larvae experiencing dose-dependent decreases. The hormones related to insect development and growth also exhibit dose-dependent effects in all treatments.

The Organic Solution
To mitigate the effects documented in the research above, as well as numerous others on pollinators and other insects, Beyond Pesticides urges the widespread shift to organic agriculture and land management. Not only does this holistic solution remove the use of petrochemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, but it also protects and enhances biodiversity and mitigates both the climate change and public health crises we are currently experiencing. As shown in the current study, organic systems have the lowest levels of OX in the two bee species, providing a protective environment despite the numerous environmental contaminants that they can encounter.

To learn more about the science on pesticides and how they impact ecosystem functioning, see What the Science Shows on Biodiversity. For more information on the direct impacts of organic practices on pollinators, see Study Adds to Wide Body of Science Highlighting Benefits of Organic for Insect Biodiversity and Protecting Pollinators: Stopping the Demise of Bees. Additional health and environmental benefits are available here and here.

Spring Into Action and help make pollinator-friendly outdoor spaces. If you want to grow your own vegetables/fruits to eat or flowers for pollinators, make sure that your seeds and plants are free from harmful pesticides. Often, seeds and plants in many garden centers across the country are grown from seeds coated with toxic fungicides and bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides or drenched with them. Ensure a pesticide-free garden by planting organic seeds and plants! Learn more with the BEE Protective Habitat Guide, which provides information on creating native pollinator habitats in communities, eliminating bee-toxic chemicals, and other advocacy tools.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

Briscoe, K. et al. (2026) Oxidative stress in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and small carpenter bees (Ceratina calcarata) across different landscapes, Physiological Entomology. Available at: https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/phen.70046.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 19, 2026) Research continues to mount on organically managed systems, reinforcing the importance of fostering soil health to ultimately reduce dependency on increasingly expensive petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers, ultimately making food more affordable.

Research published in Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition determines that long-term organic management enhances various soil health indicators to a greater degree than conventionally managed systems. The organic soil qualities include greater microbial diversity, increased microbial biomass carbon (MBC), higher dehydrogenase activity (DHA), and higher alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), among other favorable outcomes.

The positive impacts of organic land management on soil health, microbial diversity, and biodiversity cannot be overstated, given the existential threats imposed on the planet by petrochemical-based agricultural practices.

Methodology and Main Findings

This study was conducted at the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) in Rajasthan province, India. The annual average rainfall for this region is 100 mm (about 4 inches) and 450 mm (18 inches), with nearly 90 percent of that rainfall falling between June and September.

Both the organic and conventional sites consist of loamy soils and shared agro-climatic conditions. The organic site was established in 2008 and certified by the Rajasthan State Organic Certification Study, which has been managed exclusively with organic inputs for over 14 years. To avoid water contamination by synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, 4-foot-deep trenches were dug to separate the test site from neighboring chemical-intensive fields. The baseline soil properties for both fields are similar, with the largest difference in available phosphorous 20 times higher in organic than in conventional fields, due to legacy conditions. For more details on the difference in conventional and organic land management in this study, please see page 4 under Subsection 2.2: Field Experiment.

The experiment on the study sites was organized into a “split-plot” design, with 16 plots for both the organic and conventional systems. The seasons in India support Kharif (June to July) crops requiring high heat and water during monsoon-season and Rabi (October to December) crops needing cooler climates during the winter season. The soil was tested for crop seasons starting in Rabi 2021 and ending in Kharif 2023, with samples collected from the rhizosphere zone of the system at three growth stages per crop (30 days after sowing, 60 days after sowing, and at harvest). Each experimental plot was replicated four times based on the following crop rotations:

1. T1 (Fenugreek–Mung bean–Psyllium–Sesame),
2. T2 (Fenugreek–Sesame–Psyllium–Mung bean),
3. T3 (Psyllium–Mung bean–Fenugreek–Sesame), and
4. T4 (Psyllium–Sesame–Fenugreek–Mung bean).

In terms of soil health outcomes and organic land management, researchers arrived at the following conclusions based on their analysis of the data:

• Soil health status in organic systems outperformed conventional systems across the board, including:
  • Organically managed systems consistently support higher bacterial and fungal counts, with peak microbial populations across regardless of the crop season.
  • Organic plots have 12-32 percent higher microbial biomass carbon (MBC) than conventional plots when soil samples were gathered 60 days after sowing (60 DAS), ultimately declining at harvest due to soil disruption.
  • Organic systems show higher dehydrogenase activity (DHA), increasing 6-71 percent over conventional depending on the season. DHA is significant in terms of the enzymes they produce that are vital for cellular energy production, metabolism, photosynthesis, and other biochemical processes critical to soil health.
  • The alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) is 3-56 percent higher under organic land care relative to conventional systems. ALP is an important indicator of microbial diversity in the soil, as microorganisms mineralize (breaks down) organic phosphorus (P) into plant-available nutrients and facilitate P-cycling throughout the soil system.
  • Fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (FDA) was 34-70 percent higher under organic land management depending on the season. FDA activity is used to estimate total microbial activity and functional diversity in soil samples.
• Organic management appears to stabilize microbial activity across monsoon and winter crop seasons, whereas conventional plots showed more sensitivity to seasonal climate swings. In other words, biological activity in the soil is significantly higher than conventional systems, since the baseline higher MBC provides better continuity of microbial habitats (e.g., the soil systems).
• Due to the legacy use of organic-compliant fertilizer over 14 years prior to the study, the organic plots have roughly 20 times more available phosphorus than conventional sites.

Previous Coverage

There is a wide range of previous scientific investigations highlighting the dangers of synthetic pesticide and fertilizer use for soil health, as well as the organic alternative with proven benefits.

A study of the effects of flooding on aquatic-terrestrial pesticide transfer, published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, finds heightened risks to riparian zone ecosystems as flooding frequency increases with climate change. Riparian zones, recognized as biodiversity hotspots, “are increasingly subjected to various stressors, including chemical contaminants such as pesticides,” the authors state.  In analyzing pesticide residues following simulated flooding within a controlled experiment, the researchers find: “[S]ix pesticides were detected exclusively in riparian root-zone soil following four repeated flooding events. Our findings indicate that both longer flood durations and repeated flooding events tend to increase the total concentration of pesticides in the riparian root-zone soil. These results demonstrate that flooding promotes the movement of pesticides from streams into adjacent riparian areas. As flood frequency and intensity are expected to increase due to climate change, the significance of this transport pathway is likely to increase, with potential consequences for riparian biodiversity and habitat quality.” (See Daily News here.)

In a novel, continent-wide study of soil biodiversity throughout Europe published in Nature, researchers find 70% of the sampled sites contain pesticide residues, which “emerged as the second strongest driver of soil biodiversity patterns after soil properties,” particularly in croplands. This study, however, highlights how pesticides alter microbial functions, including phosphorus and nitrogen cycling, and suppress beneficial taxa, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterivore nematodes. In analyzing 373 sites across woodlands, grasslands, and croplands in 26 European countries, and examining the effects of 63 pesticides on soil archaea, bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, arthropods, and key functional gene groups, the data reveal “organism- and function-specific patterns, emphasizing complex and widespread non-target effects on soil biodiversity.” As the authors state, “[T]o our knowledge, ours is the first study to demonstrate the relative importance of pesticides in comparison to soil properties, ecosystem type and climate at a continental scale.” (See Daily News here.) In a separate literature review and data analysis of almost 2,000 soil samples, the authors of a recent study found negative effects of pesticide exposure on the presence of plant-beneficial bacteria (PBB) in soil, particularly bacteria with plant growth-promoting traits that are essential for crop productivity. (See Daily News here.)

The intersection of the adverse effects of pesticides and fertilizers on biodiversity is also highlighted in peer-reviewed literature. A recent study of earthworms published in Environmental Science & Technology highlights how chemical mixtures can have both synergistic and species-specific effects, threatening the soil microbiome and overall soil health. In exposing two species, Eisenia fetida and Metaphire guillelmi, to the weed killer glyphosate alone and in combination with urea, a form of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the researchers find enhanced toxicity with co-exposure as well as varying health effects between the two species. These results emphasize the need to test a wide variety of nontarget organisms for impacts from environmental contaminants, since species, even within the same genus or family, can exhibit vastly different effects. (See Daily News here.) On the subject of earthworms, a study published in Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology evaluates the toxicity of environmentally relevant levels of three fluorinated pesticides (fluxapyroxad, fluopyram, and bixafen) through a 56-day soil exposure experiment. The dose- and time-dependent results reveal that effects on growth and reproduction occur at elevated concentrations, with weight loss and reduced offspring occurring from energy depletion and reproductive organ damage. Other implications escalate with concentration as well, including antioxidant system failure and DNA damage. As the authors summarize, “These findings highlight the mechanisms of fluorine-containing pesticide toxicity in earthworms, emphasizing their potential to disrupt soil ecosystems.” (See Daily News here.)

Meanwhile, research by the Rodale Institute, Ohio State University, and Tennessee State University, published in Soil Science of America Journal, documents that organic grain cropping systems contain higher concentrations of total nitrogen and soil organic carbon, exceeding those found in conventional, chemical-intensive systems. This study is an extension of the Rodale Institute’s Farming System Trial (FST), a 40-year-long field study with the overarching goal of “[a]ddress[ing] the barriers to the adoption of organic farming by farmers across the country.” (See Daily News here.) Another study published in Environmental Technology & Innovation finds that organically managed coconut farms significantly improve soil health across numerous markers when compared with conventional (chemical-intensive) plantations. (See Daily News here.) Research published in Microbiological Research finds that organic farming enhances microbial diversity in citrus orchard soil systems, both in terms of nutrient cycling and aiding in the development of more complex microbial networks pivotal to biodiversity. (See Daily News here.)

A study published in Scientific Reports highlights the benefits of organic agriculture in comparison to different farming systems over five years on four crops (maize, tomato, faba bean, and potato). “Soil carbon sequestration is a long-time storage of carbon in soil which represents 70% of the carbon in land,” the authors note. “Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the agricultural practice systems on the soil carbon sequestration and properties, productivity, water consumption, soil carbon sequestration, CO₂ emission and cost of some agricultural crops.” As a result, the experiment reveals that, compared to chemical-intensive farming, organic methods enhance soil properties, reduce water consumption, provide higher yields and higher soil carbon sequestration, reduce CO2 emissions, and achieve the highest total net profit for all four crops after five years. (See Daily News here.) In the Journal of Environmental Quality, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a noteworthy report that a 4-year organically managed corn-soybean-oat system reduces nitrogen (N) loads by 50 percent with corn and soybean yields “equivalent to or higher than conventional [chemical-intensive] in most years.” The findings from a 7-year study comparing nitrate loss in organic and chemical-intensive management found that organically managed perennial pasture reduced nitrogen loads significantly. The study, which focused on nitrate pollution in agriculture that harms biodiversity, threatens waterways, drinking water, and public health, and releases nitrous oxide (an extremely potent greenhouse gas), was conducted at USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment. (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

You can support the continuation of this critical research by calling on your elected officials in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to endorse and sponsor the newly reintroduced Organic Science and Research Investment (OSRI) Act. (See Action of the Week here.) Learn more about your potential exposure to toxic pesticides and chemicals in over 90 non-organic crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and related items in the Eating With a Conscience database.

You can also take action by telling EPA, FDA, and Congress that regulations must consider the effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the organic alternative.  

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

(Beyond Pesticides, May 18, 2026) As the studies continue to mount on the adverse effects of exposure to low levels of organophosphate insecticides, the calls for banning the chemicals are growing. Beyond Pesticides announced an action to “Tell Congress, FDA, and EPA that it is past time to stop the manufacture and use of all organophosphate pesticides, which damage the nervous system and brain at low levels.” There are alternatives to these chemicals that support productive and profitable farming operations.

Defying the often-repeated claim that organophosphate pesticide effects occur only at high doses, a recent study by researchers at University of California, San Diego, and the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, establishes for the first time the pattern of adverse developmental effects that low-level exposure has on healthy neurological and brain development in children. It is firmly established that widely used organophosphate pesticides in food production and other sites are severely toxic to a broad range of organisms. In what is known as their “classic” mechanism of action, they inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), particularly in neuromuscular junctions in the brain.

Organophosphates are nerve agents, originally developed by the German company IG Farben (a conglomerate that included Bayer), which was “inseparably linked with the Nazi regime” and the Auschwitz concentration camp, as described by BASF, also a part of IG Farben. The 1996 federal law, the Food Quality Protection Act, did not ban organophosphates, however, EPA negotiated many new restrictions that reduced the number of uses but still allowed widespread use and exposure. These restrictions established new risk assessment protocols that replaced the 1958 Delaney Clause’s ban on cancer-causing pesticides in processed food under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set pesticide tolerances (acceptable residues) for food commodities. Meanwhile, in the absence of a comprehensive ban on organophosphates, states in 2018-2021 began to weigh in on an individual organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that was making national headlines because of its neurotoxic properties, adverse effects on the brain, and widespread use in food production. For example, five states used their authority to adopt more stringent standards than the federal government by banning the chemical in California, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, and New York.

Prior to state action, in 2000, EPA had negotiated chlorpyrifos’s voluntary withdrawal from the residential market with its manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences. (See more background at Pesticide Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management and here.) Internationally, the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm Convention) added chlorpyrifos to Annex A, which commits the 186 signatory countries to eliminate production and use. The United States is not a party to the Stockholm Convention because the treaty has never been ratified by Congress.

The new study showing adverse developmental effects to children’s brains builds on earlier scientific work, a call from medical practitioners in 2018, and Congressional legislation to ban organophosphates. A group of leading toxics experts, who have called for a ban on organophosphate pesticides, published a paper in the journal PLOS Medicine on their research on organophosphate exposure during pregnancy and its impacts on child development. “There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, professor of public health sciences, director of the University of California Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and researcher with the UC Davis MIND Institute, according to Science Daily.

The study in PLOS Medicine evaluates current science on the risks of this class of compounds, produced by Corteva Agriscience (formerly Dow AgroSciences); its conclusions warn of the multitude of dangers of organophosphates for children, and makes recommendations for addressing these risks. The experts conclude that: (1) widespread use of organophosphate (OP) pesticides to control insects has resulted in ubiquitous human exposures; (2) acute exposures to OPs is responsible for poisonings and deaths, particularly in developing countries; and (3) evidence demonstrates that prenatal exposures, even at low levels, put children at risk for cognitive and behavioral deficits, and for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Then there is the matter of disproportionate risk to farmworkers and farmworker children, who suffer elevated rates of harm from organophosphate pesticides, a classic example of environmental injustice or institutionalized racist public health and environmental policy. According to a 2024 study published by French and American authors in the journal Exposure and Health, not only do farmworker children test positive for organophosphate pesticides more frequently than non-farmworker children, but farmworker children also experience an increased frequency of DNA damage associated with the presence of organophosphate exposure. These results highlight the disparities in exposures and outcomes for children from vulnerable immigrant communities. Advocates note that as long as pesticides remain in use, farmworkers and their families will continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of the toxic effects of these chemicals.

A California-based population study published in BMC Public Health finds that “7.5 [percent] of all pregnant people in California who gave birth in 2021 lived within 1 km [kilometer] of agricultural fields where OP pesticides [organophosphates] had been used during their pregnancy. . .” As reported in Daily News, significant disparities are found for elevated exposure to pesticides, “with Hispanic/Latinx, young people, and residents of the predominantly fruit and vegetable growing Central Coast region being most likely to live near OP pesticide applications during pregnancy.”

U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), who is retiring from Congress at the end of the current Congress, reintroduced the “Ban All Neurotoxic Organophosphate Pesticides from Our Food Act” or ”BAN OPs From Our Food Act,” H.R. 5554, in 2023. “We’ve known for decades that organophosphate pesticides are a dangerous neurological threat to farmworkers and our children,” said Congresswoman Velázquez. “These pesticides during early life have been linked to irreversible harm to the developing brain, which can result in long-term effects like attention disorders, autism, and reduced IQ. We can no longer wait to act. I’m proud to have introduced this legislation which will finally ban the use of these hazardous pesticides.” The bill is very straightforward, free of exemptions, waivers, and special circumstances, and allowed formulations: 

“SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF ORGANOPHOSPHATES ON FOOD. Section 402 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 342) is amended by adding at the end the following: ”(j) If it bears or contains any organophosphate pesticide, including any residue of an organophosphate pesticide, or any other added substance the presence of which is primarily as a result of the metabolism or other degradation of an organophosphate pesticide, regardless of whether any tolerance or exemption with respect to organophosphate is in effect under section 408.”.

The bill has been supported by Beyond Pesticides and groups including Earthjustice and United Farm Workers, UFW Foundation, California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Foundation, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, GreenLatinos, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, League of United Latin American Citizens, Learning Disabilities Association of America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pesticide Action Network North America, and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste.

The Beyond Pesticides action: Tell Congress, FDA, and EPA that it is past time to stop the manufacture and use of all organophosphate pesticides, which damage the nervous system and brain at low levels.

Letter to the U.S. Congress
Defying the often-repeated claim that organophosphate pesticide effects occur only at high doses, a new study, “Acetylcholinesterase activity from childhood to young adulthood,” by researchers at University of California, San Diego, and the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, establishes for the first time the pattern of adverse developmental effects that low-level exposure has on healthy neurological and brain development in children. It is firmly established that widely used organophosphate pesticides in food production and other sites are severely toxic to a broad range of organisms. In what is known as their “classic” mechanism of action, they inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), particularly in neuromuscular junctions in the brain. There are alternatives to these chemicals that support productive and profitable farming operations.

Please reintroduce the “Ban All Neurotoxic Organophosphate Pesticides from Our Food Act” or ‘‘BAN OPs From Our Food Act,” H.R. 5554, last introduced by Rep. Nydia Velázquez in 2023.

Organophosphates are nerve agents, originally developed by the German company IG Farben (a conglomerate that included Bayer), which was “inseparably linked with the Nazi regime” and the Auschwitz concentration camp, as described by BASF, also a part of IG Farben. The 1996 federal law, the Food Quality Protection Act, did not ban organophosphates, however, EPA negotiated many new restrictions that reduced the number of uses but still allowed widespread use and exposure.

The new study showing adverse developmental effects to children’s brains builds on earlier scientific work, a call from medical practitioners in 2018, and Congressional legislation to ban organophosphates. A group of leading toxics experts, who have called for a ban on organophosphate pesticides, published a paper in the journal PLOS Medicine on their research on organophosphate exposure during pregnancy and its impacts on child development. “There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, professor of public health sciences, director of the University of California Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and researcher with the University of California Davis MIND Institute, according to Science Daily.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a comprehensive ban on organophosphates, states in 2018-2021 began to weigh in on an individual organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that was making national headlines because of its neurotoxic properties, adverse effects to the brain, and widespread use in food production. For example, five states used their authority to adopt more stringent standards than the federal government by banning the insecticide in California, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, and New York. In 2000, EPA negotiated chlorpyrifos’s voluntary withdrawal from the residential market with its manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences. (See more background at Pesticide Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management.)

Farmworkers and farmworker children suffer elevated rates of harm from organophosphate pesticides, a classic example of environmental injustice. According to a 2024 study published by French and American authors in the journal Exposure and Health, not only do farmworker children test positive for organophosphate pesticides more frequently than non-farmworker children, but farmworker children also experience an increased frequency of DNA damage associated with the presence of organophosphate exposure.

It is past time to stop the manufacture and use of all organophosphate pesticides, which damage the nervous system and brain at low levels. Please step up and protect our families’ and children’s health.

Thank you.

Letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
Defying the often-repeated claim that organophosphate pesticide effects occur only at high doses, a new study, “Acetylcholinesterase activity from childhood to young adulthood,” by researchers at University of California, San Diego, and the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, establishes for the first time the pattern of adverse developmental effects that low-level exposure has on healthy neurological and brain development in children. It is firmly established that widely used organophosphate pesticides in food production and other sites are severely toxic to a broad range of organisms. In what is known as their “classic” mechanism of action, they inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), particularly in neuromuscular junctions in the brain. There are alternatives to these chemicals that support productive and profitable farming operations.

Please recognize the preponderance of science that calls for the banning of organophosphate pesticides by cancelling the registrations of all these chemicals. It is past time to stop the manufacture and use of all organophosphate pesticides, which damage the nervous system and brain at low levels.

Organophosphates are nerve agents, originally developed by the German company IG Farben (a conglomerate that included Bayer), which was “inseparably linked with the Nazi regime” and the Auschwitz concentration camp, as described by BASF, also a part of IG Farben. The 1996 federal law, the Food Quality Protection Act, did not ban organophosphates, however, EPA negotiated many new restrictions that reduced the number of uses but still allowed widespread use and exposure.

The new study showing adverse developmental effects to children’s brains builds on earlier scientific work, a call from medical practitioners in 2018, and Congressional legislation to ban organophosphates. A group of leading toxics experts, who have called for a ban on organophosphate pesticides, published a paper in the journal PLOS Medicine on their research on organophosphate exposure during pregnancy and its impacts on child development. “There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, professor of public health sciences, director of the University of California Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and researcher with the University of California Davis MIND Institute, according to Science Daily.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a comprehensive ban on organophosphates, states in 2018-2021 began to weigh in on an individual organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that was making national headlines because of its neurotoxic properties, adverse effects to the brain, and widespread use in food production. For example, five states used their authority to adopt more stringent standards than the federal government by banning the insecticide in California, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, and New York. In 2000, EPA negotiated chlorpyrifos’s voluntary withdrawal from the residential market with its manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences. (See more background at Pesticide Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management.)

Farmworkers and farmworker children suffer elevated rates of harm from organophosphate pesticides, a classic example of environmental injustice. According to a 2024 study published by French and American authors in the journal Exposure and Health, not only do farmworker children test positive for organophosphate pesticides more frequently than non-farmworker children, but farmworker children also experience an increased frequency of DNA damage associated with the presence of organophosphate exposure.

Please step up and protect our families’ and children’s health.

Thank you.

Letter to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Commisioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
Defying the often-repeated claim that organophosphate pesticide effects occur only at high doses, a new study, “Acetylcholinesterase activity from childhood to young adulthood,” by researchers at University of California, San Diego, and the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador in Quito Ecuador, establishes for the first time the pattern of adverse developmental effects that low-level exposure has on healthy neurological and brain development in children. It is firmly established that widely used organophosphate pesticides in food production and other sites are severely toxic to a broad range of organisms. In what is known as their “classic” mechanism of action, they inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), particularly in neuromuscular junctions in the brain. There are alternatives to these chemicals that support productive and profitable farming operations.

Please recognize the preponderance of science that calls for the banning of organophosphate pesticides by revoking the tolerances for all these chemicals. It is past time to stop the manufacture and use of all organophosphate pesticides, which damage the nervous system and brain at low levels.

Organophosphates are nerve agents, originally developed by the German company IG Farben (a conglomerate that included Bayer), which was “inseparably linked with the Nazi regime” and the Auschwitz concentration camp, as described by BASF, also a part of IG Farben. The 1996 federal law, the Food Quality Protection Act, did not ban organophosphates, however EPA negotiated many new restrictions that reduced the number of uses but still allowed widespread use and exposure.

The new study showing adverse developmental effects to children’s brains builds on earlier scientific work, , a call from medical practitioners in 2018, and Congressional legislation to ban organophosphates. A group of leading toxics experts, who have called for a ban on organophosphate pesticides, published a paper in the journal PLOS Medicine on their research on organophosphate exposure during pregnancy and impacts on child development. “There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, professor of public health sciences, director of the University of California Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and researcher with the University of California Davis MIND Institute, according to Science Daily.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a comprehensive ban on organophosphates, states in 2018-2021 began to weigh in on an individual organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that was making national headlines because of its neurotoxic properties, adverse effects to the brain, and widespread use in food production. For example, five states used their authority to adopt more stringent standards than the federal government by banning the insecticide in California, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, and New York. In 2000, EPA negotiated chlorpyrifos’s voluntary withdrawal from the residential market with its manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences. (See more background at Pesticide Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management.)

Farmworkers and farmworker children suffer elevated rates of harm from organophosphate pesticides, a classic example of environmental injustice. According to a 2024 study published by French and American authors in the journal Exposure and Health, not only do farmworker children test positive for organophosphate pesticides more frequently than non-farmworker children, but farmworker children also experience an increased frequency of DNA damage associated with the presence of organophosphate exposure.

Please step up and protect our families’ and children’s health.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 15, 2026) As water bodies continue to be contaminated by pesticides and fertilizers used in chemical-intensive agriculture, international researchers find increasing threats to both aquatic and terrestrial food webs with insect transmission of pesticide residues from water to land. Published in Environmental Pollution, the study authors analyze insect species with complex life cycles “with an aquatic phase as larvae and a terrestrial phase as winged adults when they serve as prey for many aerial insectivores, such as bats and birds.” As the researchers explain, these insects act as vectors, transferring pesticides from water bodies into terrestrial food webs. As a result of studying feces from birds and bats that prey on these insects, the authors find residues of 16 current-use pesticides, two legacy compounds, and six metabolites (breakdown products).

The study results illustrate that pesticide contamination occurs through the ingestion of contaminated prey from aquatic systems, as all of the substances recovered in the fecal samples are detected in the water bodies within the study region. The transfer of pesticides from emerging insects to other species in the food web further threatens biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In summary, the authors state, “Our study is among the first to assess multiple pesticide contamination of three aerial insectivores that potentially feed on aquatic insects after emergence, thus the transfer of pesticides via emerging insects needs to be acknowledged as a critical contamination route in the agricultural landscape.”

These residues are noted in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica), Western house martins (Delichon urbicum), and common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula). In contrast, the researchers did not find pesticide residues in samples from the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), which is a species that is known to feed primarily on terrestrial insects that do not have aquatic life cycles. This highlights how pesticide contamination in aquatic systems can impact various species throughout the food web and lead to bioaccumulation.

Study Importance

Insectivorous birds and bats rely on insect abundance and biomass, which have been in decline due to intensive pesticide use and the resulting “insect apocalypse.” As Dave Goulson, PhD says, this insect apocalypse that is occurring threatens all ecosystems. In an essay in Current Biology, he states, “Insects are integral to every terrestrial food web, being food for numerous birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and performing vital roles such as pollination, pest control and nutrient recycling. Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse without insects… we may have failed to appreciate the full scale and pace of environmental degradation caused by human activities in the Anthropocene.”

The cascading effects of insect population decline directly impact bird and bat populations, as insects exposed to pesticides, such as in contaminated waterways, can transmit contaminants to other organisms throughout the food web when preyed upon. “Birds and bats may ingest contaminated water directly via drinking, or they may face critical exposure via foraging on emerging aquatic insects, that can transport contaminants across ecosystem boundaries,” the researchers state. They continue: “Thus, insectivorous birds and bats are exposed to pesticides by their species-specific foraging strategies and the sites of resource allocation. This uptake of contaminated resources may either lead to trophic transfer (bioaccumulation or biomagnification) in organisms or to metabolism and subsequent excretion.”

An analysis of bird and bat feces is an indicator of pesticide exposure, as previous studies have documented. (See here, here, and here.) For more information about the impacts of pesticides on birds and bats, as well as the ecosystem services they provide, see Beyond Pesticides’ webpages here and here.

Methodology and Results

To assess pesticide contamination of four common insectivores, the study analyzes fecal samples from three passerine birds, known as “perching birds,” and one species of bat that all have different foraging strategies. As the study region is in northeast Germany, the fecal samples were tested for pesticides known to be used in the area for agriculture. “In total, 108 compounds were analyzed, comprising of 49 current-use pesticides, 23 metabolites, and 36 legacy compounds whose presence still affect ecosystems,” the authors share.

The study area, known as the ‘AgroScapeLab Quillow,’ is an area with predominantly agricultural fields, mixed forests, peatlands, and mesic meadows, and numerous aquatic habitats, including lakes, a small reservoir, and small water bodies called kettle holes. All of these water systems are documented as being intensively contaminated with pesticides. (See research here and here.)

The results reveal current-use pesticides, legacy compounds, and metabolites within the feces of two bird species and the bat species. The pesticide residues found most often, fungicides and herbicides banned in the European Union (EU) and banned or not registered for use in the U.S., are noted in 56% of the samples (155/278) from the four species tested. Most frequently detected is the fungicide prochloraz, found in 107 of the samples. The legacy compound dinoterb was detected in 46 samples, and the fungicide epoxiconazole was detected in 21 samples.

“Five substances detected (bixafen, diflufenican, dinoterb, prochloraz, simazine) are classified as critical in terms of their potential for bioconcentration and ten out of 18 detected pesticide active substances are classified to be of concern for mammal short term dietary uptake,” the researchers note. “The substances epoxiconazole and metribuzin detected in N. noctula feces are listed as showing high chronic toxicity towards mammals, while the substances epoxiconazole, flufenacet (only detected in D. urbicum), prosulfuron (not detected in N. noctula) and tebuconazole (only detected in D. urbicum) are listed as showing chronic toxicity towards birds.”

Previous Research

A wide body of research connects pesticide exposure to individual adverse effects in insects, birds, and bats, while the current study shines a light on the interconnectedness of pesticide contamination throughout aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Species of birds and bats provide crucial ecosystem services, including pest management. As discussed in a study featured in Daily News, entitled Nature-Based, Ecological Land Management Serves as Nonchemical Approach to Pest Suppression, researchers show how “predator-prey” relationships are established for ecological balance, and they describe the predator-pest network as a means to quantify the impact of ecosystem services. “Birds and bats consumed over 87 rice pest species in West African lowland rice fields,” according to the study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. The authors continue, saying, “Our findings highlight the importance of maintaining and managing a diverse community of bats and birds for network resilience.”

The impacts of pesticide use on bird populations cannot ben overstated. The latest State of the Birds 2025 report finds concerning news for bird species across the country. As the article reports: “Whether they hop around the prairie, dabble in wetlands, flit through forests, or forage along the shore, birds are suffering rapid population declines across the United States… If these habitats are struggling to support bird species, it’s a sign that they’re not healthy for other wildlife, or even humans—but working to restore them will have benefits across ecosystems.” Additionally, a 2025 study in Science of The Total Environment shows pesticide residues in birds’ nests correlate with higher numbers of dead offspring and unhatched eggs. The data reveals higher insecticide levels are linked to increased offspring mortality and threaten biodiversity.

Bats provide important ecosystem services through pollination, management of pest populations, and contributing to plant resilience and productivity. The importance of bat species and their services, particularly for crop production, is invaluable. As they are the only nocturnal insect predator in the U.S. and are one of two primary nocturnal pollinators (alongside moths), bats play a crucial role for night-flowering plants and farmers. A 2022 study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists finds that bat population declines are costing American farmers as much as $495 million each year. (See Daily News here.)

Eyal Frank, PhD, an assistant professor of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, links increased insecticide use in croplands in the absence of bat species to a rise in infant mortality in a 2024 study. As Dr. Frank says in the study, “[B]ats do add value to society in their role as natural pesticides, and this study shows that their decline can be harmful to humans.” He continues, “As of 2024, 12 of the roughly 50 insectivorous bat species in the US are negatively affected by WNS [white-nosed syndrome].” This study calls attention to the observable and statistically significant increases in insecticide use in counties that document WNS compared to non-WNS counties, with increased infant mortality also occurring in those areas. (See Daily News here.)   

The Organic Solution

Now is the time to act to protect all species—from insects, including pollinators, to birds, bats, other wildlife, and humans. In order to safeguard the environment and public health, a wide-scale transition to organic agriculture is needed. Take action: >> Ask the U.S. Senate to hold the line and reject the House Farm Bill, pass a clean bill that extends the current law, and regroup to build a sustainable agricultural sector that respects farmers, farmworkers, consumers, and the environment.

The bill, according to advocates, is so fundamentally flawed that they are asking the Senate to reject it and extend the current law with a “clean bill,” free of all controversial amendments that have been characterized as poison pills. Overall, critics say, the House Farm Bill increases dependency on petrochemical fertilizers (which contribute to escalating toxic pesticide use), ignores hunger (despite a historically large $186 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/SNAP), dismisses the notion of a fair, responsible, and accessible family farm safety net, and rolls back successful conservation investments. (See more here.)

During these times, Beyond Pesticides urges sending a message even to those who have a record of refusing to listen. As we strive to adopt the changes essential for a livable future, we must create a record that is based on science, even when the science and the facts are dismissed by those in power. To this end, the failure of action to address the existential health, biodiversity, and climate crises by those in Congress and the administration empowers lower levels of government and some corporations to step into the void left by those whose actions or inaction threaten life.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

Lorenz, S. et al. (2026) Species-specific aquatic habitat use predicts pesticide residues in feces of insectivorous birds and bats, Environmental Pollution. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749126005762.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 14, 2026) In a new report by Friends of the Earth, federal organic standards as defined by the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) are identified as a bedrock “Threshold Program” with high minimum standards that combine three core features—synthetic pesticide and fertilizer prohibitions, soil health requirements, and third-party verification and enforcement systems. In other words, the review of thirteen regenerative and regenerative organic labels and enforcement systems must be built on enforceable standards. This criterion is foundational to the growth of the U.S. organic sector to over $76.6 billion in domestic sales in 2025, expanding at a pace nearly twice the rate of growth (6.8 percent) compared to the national agricultural sector more broadly (3.4 percent).

Main Findings

The report focuses on the principles of 13 different regenerative labeling and certification systems on the market, including a comparison of federal organic standards and the U.S. National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The main findings and features of the report include:

• “Truly regenerative agriculture must phase out dependency on agrochemicals that undermine the very ecological functions on which resilience depends.”
• The various “regenerative” agriculture labels currently on the market are significantly varied in terms of pesticide and fertilizer restrictions versus prohibitions, requirements for soil health, traceability and verification systems, and other forms of accountability mechanisms to ensure robustness of the label for consumer trust.
• The report finds that there are regenerative labels that embrace USDA organic standards as the baseline, capturing their positive impacts on microbial diversity, pollinators, and climate resilience. [As a note, the two labels that are grouped as regenerative in the report, Real Organic Project (ROP) and Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC), are characterized generally as “organic-plus” labels because they require producers using the label to be certified organic under the USDA organic program.]
• There are certain “regenerative” labels that are characterized as transitional label programs, but permit the use of synthetic pesticides, have unenforceable reduction targets for drawing down pesticide use, or lack uniform safeguards and requirements.
• To be sustainable and protective of ecosystems, soil health building requirements, including the use of crop rotations, cover cropping, and other practices that foster soil fertility, must be paired with strict controls on synthetic chemical use.
• When comparing various verification systems from organic to regenerative, third-party verification is considered the most credible “[b]ecause the entity that makes the final compliance decision is independent of both the producer and the standard-setting organization, this model provides the highest level of assurance and is the norm for credible sustainability labeling.”

Previous Coverage

The publication AgFunderNews (AFN) in February 2024 published its updated “2024 list of agrifood corporates making regenerative agriculture commitments,” a who’s who of the largest food and agribusiness corporations worldwide. The list includes companies such as ADM, Cargill, Danone, General Mills, Tyson, Unilever, Walmart, and more, with commitments to millions of acres across their supply chains to practice “regenerative” agriculture, with target dates ranging from 2024 to 2050. The AFN author reporting on the “regenerative” trend states: “[O]ne big challenge is that ‘regenerative agriculture’ still has no set definition. While that still holds true, the bigger observation in 2024 is the number of companies leaning heavily on sustainability jargon to describe goals. With greenwashing pretty rampant nowadays, it will be important to check beneath the PR-friendly language at the actual acres, dates, practices and prescriptions.” For a deeper analysis of the pitfalls of loosely defined regenerative agriculture, see Daily News here.

Pesticide manufacturers and aligned industrial agriculture interests to self-identify as “regenerative,” but continue to promote and use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. An agrichemical industry-funded study published in International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability dissects the development of national organic standards and opportunities that can be applied in expanding the use of “regenerative” agriculture. The study authors offer support for integrated pest management (IPM) and reassurance of a rigorous pesticide registration review process before the chemicals are marketed. The study includes a survey of five farmers, who farm a total of 100,000 acres, but do not have extensive experience farming organically. For those practicing regenerative organic practices and organic advocates, the bottom line is that the kinds of criteria cited in the study that would be needed for a regenerative agriculture label (e.g., list of allowed substances) already exists within the standards and requirements of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the National Organic Program. The study was written by four authors with varying levels of connections to CropLife America (the major agrichemical industry trade group), including academic researchers with funding from the pesticide lobbying group or direct employment. In the disclosure statement of the article, the authors indicate that the work was supported by CropLife and then say, “No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).” In fact, one author, Katie Stump, indicated that she was currently a science and policy manager at CropLife America at the time of publication.

“For a new paradigm to be successful, it will require flexibility and options to pick from in management practices that achieve the desired outcome, acknowledgment on a regional level of varying needs and practices, a clear list of certification requirements, a third-party verification system, and should be tied to a premium to reward the grower for the practices,” according to the authors. OFPA is designed to include flexibility in the adoption and continuous review of standards, and the rules require public meetings facilitated by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) twice a year with a sunset review of allowed substances on a five-year cycle to facilitate additions or subtractions to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (which is a foundational feature that establishes a clear list of inputs allowed in certified organic production). The NOSB can be petitioned to add or remove a substance from the National List at any time. For further information, see Daily News, Industry Funded Study Diminishes Organic, Pushes Pesticides in Integrated Pest Management and Regenerative Ag.

Advocates across the country were disheartened to see that, after months of deliberations and a public comment period, the California State Board of Food and Agriculture (SBFA) on January 10, 2025, formalized a definition of “regenerative agriculture” that is being widely criticized as undermining the transition of agriculture to certified organic practices that eliminate petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. The Board’s recommendation, accepted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), loosely defines regenerative agriculture as “an integrated approach to farming and ranching rooted in principles of soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resiliency.” CDFA how points to the definition, saying, “This recommendation is to inform State Agencies, Boards and Commissions on CDFA’s definition of regenerative agriculture as it relates to state policies and programs. This is not a definition for certification.” Moreover, the California agency definition fails to include specific practices or measurable outcomes, and declines to include organic certification as foundational to “regenerative.” The definition has drawn sharp criticism from organizations including Beyond Pesticides, who argue that the definition is a ‘masterwork in greenwashing.’  “Because there isn’t a definition of allowable practices and materials to which people can be held accountable, those practicing ‘regenerative agriculture’ may continue to use synthetic fertilizers, genetically engineered crops, and biosolids,” remarks Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. (See Daily News here.)

In a press release published on December 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the creation of “a $700 million Regenerative Pilot Program to help American farmers adopt practices that improve soil health, enhance water quality, and boost long-term productivity, all while strengthening America’s food and fiber supply.” The agency specifically ties the program to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), diverting resources that could be used to support organic transition and phase out pesticides that are clearly defined as prohibited by USDA’s National Organic Program under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), but allowed in regenerative agriculture programs. For additional coverage on greenwashing attempts of regenerative under the second Trump Administration, see here.

The scientific literature and field trials of regenerative organic and organic systems underscore the importance of setting baseline criteria that move beyond chemical-intensive food systems. A literature review published in Ecosystem Services by researchers at School of Advanced Studies Sant’Anna (Italy) and Rodale Institute European Regenerative Organic Center identifies the ecological and soil health benefits of regenerative organic agriculture (ROAg). In comparison to chemical-intensive farming, ROAg increases soil organic content by 22 percent, soil total nitrogen by 28 percent, and soil microbial biomass carbon by 133 percent, according to the research. (See Daily News here.)

Researchers at Prairie View A&M University in Texas published in the journal Sustainability a study of organic agricultural systems from 1960 to 2021, concluding that “the outlook for U.S. organic fruit and vegetables is encouraging, supported by expanding consumer demand, government support, and improved conditions for international trade.” While delivering upbeat findings, including health benefits, the study identifies obstacles to entry into organic farming, including the limited support for alternative pest management and pest control systems in the United States in recent modern history, compared to the assistance provided for highly subsidized, petrochemical-dependent agricultural practices. (See Daily News here.) Additionally, a 2024 study published in the journal Nature compared the impact of organic and conventional food production using eight environmental health indicators and found that organic food has a significantly lower environmental impact than conventional food production for six of the eight indicators, including a lower potential for contributing to acidification of the environment, energy use, and biodiversity loss. For the analysis, scientists reviewed 100 different “life cycle assessments” (LCA) of organic and conventionally grown food products from cradle-to-farm gate. (See Daily News here.)

As one example, research by the Rodale Institute, Ohio State University, and Tennessee State University, published in Soil Science of America Journal, documents that organic grain cropping systems contain higher concentrations of total nitrogen and soil organic carbon, exceeding those found in conventional, chemical-intensive systems. This study is an extension of the Rodale Institute’s Farming System Trial (FST), a 40-year-long field study with the overarching goal of “[a]ddress[ing] the barriers to the adoption of organic farming by farmers across the country.” (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

You can contact your members of Congress to ask them to become a cosponsor of the Opportunities in Organic Act, which provides a significant opportunity to reduce barriers to organic farming, strengthens organic supply chains, and ensures that farmers have the support they need to transition to and remain in organic production to meet the growing demand for organic food and grow the sector. Importantly, the bill will provide an opportunity for partners to continue the transition support and technical assistance models that are proving effective through USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which ends in 2026. 

When making decisions on which produce to buy at your local grocery store, you can learn more about your potential exposure to toxic pesticides and chemicals in over 90 non-organic crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and related items in the Eating With a Conscience database. More information on federal organic standards is also available in the  Keeping Organic Strong resource hub.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Regenerative Food Labels: What’s Behind the Claim?

(Beyond Pesticides, May 13, 2026) Published in Toxics, a review finds that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can heighten the risks to exposed organisms from environmental contaminants. Mixtures of these compounds can negatively impact the nervous, cardiovascular, immune, and reproductive systems, particularly in aquatic organisms, and threaten overall biodiversity. The review highlights synergistic effects (greater in combination) observed in mixtures, such as PFAS with pesticides and microplastics, that can cause enhanced oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, developmental defects, and reproductive dysfunction, among others.

“The objectives were to evaluate the toxicological effects of mixtures of the selected contaminants with PFAS on aquatic organisms to better understand biological responses in animals,” the study authors explain. “Based on our review, data suggest that PFAS can modify the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants.”

Background

PFAS were first created in the 1930s and have since been used in many industries and in the production of many products. The multitude of PFAS sources and exposure routes leads to widespread contamination of the environment and organisms. PFAS in agriculture represents a large source, as PFAS can be pesticide active ingredients, used in the plastic containers that pesticides are stored in, and as surfactants in pesticide products. Additionally, PFAS are used in many other plastic storage containers and food packaging, personal care products, nonstick cookware, cleaning supplies, treated clothing, firefighting foam, and machinery and equipment used in manufacturing—all of which contaminate food, water, soil, and the air. (See additional coverage on PFAS here.)

A previous Daily News piece, entitled “Science on ‘Forever Chemicals’ (PFAS) as Pesticide Ingredients and Contaminants Documented,” shows how and to what extent PFAS can be introduced into pesticide products, and how this impacts health and the environment. The findings are gleaned from public records requests to state and federal agencies in the U. S. and Canada, as well as from publicly accessible databases discussed in the commentary “Forever Pesticides: A Growing Source of PFAS Contamination in the Environment.” The classification of PFAS is also of concern, as the number of PFAS in the U.S. heavily depends on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) definition, based on “case-by-case” rulemakings and agency actions. The broad definition of PFAS as a compound with at least “one fully fluorinated carbon” has been adopted by many states and other authorities.

EPA continues to ignore the widely accepted definition of PFAS, supported by scientists, through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). EPA’s current scientific definition of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence, is at odds with the prevalent scientific thinking of scientists worldwide who have challenged the agency’s position and its resulting risk assessments. (See Artificially Narrow EPA Definition of PFAS Mischaracterizes Widespread Threat to Health and Environment.)

Widespread Use of PFAS and Resulting Chemical Mixtures

EPA continues to register PFAS pesticides, including the latest instance with the active ingredient tetflupyrolimet (TFP) that was declared as an “emergency.” This emergency, however, is caused by weed resistance, which is a recurring and predictable event. By definition, a chronic and routine problem does not qualify as an emergency. As shared in Beyond Pesticides’ comments, the allowance of this emergency use of an unregistered pesticide is not warranted, given the serious concern about the hazards of this herbicide and the lack of a full registration review subject to public comment. According to public health advocates, a wide body of science on the effects of PFAS supports the removal of all PFAS from production, not the approval of a PFAS for emergency use, particularly for a compound that is not registered with EPA for any current uses.

Beyond Pesticides has also commented on the increasing number of PFAS pesticide active ingredients proposed for use over the last year. The latest pesticide proposed for EPA registration, epyrifenacil (agricultural weed killer), joins cyclobutrifluram (soil fungicide/nematicide), isocycloseram (household and agricultural insecticide), diflufenican (lawn and agricultural weed killer), and trifludimoxazin (agricultural weed killer), making a total of five PFAS pesticide proposals in 2025 that have been associated with national and worldwide contamination of food, land, and water. Two of these, cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram, have been approved as of last fall.

Exposure to PFAS does not occur in isolation, as many compounds are continuously encountered in complex mixtures where the combined effects can differ substantially from those predicted by examining each substance individually. In humans, these compounds can accumulate, referred to as “Body Burden,” which encompasses numerous chemicals. (See Daily News here.)

Literature Review Methodology and Results

In the current review, researchers from the U.S. and Brazil performed a literature search for scientific literature published between 2010 and 2025 involving aquatic organisms, such as fish, algae, and microorganisms, with combined exposure to PFAS and other contaminants. “Many studies to date have analyzed the biological impacts of PFAS on invertebrates and vertebrates, such as algae, fish, rodents, and humans,” the authors report. They continue: “Several PFAS, including perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are reported to bioaccumulate within species and can contribute to a wide range of biological and physiological effects (i.e., altered metabolism, endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, reproduction disruption).”

Additional results include:

• Chlorpyrifos and the PFAS perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) exhibit synergistic effects by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulating neurotoxicity-related genes in zebrafish.
• PFOA and atrazine show synergy as the mixture increases the presence of malformations and oxidative stress. These compounds also cause decreased embryo hatchability in zebrafish. (See research here.)
• PFAS combined with microplastics also intensifies oxidative stress, as well as other developmental and reproductive effects.
• Zebrafish with coexposure to chlorpyrifos and PFAS experience neurotoxicity and oxidative stress.

In summary, the researchers say: “The coexistence of PFAS and other contaminants in environmental matrices is a reality, raising concerns about ecological and health risks. In vivo and in vitro studies in several aquatic organisms indicate that co-exposure can exacerbate toxicity, leading to a higher incidence of malformations, inhibition of hatching, increased oxidative stress, and alterations in metabolism and gene expression.” This review highlights the complexities of the interactions between PFAS and other environmental contaminants, further supporting the need to eliminate the use of these chemicals.

Previous Research

As shared in additional comments to EPA regarding PFAS contamination (see here and here), there is a wide body of science highlighting the adverse effects of these compounds on human and environmental health. Additionally, of serious concern are the many PFAS known to break down in the environment to other compounds such as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is noted as one of the most pervasive PFAS water contaminants in the world and is the most extensively studied ultrashort-chain perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA).

PFAS residues are pervasive in food and drinking water, with over six million U.S. residents regularly exposed to drinking water with PFAS levels above the EPA health advisory of 70 ng/L. PFAS are detectable in almost all of the U.S. population—disproportionately afflicting people of color communities—and have implications for human health. From epigenetic to immunotoxic effects, there is a wide range of health implications with PFAS exposure. Because of their ubiquitous use and exposure, studies report that PFAS compounds are detectable in infants, children, and pregnant women. Like other legacy chemicals, the effects of PFAS endure through generations—pregnant women can readily transfer compounds to the developing fetus through the placenta.

The detection of any level of PFAS is cause for concern. From widespread presence in farm fields and sewage sludge (biosolids) to contaminated water bodies throughout the U.S., PFAS have made their way into the environment and human bodies. PFAS are even present in remote environments like the Arctic, Antarctica, and Eastern European Tibetan Plateau. Numerous studies document exposure to endocrine-disrupting pesticides (EDPs), including PFAS, leading to dysfunction of the body’s endocrine system as well as additional health effects, such as cancer, brain and nervous system disorders, immune system disorders, diabetes, learning/developmental impacts, and sexual and reproductive dysfunction.

PFAS contamination is much more pervasive than previously assumed, polluting storage and transportation containers, food and water resources, and other chemical products. Not only is the public exposed to PFAS, but cumulative exposure is higher among workers, including those who work in factories that manufacture products with PFAS, and workers who use them regularly. As science continues to emerge on the enhanced effects of PFAS when combined with other contaminants, protecting health and the environment becomes increasingly important.

The Organic Solution

To avoid the use of these harmful chemicals, Beyond Pesticides recommends choosing certified organic products whenever possible. Through the Eating with a Conscience database, you can select from over 90 different common crops you regularly consume and learn about the organic difference from their conventional, chemical-intensive counterparts. See Buying Organic Products (on a budget!) and Grow Your Own Organic Food for more information.

As EPA continues to fail in its statutory duty to adequately protect the health of the environment and all organisms within it, as extensively covered by Beyond Pesticides, the call to truly safeguard ecosystems and public health with the elimination of PFAS and pesticides takes on a greater urgency. We must instead facilitate a widespread conversion to organic practices.

The holistic, systems-based organic solution for land management and agriculture offers numerous health and environmental benefits. Learn more about how to take action and have your voice heard on governmental efforts that are harmful to the environment and public and worker health, increase overall pesticide use, and undermine the advancement of organic, sustainable, and regenerative practices and policies with Action of the Week.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

Valle, E. et al. (2026) Do Perfluorinated Chemicals Enhance the Toxicity of Other Contaminants in Aquatic Organisms? A Review, Toxics. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/14/5/373.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2026) Research published in Microbiological Research finds that organic farming enhances microbial diversity in citrus orchard soil systems, both in terms of nutrient cycling and aiding in the development of more complex microbial networks pivotal to biodiversity. This comes as no surprise to organic, public health, and biodiversity advocates who have tracked the scientific literature on soil health and human health benefits of organic land management systems.

Methodology and Results

The international research team for the study engaged in a comparative field study of 15 commercial citrus orchards in Sicily, including 7 organic fields and 8 chemical-intensive, conventional fields, with the prime objective of assessing the role of the farming system, as well as environmental and agronomic factors, on soil microbiome structure and function. They collected 75 samples in summer (June-July 2021) and winter (December 2021-January 2022) periods, with 150 soil samples collected in total. In each orchard, 5 trees were randomly selected, with 4 soil “cores” pooled into one composite sample per tree at a depth of roughly 20-30 centimeters to assess interactions with tree roots and at a distance of 40-100 centimeters from the tree trunk.

The researchers assessed water content (pH levels), total carbon, total nitrogen, organic carbon and inorganic carbon, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N ratio), and soil texture (sand, silt, or clay). In terms of microbiome analysis, researchers targeted bacteria (16S rRNA) and fungi (ITS1) to extract DNA from rhizosphere soil. For more details on the microbial network, functional analysis, and statistical analysis, please see pages 5 and 6 of the study PDF.

The main results/findings from this study include:

• Organic land management does shape microbial communities, with bacterial (~3.9%) and fungal (~2.24%) variance relative to chemical-intensive management.
• Organic systems harbor more complex and diverse microbial communities in their soils, as evidenced by higher fungal alpha diversity in organic soils and higher species richness under organic land care.
• Organic management promotes various nutrient cycling capacities (inorganic nitrogen consumption and organic phosphorus assimilation) and soil fertility functions (carbon content and carbon fixation).
• The microbiomes of organically managed soil systems can be characterized as more structured and ecologically stable, given higher co-exclusion network patterns.
• Fungal communities, regardless of land management system, were influenced by season.

Previous Coverage

The issue of pest management in citrus orchards is also an issue that plagues farmers in the United States. In 2024, scientists moved forward in testing an agroecological method of “push-pull” pest management (reducing the attractiveness of the target organism and luring pest insects towards a trap) to fight the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) in Florida orange groves, as it spreads a plant disease known as the pathogenic bacteria huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, which is deadly to citrus trees. The disease is spread by the pathogenic bacteria Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). The chemical-intensive, or conventional, citrus industry is under intense pressure to find alternatives, as synthetic antibiotic use for this purpose has been successfully challenged in court. (See Daily News here.)

In a novel, continent-wide study of soil biodiversity throughout Europe published in Nature, researchers find 70% of the sampled sites contain pesticide residues, which “emerged as the second strongest driver of soil biodiversity patterns after soil properties,” particularly in croplands. As soil biodiversity is key for ecosystem functioning, agricultural and land management practices that safeguard biodiversity are imperative. This study, however, highlights how pesticides alter microbial functions, including phosphorus and nitrogen cycling, and suppress beneficial taxa, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterivore nematodes, and adds to a wide body of science that links pesticide residues in soil to adverse effects on biodiversity. In analyzing 373 sites across woodlands, grasslands, and croplands in 26 European countries, and examining the effects of 63 pesticides on soil archaea, bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, arthropods, and key functional gene groups [essential to the nutrient cycling], the data reveal “organism- and function-specific patterns, emphasizing complex and widespread non-target effects on soil biodiversity.” As the authors state, “[T]o our knowledge, ours is the first study to demonstrate the relative importance of pesticides in comparison to soil properties, ecosystem type and climate at a continental scale.” (See Daily News here.)

Through a literature review and data analysis of almost 2,000 soil samples, the authors of a 2025 study find pesticide exposure associated with negative effects on the presence of plant-beneficial bacteria (PBB) in soil, particularly bacteria with plant growth-promoting traits that are essential for crop productivity. The study, published in Nature Communications, by researchers at China’s Shaoxing University and Zhejiang University of Technology, adds to scientific literature documenting the effects of pesticides on soil health. “Pesticides not only reduce PBB diversity as individual factors, but they also exert synergistic negative effects with other anthropogenic factors… further accelerating the decline in PBB diversity,” the researchers state. They continue, “Increased pesticide risk also leads to a loss of functional gene diversity in PBB about carbon and nitrogen cycling within essential nutrient cycles, and a reduction in specific amino acid and vitamin synthesis.” (See Daily News here.)

Non-target pesticide and fertilizer drift combine to wreak havoc on our soil systems. A study of earthworms published in Environmental Science & Technology highlights how chemical mixtures can have both synergistic and species-specific effects, threatening the soil microbiome and overall soil health. In exposing two species, Eisenia fetida and Metaphire guillelmi, to the weed killer glyphosate alone and in combination with urea, a synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the researchers find enhanced toxicity with co-exposure as well as varying health effects between the two species. These results emphasize the need to test a wide variety of nontarget organisms for adverse impacts from environmental contaminants, since species, even within the same genus or family, can exhibit vastly different effects. (See Daily News here.) In a similar vein, published in Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, a study of earthworms (Eisenia fetida) evaluates the toxicity of environmentally relevant levels of three fluorinated pesticides (fluxapyroxad, fluopyram, and bixafen) through a 56-day soil exposure experiment. The dose- and time-dependent results reveal that effects on growth and reproduction occur at elevated concentrations, with weight loss and reduced offspring occurring from energy depletion and reproductive organ damage. Other implications escalate with concentration as well, including antioxidant system failure and DNA damage. As the authors summarize, “These findings highlight the mechanisms of fluorine-containing pesticide toxicity in earthworms, emphasizing their potential to disrupt soil ecosystems.” (See Daily News here.) For additional coverage on agrichemical threats to the soil microbiome, please see here.

Meanwhile, organic and regenerative organic agriculture are paving the way forward for what is possible. A literature review published in Ecosystem Services by researchers at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and Rodale Institute European Regenerative Organic Center identifies the ecological and soil health benefits of regenerative organic agriculture (ROAg). In comparison to chemical-intensive farming, ROAg increases soil organic content by 22 percent, soil total nitrogen by 28 percent, and soil microbial biomass carbon by 133 percent, according to the research. While further long-term comparative research is needed to compare regenerative organic with conventional, chemical-intensive systems, as well as more precisely quantifiable benefits of regenerative organic farming on soil health, researchers were able to determine that regenerative organic agriculture “has significant positive impacts on soil health and ecosystem service delivery.” (See Daily News here.) A study published in Environmental Technology & Innovation finds that organically managed coconut farms significantly improve soil health across numerous markers when compared with conventional (chemical-intensive) plantations. The main findings of this study conclude that, across numerous soil health properties, the organic farms significantly outcompete chemical-intensive coconut plantations:

• Organic plots have better porosity and bulk density, meaning lower compaction and better aeration to support air and water movement through the soil system;
• Organic coconut plots have higher nutrient availability and fertility across the board, including for SOM, total nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium;
• The total bacteria and nutrient-cycling bacteria (cellulose-decomposing bacteria) are higher in organic plots;
• Organically managed coconut soil systems have higher biological activity and metabolic intensity, as denoted by dehydrogenase activity;
• In terms of microbial bacterial community composition, it is higher in organically managed plots;
• Organic plots show higher abundance of plant-growth-promoting and nutrient-cycling microbes, including Acidobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi, among a handful of others; and,
• At a system-level, organic plots show stronger correlations between organic matter, nutrients, microbes, and enzyme activity relative to chemical-intensive coconut plots. (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

The Spring 2026 National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting is being held today through (May 12) through Thursday (May 14) in Omaha, NE, and virtually, May 12-14, 2026.  Watch/Listen to the meeting virtually (use the same link for all three days): Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Android device: Please click this URL to join: https://www.zoomgov.com/s/1617918296
Webinar ID: 161 791 8296.

You can also contact your members of Congress to ask them to become a cosponsor of the Opportunities in Organic Act, which provides a significant opportunity to reduce barriers to organic farming, strengthen organic supply chains, and ensure that farmers have the support they need to transition to and remain in organic production to meet the growing demand for organic food and grow the sector. Importantly, the bill will provide an opportunity for partners to continue the transition support and technical assistance models that are proving effective through USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which ends in 2026. 

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Microbiological Research 

(Beyond Pesticides, May 11, 2026) As studies stack up on adverse synergistic effects of chemical mixtures, serious deficiencies in the regulatory review of pesticides have come into sharp focus. As the hazards are shown to escalate and the regulatory review process is shown to fall short, public health advocates are telling Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services that they must consider the effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the organic alternative. 

A recent study in Toxics reviewed the current literature on pesticides, microplastics, or metal exposure in combination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, finding that PFAS can modify, including intensify, the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants.  

A commentary in Frontiers in Toxicology, by  Maricel Maffini, PhD, and Laura Vandenberg, PhD,  notes, “Current approaches also rely on the assumption that testing chemicals one at a time is appropriate to understand how chemicals act under real-world conditions. Numerous mixture studies, including ones that demonstrated cumulative effects, have disproven this assumption.”  

As noted by the naturalist, writer, and conservationist John Muir, known as the “Father of the National Parks,” and those before and after him, including the English poet John Donne, who wrote “No Man is an Island” in 1624, all life is interconnected. As a result, synergism is the rule, rather than the exception. John Muir put it succinctly: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”  

Examples of synergistic effects of pesticides abound.  

• The presence of Varroa mites in combination with the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid increases the risk of bee mortality and disrupts the larval gut microbiome, according to a study of the synergy between the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and imidacloprid. An article in Entomology Today, a publication of the Entomological Society of America, highlights the important findings of a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Insect Science. While there has been debate on whether neonicotinoid (neonic) insecticides or Varroa mites are more detrimental to the survival of bees, evidence suggests that neonicotinoids are not only harmful individually but can increase vulnerability to parasitism from mites in western honey bees (Apis mellifera). 
   
• A review in Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology analyzes studies linking exposure to environmental contaminants with adverse effects to women’s reproductive health. The chemical classes within the review include plasticizers, PFAS, heavy metals, pesticides, organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), microplastics, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), many of which are related to chemical-intensive land management and can exacerbate health effects through additive or synergistic effects, like microplastics when in contact with petrochemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.
   
• The scientific literature shows that microplastics (MPs) and pesticides, both ubiquitous throughout the environment, have synergistic effects that threaten aquatic organisms. The most recent study to demonstrate this, published in Ecotoxicology, focuses on the impacts of MPs and chlorpyrifos (CPF), a widely used organophosphate insecticide, on cladocerans, a group of microcrustaceans. A literature review of over 90 scientific articles in Agriculture documents that MPs increase the bioavailability, persistence, and toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture. In analyzing the interactions between neonicotinoid pesticides (NNPs) and MPs, a recent study in The Science of The Total Environment finds that neonicotinoids, such as thiacloprid (THI), become more bioavailable in soils containing traditional and biodegradable plastics. Increased bioavailability, which quantifies the extent to which organisms are exposed to chemicals in soil or sediment, puts soil microbiota at risk, and leaves all consumers susceptible to adverse effects in contaminated food crops.
   
• A study in Royal Society Open Science shows intraspecific differences (between individuals of a species) in wild bumblebees (Bombus vosnesenskii) exposed to an herbicide (glyphosate), a fungicide (tebuconazole), and an insecticide (imidacloprid), with gut microbiome health as a factor. The authors conclude, “These findings suggest that site-specific factors influence pesticide sensitivity and should be considered in ecotoxicological studies of wild bees.” 
   
• Researchers studying a mass mortality event of approximately 200 monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) in Pacific Grove, California, point out that there are additional issues in assessing risks to species since “available toxicity values are based on exposure to a single active ingredient, whereas all the sampled monarchs contained residues of multiple pesticides.” Exposure to multiple pesticides can result in additive or synergistic effects, which then enhance toxicity, as has been demonstrated in many studies of pollinator species. 
   
• A common soil arthropod has clearly illustrated how this convergence creates synergistic effects: warming increases pesticide toxicity; pesticide toxicity triggers antibiotic resistance; antibiotic resistance spreads through horizontal gene transfer (movement through the environment to people), and predation.  
   
• Published in Environmental Pollution, a study of commercial dry pet products finds dietary pesticide residues in dog and cat food, “highlighting the urgent need for improved regulatory frameworks to address the presence of non-approved pesticides in pet food.” Additionally, the researchers point out: “Current regulatory frameworks primarily assess the toxicity of individual pesticide compounds, yet real-world exposure involves complex mixtures that may lead to additive or synergistic effects. The presence of multiple residues in a single sample suggests that companion animals may be subjected to combined toxicological burdens that are not yet fully understood.” 
   
• A recent study published in Foods assesses the ability of the fungicide azoxystrobin (AZX) and naturally occurring toxins produced by certain fungi, known as mycotoxins, to display effects of cytotoxicity (cell damage). These effects were evaluated using three common mycotoxins found in food, including ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, and T-2 toxin as mixtures with AZX within human hepatocarcinoma cell cultures. In analyzing combinations of these compounds at sublethal concentrations, the authors find modified toxicological behavior and synergistic effects that highlight the complexities of chemical mixtures, and potential threats to liver health through dietary exposure to both toxicants and toxins, which are not adequately regulated for their interactions. 
   
• Study results published in Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology “suggest that combined [pesticide] exposure may further amplify the toxicity and compromise the intestinal barrier.” 
   
• A study in GeoHealth of pediatric cancers in Nebraska links exposure to agricultural mixtures with the occurrence of these diseases. The authors find statistically significant positive associations between pesticide usage rates and children with cancer, specifically brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers and leukemia. 
   
• A study in Chemosphere, conducted by researchers from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Germany, reveals the varied lethal and sublethal effects of different mixtures of the weed killer glyphosate through tests on the South African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. After exposing embryos to four glyphosate formulations, mortality, morphological defects, altered heartbeat rate, and impaired heart-specific gene expression are observed. 
   
• In their recent publication in Environmental Pollution, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, find the greatest synergistic effects when Daphnia magna are subjected to the insecticide esfenvalerate under conditions experienced with climate change. 
   
• In a study published in Biomedicines, the authors conduct a multi-behavioral evaluation of the effects of three pesticides, both individually and as mixtures, on larvae. The authors state, “Even at low concentrations, pesticides can negatively affect organisms, altering important behaviors that can have repercussions at the population level.” By analyzing effects on individual zebrafish with single compounds and mixtures, this study shows the dangers of pesticides in aquatic systems regarding synergy and the ripples created throughout entire ecosystems. 

Other studies highlight the need for a broader overhaul of the current regulatory review to address critical flaws in EPA’s current ecological risk assessment process.

• A November 2023 European study published in Nature demonstrates that relying on testing one active ingredient in a laboratory setting misses real-world impacts of pesticides on bees, nontarget pollinators; and, a “landscape-level” study finds that typical risk assessment reviews used by EPA and European regulators fail to “safeguard bees and other pollinators that support agricultural production and wild plant pollination.” The authors’ conclusions challenge “the current assumption of pesticide regulation—that chemicals that individually pass laboratory tests and semifield [contained outdoors] trials are considered environmentally benign” and call into question EPA’s current regulatory assessments based on the western honey bee and its failure to adequately regulate mixtures of chemicals to which organisms are exposed in the real world as well as the actual devastating impacts to pollinators from the ubiquitous neonicotinoids. 
   
• A study published in Conservation Letters, a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, exposes critical shortcomings in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ecological risk assessment (ERA) process for modeling the risks that pesticides pose to bees and other pollinators. For the study, “Risk assessments underestimate threat of pesticides to wild bees,” researchers conducted a meta-analysis of toxicity data in EPA’s ECOTOX knowledgebase (ECOTOX), an EPA-hosted, publicly available resource with information on adverse effects of single chemical stressors to certain aquatic and terrestrial species. The meta-analysis found that the agency’s approach, which relies heavily on honey bee data from controlled laboratory studies, drastically underestimates the real-world threats from neonicotinoid insecticides (and likely other pesticides) to native bees and other pollinators. The study “challenges the reliability of surrogate species as predictors when extrapolating pesticide toxicity data to wild pollinators and recommends solutions to address the (a)biotic interactions occurring in nature that make such extrapolations unreliable in the ERA process.”  

Since interactions and synergism are the rule, pesticides cannot be evaluated on the basis of single-chemical, single-species tests. Public health advocates maintain that they must be evaluated in context—that is, the system of chemical-dependent management of crops, landscapes, and structures must itself be questioned. They also point to the availability of an alternative system—regenerative organic production and land management—that is both successful and a suitable standard of comparison, saying the only way to truly protect pollinators, insects, birds, and other species, as well as the biosphere as a whole, is to stop the use of toxic pesticides completely. Continuing, they say that converting the world’s agricultural systems to organic would have a tremendous positive impact on threatened populations. 

Beyond Pesticides is urging the public to: Tell EPA, FDA, and Congress that regulations must consider the effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the organic alternative.

Letter to the U.S. Congress
Please urge EPA and FDA to use their registration and tolerance-setting authority, respectively, to set regulatory standards with an assessment of pesticide mixtures, considering their additive and synergistic effects. A recent study in Toxics reviewed the current literature on pesticides, microplastics, or metal exposure in combination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, finding that PFAS can modify, including intensify, the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants. 

Varroa mites in combination with a neonicotinoid insecticide increases the risk of bee mortality and disrupts the larval gut microbiome, suggesting that neonicotinoids are not only harmful individually but can increase vulnerability to parasitism from mites in western honey bees.

Women’s reproductive health is adversely affected by exposure to environmental contaminants, many of which are related to chemical-intensive land management and can exacerbate health effects through additive or synergistic effects.

Microplastics (MPs) and pesticides have synergistic effects that threaten aquatic organisms. MPs increase the bioavailability, persistence, and toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture, putting soil microbiota and consumers at elevated risk.

Individual wild bumblebees differ in their response when exposed to an herbicide (glyphosate), a fungicide (tebuconazole), and an insecticide (imidacloprid), with gut microbiome health as a factor. 

A mass mortality event of about 200 monarch butterflies in Pacific Grove points to additional issues in assessing risks to species since “available toxicity values are based on exposure to a single active ingredient, whereas all the sampled monarchs contained residues of multiple pesticides.” 

A common soil arthropod demonstrates synergistic effects: warming increases pesticide toxicity; pesticide toxicity triggers antibiotic resistance; antibiotic resistance spreads through horizontal gene transfer and predation. 

The presence of multiple residues in a single sample of dog or cat food suggests that they are subjected to combined toxicological burdens that are not fully regulated.

The interaction of a fungicide and naturally occurring mycotoxins shows synergistic effects, highlighting the complexities of chemical mixtures and potential threats to liver health through dietary exposure to both toxicants and toxins that are not regulated for their interactions.

Combined pesticide exposure may further amplify the toxicity and compromise the intestinal barrier.

Agricultural mixtures are linked to the occurrence of pediatric cancers, specifically brain and central nervous system cancers and leukemia.

Different glyphosate mixtures produce varied lethal and sublethal effects–mortality, morphological defects, altered heartbeat rate, and impaired heart-specific gene expression—on the South African clawed frog.

Daphnia magna experienced synergistic effects when subjected to the insecticide esfenvalerate under conditions of climate change.

Studies highlight the need for a broad overhaul of EPA’s risk assessment process. A November 2023 European study published in Nature challenges “the current assumption of pesticide regulation—that chemicals that individually pass laboratory tests and semifield trials are considered environmentally benign.”

Since interactions and synergism are the rule, pesticides cannot be evaluated based on single-chemical, single-species tests. They must be evaluated in context—that is, the system of chemical-dependent management must itself be questioned. Fortunately, there is an alternative system—regenerative organic production and land management—that is a suitable successful standard of comparison. 

Please ensure that EPA and FDA consider effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the available organic alternative.

Thank you.

Letter to the Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency
To adequately protect public health and the environment in pesticide registration review, the agency must consider the effects of chemical mixtures. A recent study in Toxics reviewed the current literature on pesticides, microplastics, or metal exposure in combination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, finding that PFAS can modify, including intensify, the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants. 

The presence of Varroa mites in combination with a neonicotinoid insecticide

the risk of bee mortality and disrupts the larval gut microbiome, suggesting that neonicotinoids are not only harmful individually but can increase vulnerability to parasitism from mites in western honey bees.

Women’s reproductive health is adversely affected by exposure to environmental contaminants, many of which are related to chemical-intensive land management and can exacerbate health effects through additive or synergistic effects.

Microplastics (MPs) and pesticides have synergistic effects that threaten aquatic organisms. MPs increase the bioavailability, persistence, and toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture, putting soil microbiota and consumers at elevated risk.

Individual wild bumblebees differ in their response when exposed to an herbicide (glyphosate), a fungicide (tebuconazole), and an insecticide (imidacloprid), with gut microbiome health as a factor. 

Researchers studying a mass mortality event of about 200 monarch butterflies in Pacific Grove point to additional issues in assessing risks to species since “available toxicity values are based on exposure to a single active ingredient, whereas all the sampled monarchs contained residues of multiple pesticides.” 

A common soil arthropod demonstrates synergistic effects: warming increases pesticide toxicity; pesticide toxicity triggers antibiotic resistance; antibiotic resistance spreads through horizontal gene transfer and predation. 

The presence of multiple residues in a single sample of dog or cat food suggests that companion animals may be subjected to combined toxicological burdens that are not yet fully understood.

The interaction of a fungicide and naturally occurring mycotoxins shows synergistic effects, highlighting the complexities of chemical mixtures and potential threats to liver health through dietary exposure to both toxicants and toxins that are not regulated for their interactions.

Combined pesticide exposure may further amplify the toxicity and compromise the intestinal barrier.

Agricultural mixtures are linked to the occurrence of pediatric cancers, specifically brain and central nervous system cancers and leukemia.

Different mixtures of the weed killer glyphosate produce varied lethal and sublethal effects–mortality, morphological defects, altered heartbeat rate, and impaired heart-specific gene expression—on the South African clawed frog.

Daphnia magna experienced synergistic effects when subjected to the insecticide esfenvalerate under conditions of climate change.

Studies highlight the need for a broad overhaul of EPA’s risk assessment process. A November 2023 European study published in Nature challenges “the current assumption of pesticide regulation—that chemicals that individually pass laboratory tests and semifield trials are considered environmentally benign.”

Since interactions and synergism are the rule, pesticides cannot be evaluated based on single-chemical, single-species tests. They must be evaluated in context—that is, the system of chemical-dependent management must itself be questioned. Fortunately, there is an alternative system—regenerative organic production and land management—that is a suitable successful standard of comparison. 

EPA must consider effects of pesticides in the context in which they are used and with reference to the organic alternative.

Thank you.

Letter to Secretary of Health and Human Servicess
Under your tolerance-setting authority to protect public health from pesticide residues in food, it is critical that pesticide mixtures are evaluated, an area of health concern not currently considered. A recent study in Toxics reviewed the current literature on pesticides, microplastics, or metal exposure in combination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, finding that PFAS can modify, including intensify, the toxicity of co-occurring pollutants. 

Study results published in Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology “suggest that combined [pesticide] exposure may further amplify the toxicity and compromise the intestinal barrier.” The researchers found that the insecticides abamectin and spirodiclofen, and the fungicide fluazinam, individually and in combination, cause serious disruption of intestinal functions caused by the interaction of pesticides in mixtures. These findings highlight the need to assess potential synergistic effects of pesticide mixtures as a part of the regulatory review process. Under memorandums of understanding with EPA, please instruct FDA to recommend tolerances based on combined exposure when pesticides are used together.

“Currently, most studies investigating the effects of pesticide residues on the barrier function of Caco-2 cells [human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells used as a model of the intestinal epithelial barrier] concentrate on the exposure to a single residue, while the potential toxic effects arising from the concurrent presence of multiple pesticide residues remain largely overlooked,” the authors say. This study exposes a mechanism for the synergistic effects of concurrent exposure to a combination of pesticides and highlights the importance of considering synergy in risk assessments and the setting of pesticide tolerance to protect health. 

Additional research referenced in the study supports the findings of intestinal damage from pesticide exposure, including disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier by imidacloprid, enhancing the toxicity of zinc oxide to gut microbiota; disrupting the integrity of the gut barrier in mice by chlorpyrifos, resulting in increased entry of lipopolysaccharides into the body, and synergistic effects of carbendazim combined with epoxiconazole or fluazinam in Caco-2 cells. 

The findings are very troubling, since pesticide residues in food are introduced directly to the intestines. As the researchers note, “The intestinal tract functions as a congenital barrier for homeostasis, preventing pathogenic bacteria, toxins, and other harmful substances from entering the body.” They continue: “Pesticides ingested through the diet are absorbed and transported into the human body, directly interacting with intestinal epithelial cells. This exposure results in alterations to cell permeability and integrity, ultimately compromising the barrier function of these cells.”

The complex interactions among pesticide mixtures are not fully understood but represent a significant threat to human health. EPA fails to adequately regulate mixtures of chemicals to which organisms are exposed in the real world. Risk assessments have been highly criticized as inadequate in addressing the full range of adverse effects that put human health at risk. Since establishing tolerances for pesticide residues is the responsibility of FDA. I ask you to require FDA to set tolerances based on combined exposure when pesticides are used together.

Given both the known and still unevaluated effects of pesticides, including the impact of mixtures and synergistic effects, petrochemical pesticides can be better regulated through the setting of tolerances and replaced by organic land management practices, which are commercially viable and effective in both agricultural and nonagricultural uses.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 8, 2026)  A study from Ecuador establishes for the first time the developmental pattern of nervous system toxicants—still widely used in agriculture, mosquito control, and landscaping—on healthy neurological and brain development in children. It is firmly established that widely used organophosphate pesticides are severely toxic to a broad range of organisms. In what’s known as their “classic” mechanism of action, they inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), particularly in neuromuscular junctions in the brain. Not enough AChE leads to a buildup of ACh in motor neurons. Organophosphates deplete AChE, and an acute dose can paralyze the heart and lung muscles, causing death. Chronic exposures are implicated in numerous neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Beyond Pesticides’ Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management has detailed information on the organophosphates malathion, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and others.

Acetylcholine and AChE are vital biological chemicals conserved across the animal kingdom, from humans to insects and everything in between. Yet there is no established baseline for normal levels of ACh and AChE in humans. Comparing biomarkers of organochlorine exposure with normal values would be a major step forward in assessing the influence of pesticides on human body burdens and disease, particularly in populations working and living in agricultural areas.

The study, “Acetylcholinesterase activity from childhood to young adulthood,” establishes for the first time the developmental pattern of ACh and AChE levels from early childhood to late adolescence. A collaboration between scientists at the University of California, San Diego, and the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador in Quito, the study is part of the Secondary Exposures to Pesticides among Children, Adolescents and Adults (ESPINA) program, an ongoing prospective project to determine the effects of pesticide exposure on human development in Pedro Moncayo, Ecuador, a center of the flower industry. See Beyond Pesticides’ March 24 Daily News Blog reporting on ESPINA’s research showing other pesticides in the region’s drinking and irrigation water.

The authors note that “Globally, over 100 million children, adolescents, and young adults are involved in agricultural work or live in farming communities.” They followed 746 children from ages five to 25, taking samples from each child eight times over 16 years between 2008 and 2024. They accumulated 3,119 fingerstick samples, measuring AChE as units of enzyme per milliliter (U/mL) in blood. They also measured hemoglobin levels, analyzed urine samples for pesticide metabolites, and gathered data on indirect household-level sources of pesticide exposure, i.e., drift from pesticide-applied fields within 300 meters of the children’s homes and pesticides potentially carried into the homes by adult agricultural workers.

The average participant lived within 300 meters of 13,253 square meters of floricultural crops and 72% lived with an agricultural worker. The children’s AChE levels increased linearly between 5 and 11 years of age, and were very similar between males and females. After 12.5 years, or approximately puberty onset, levels between the sexes diverged. Females’ levels plateaued at 3.80 U/mL at age 15, whereas males’ levels plateaued at approximately 4.40 U/mL at age 21. Across both sexes and at all ages, children who lived nearest to the highest amount of agricultural land had the lowest levels of AChE. However, living with an agricultural worker and levels of urinary pesticide markers did not alter expected AChE levels.

The authors conclude that off-target pesticide drift was most likely the source of the lowered AChE levels among children nearest to agricultural activity. Although this study is the first to try to establish a baseline pattern of ACh and AChE development in children, it does not by itself lead to firm conclusions about the health effects of organophosphate exposure on that baseline. For one thing, the tested population lives in an intensely agricultural area and there was no control group of children living away from agriculture. Further, the amount of greenhouse cultivation in the area doubled between 2008 and 2016, which may have affected the age-related trends in the data.

Nonetheless, the results are important, because although usage of organophosphates is declining, and some are banned, there is no dearth of application, exposures, or damage to the biosphere. The authors cite data indicating 1-2 billion pounds of organophosphate pesticides are used worldwide every year—between a fifth and a third of the total amount of pesticides. In the United States, more than 16 million pounds of 14 different organophosphates are applied every year, according to Earthjustice, with California leading the pack.

Large numbers of people, including pregnant women, fetuses, and children, are exposed, and research has shown associations with numerous neurological problems, including abnormal reflexes in newborns and verbal comprehension, attention deficits and autism spectrum disorder in school-age children. Beyond Pesticides reported on a 2025 California study finding that, “Despite a 54 percent decrease in overall use of the neurotoxic insecticide chlorpyrifos in the state between 2016 and 2021, after a statewide ban on the organophosphate insecticide in 2016, researchers found that in one California county, ‘more than 50 [percent] of pregnant people lived within 1 km of [organophosphate] pesticide use.’” Only two states – California and Washington – currently require biomonitoring of pesticide applicators, including requiring workers to stop working with pesticides if their AChE and red blood counts fall below specific minimums.

A further reason for concern is that AChE is not just a controller of a neurotransmitter in specific brain regions involved in motor activity. AChE is expressed in cells and tissues far beyond the nervous system; recent research on African clawed frogs and octopuses shows that AChE plays major roles in embryonic development, especially in the intestines, in cell differentiation, and in configuring cell structural elements. It is also involved in healing and regeneration of damaged tissue. These are “non-classical” aspects of AChE, again conserved across varied biological families, that are very likely adversely affected by the presence of organophosphate pesticides. The frog researchers cite previous experiments in the same frog species in which gut malformation was produced by organophosphate insecticides malathion and chlorpyrifos, writing that “our results suggest that chemicals used to inhibit AChE esterase function (e.g., organophosphates) also perturb its in vivo morphogenetic [developmental biology] activity; therefore, environmental exposure to such compounds may be an unrecognized risk factor for intestinal malformations.”

The Ecuador study, the work on non-classical AChE processes, and the human developmental evidence, all indicate that the trend away from organophosphate use is not moving fast enough. It is worth remembering that the toxicity of organophosphates was known almost as soon as they were developed. Chemist Gerhard Schrader, PhD, is known as the “father of modern organophosphate insecticide toxicology,” having discovered from personal experience the neurological effects of an early organophosphate while working for the German chemical giant I.G. Farben in the 1930s. He went on to synthesize thousands of the compounds. During World War II, Dr. Schrader and other German scientists developed the branch of organophosphate synthesis leading to chemical weapons, including sarin gas.

By comparison, the insecticidal uses they also worked on have been considered more benign despite the clear evidence that emerged right after World War II of severe organophosphate toxicity to not only insects but mammals as well—as Dr. Schrader could easily have concluded when inhaling and tasting the first organophosphate, tetraetylpyrophosphate, which caused “a marked pressure…in the larynx combined with breathlessness…mild disturbances of consciousness, and painful hypersensitivity of the eyes to light.” That it was AChE causing these disruptions has been known for more than 75 years, having been reported in work on parathion in 1949.

In fact, organophosphates are simply so deeply and widely toxic to the biosphere that health and environmental advocates have called for their removal from the global market without delay. The move toward organic, regenerative agriculture is the most direct way to reduce everyone’s exposure to these terrible chemicals.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Sources:

Acetylcholinesterase activity from childhood to young adulthood
Suarez et al
Journal of Exposure Science & Env Epidemiology 2026
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-026-00866-7

Advances in acetylcholinesterase-based biosensing technologies for organophosphorus pesticide detection: A comprehensive review (2020–2024)
Zhang et al
Food Chemistry 2025
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030881462504021X?via%3Dihub

Organophosphate Pesticide Drift from Agricultural Fields Elevates Risk for Pregnant Farmworkers
Beyond Pesticides, October 28, 2025
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2025/10/organophosphate-pesticide-drift-from-agricultural-fields-elevates-risk-for-pregnant-farmworkers/

Organophosphate (OP) Pesticides in Agricultural Area Residents’ Urine Year Round
Beyond Pesticides, April 28, 2023
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2023/04/organophosphate-op-pesticides-in-agricultural-area-residents-urine-year-round/

Pesticide Exposure Again Linked to Neurotoxic Effects in Humans and Wildlife in Comprehensive Review
Beyond Pesticides, March 12, 2026
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2026/03/pesticide-exposure-again-linked-to-neurotoxic-effects-in-humans-and-wildlife-in-comprehensive-review/

Beyond Pesticides
Organophosphate Archives
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/category/chemicals/organophosphate/

(Beyond Pesticides, May 7, 2026) Adding to the wide body of science on pesticide-induced cancer, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Department of Environmental Medicine find that environmental and occupational exposures increase the risk of developing multiple myeloma (MM), a type of blood cancer. As published in Blood Reviews, the literature review highlights how exposure to contaminants, such as pesticides, dioxins, combustion byproducts, and ambient air pollution, can cause MM through mechanisms of oxidative stress, DNA damage, and aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling, as well as influence disease biology through immune dysregulation.

“Earlier epidemiologic studies suggested associations between environmental exposures and disease risk, but few have used modern geospatial or exposomic [totality of environmental exposure relating to health effects] methods capable of capturing exposure complexity,” the authors write. They continue: “Advances in data integration, spatial modeling, and molecular profiling now make it possible to revisit these questions with greater precision and biological context. This review summarizes current evidence on environmental exposures in plasma cell disorders and frames a research agenda for integrating exposomic data to improve exposure resolution and evaluate plausible mechanisms in MM.”

Background

Multiple myeloma is an incurable plasma cell cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2026 about “36,000 new cases will be diagnosed (20,150 in men and 15,850 in women)” and approximately “10,850 deaths are expected to occur (5,780 in men and 5,070 in women).” As the second most common hematologic cancer in the U.S., understanding the drivers of MM is important. The precursor states of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering myeloma (SMM) also “arise from a complex interplay of genetic, immunologic, and environmental factors” that need to be considered.

In Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, research from 2009 was the first to show an association between pesticide exposure and an excess prevalence of MGUS. The study involving 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a U.S. Agricultural Health Study of over 50,000 farmers, finds that exposure to certain pesticides doubles one’s risk of developing an abnormal blood condition (MGUS) as compared with individuals in the general population. The researchers also evaluate the potential association between MGUS prevalence and 50 specific pesticides for which usage data were known. Of the chemicals studied, a significantly increased risk of MGUS is observed among users of dieldrin (an insecticide), carbon-tetrachloride/carbon disulfide (a fumigant mixture), and chlorothalonil (a fungicide). The MGUS risk for these agents increases 5.6-fold, 3.9-fold, and 2.4-fold, respectively. (See more here.)

In previous Daily News, research in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives finds that long-term exposure to the insecticide permethrin and legacy organochlorine insecticides (aldrin, dieldrin, and lindane) increase the risk of developing MGUS, a blood disease that precedes multiple myeloma, with disproportionate risks to farmers and farmworkers. This study highlights the importance of understanding how pesticide use can increase the risk of latent diseases, which do not readily develop upon initial exposure. As the researchers state, “Our findings provide important insights regarding exposures to specific pesticides that may contribute to the excess of MM among farmers… [T]he continued widespread residential and other use of permethrin and environmental exposure to organochlorine insecticides due to legacy contamination…could have important public health implications for exposed individuals in the general population.”

Another study published in Environment International finds higher rates of various cancers among agricultural workers, with multiple myeloma and melanoma (skin cancer) disproportionately impacting female farmers. Although research studies link cancer risk to genetic and external factors (e.g., cigarette smoke), there are increasing reports and scientific studies that pesticide exposure augments the risk of developing increasingly common cancers like melanoma and less common cancers like multiple myeloma. The study finds a total of 23,188 cancer cases in which melanoma of the skin and multiple myeloma instances are higher among women compared to the general population. In addition, the study finds elevated rates of prostate cancer among men compared to the general population. (See Daily News here.)

Literature Review Findings

In the current study, scientific literature was identified that evaluates environmental or contextual exposures in relation to MM, SMM, and/or MGUS. As a result, the authors find that the most consistently implicated exposures include dioxins, particularly 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). TCDD is a component of Agent Orange, an herbicide used during the Vietnam War that is classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). (See here and here for additional coverage on Agent Orange and military exposure.) Dioxins are also found as contaminants in the wood preservative pentachlorophenol used on utility poles, railroad ties, and pilings.

One study of a U.S. veteran MGUS cohort finds high TCDD exposure predicted faster progression to MM while a meta-analysis of TCDD and cancer mortality also shows increased MM risk. “Although TCDD has been banned in the United States for decades [as a result of the banning of 2,4,5-T], dioxins persist in the environment and are still emitted from industrial combustion, waste incineration, and related processes,” the authors point out. They continue, “Low-level exposure is widespread, primarily through the food chain via bio-accumulation in animal fats.”

Research on occupational exposure for agricultural workers documents that pesticide exposure is associated with higher risk of MM. One study shows that pesticide exposure for ten years or more is linked to increased MM risk, while another Canadian population-based study of lifetime uses of carbamates, phenoxy herbicides, and multiple organochlorines is associated with elevated MM odds, particularly with carbaryl and captan exposure. “The North American Pooled Project reinforced these findings, reporting increased MM risk with use of carbaryl, captan, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), with clear dose–response relationships for cumulative exposure,” the researchers state.

The persistence and ongoing threats from legacy chemicals no longer actively in use, such as DDT, shows that the health and environmental risks of pesticides is a complex issue that does not end when individual chemicals are banned. These compounds adversely impact soil, sediments, and food chains longer after use, bioaccumulating throughout the food web and impacting future generations. (See more here.) In summary, the authors state, “Together, these observations raise the possibility that environmental exposures may influence MM not only through direct cellular damage, but also through hematopoietic clonal selection and marrow microenvironmental changes.”

Previous Research

Additional scientific literature connects pesticide exposure to cancer incidence through mechanisms of oxidative stress and DNA damage. In a research article in Environmental Sciences Europe last year regarding the weed killer glyphosate, a researcher finds that the chemical persists in bones before reentering the bloodstream. The mechanisms in which this herbicide interacts with important cells for development, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and breaks and rearranges DNA offers an explanation for the heightened risk of cancer, specifically blood cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), myeloma, and leukemia. This review focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which exposure to glyphosate contributes to the risk of hematopoietic cancers based on the current scientific literature. In identifying glyphosate as a genotoxic threat that lingers in bones, the study’s author, Charles Benbrook, PhD, is able to connect the compound with heightened blood cancer risks. (See Daily News here.)

A literature review of studies published between 2011 to 2020, as analyzed by the Federal University of Goias, Brazil, finds occupational exposure to agricultural pesticides increases the risk for 45 different types of cancer, with multiple myeloma, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and prostate cancer as the most prevalent forms of cancer. This study highlights the significant role that long-term research plays in identifying potential health concerns surrounding registered pesticides. (See Daily News here.)

More recent research, as shared in an article in The New Lede, entitled Seeking answers to a cancer crisis in Iowa, researchers question if agriculture is to blame, documents case studies of cancer diagnoses linked to chemical-intensive agriculture. The New Lede article captures the experiences of individuals in Iowa on “the rising rates of cancer plaguing the state,” with a call for an investigation of “potential environmental causes for what some call a cancer ‘crisis.’” Through both personal stories of cancer patients with no other known risk factors aside from agricultural exposure, as well as comments from community members a listening session held in Indianola, Iowa, the article highlights not only the pervasiveness of cancer but the heightened risks of living in areas heavily farmed with toxic chemicals. (See more here.)

Moving Forward

With cancer as one of the leading causes of death across the globe, studies associating pesticide exposure with cancer offer insight into the underlying mechanisms that cause the disease. It is essential to recognize the health implications of pesticide use and exposure on humans, particularly if pesticides increase chronic disease risk. Thus, Beyond Pesticides tracks the most recent news and studies related to pesticides through the Daily News Blog and Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database (PIDD). This database supports the clear need for strategic action to shift away from pesticide dependency.

One way to reduce human and environmental contamination from pesticides is buying, growing, and supporting organic. Numerous studies find that levels of pesticide metabolites within the human body are lower after switching to an all-organic diet. For more information on how organic is the right choice for consumers, see Health Benefits of Organic Agriculture. Take action: >> Ask the U.S. Senate to hold the line and reject the House Farm Bill, pass a clean bill that extends the current law, and regroup to build a sustainable agricultural sector that respects farmers, farmworkers, consumers, and the environment.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

del Rosal, M. et al. (2026) Environmental exposures and multiple myeloma risk: A contemporary review of epidemiologic associations and mechanistic plausibility, Blood Reviews. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268960X26000317.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 6, 2026) Adding to the wide body of science highlighting the adverse effects of pesticides on pollinators, as extensively documented in Daily News and What the Science Shows on Biodiversity, a study published in Insects finds threats to Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) following exposure to insecticides with contrasting toxicity levels. Both the high toxicity and low toxicity compounds impact honey bee gut bacteria and gut microbial composition, showing how even “reduced risk” insecticides can have sublethal effects and jeopardize pollinator health.

As the authors point out, “Honey bees depend on a small but highly specialized community of gut bacteria that help them digest food, resist infections, and cope with environmental stress.” Because of this, chemicals that disrupt the honey bee gut microbiome can threaten their survival. In the current study, the researchers analyze two compounds to determine adverse impacts on honey bees’ gut microbiota: emamectin benzoate-lufenuron (EB-LFR), an avermectin insecticide with high toxicity, and RH-5849 (1,2-dibenzoyl-1-tert-butylhydrazine), a non-steroidal ecdysone agonist (mimicking the action of the insect molting hormone) and insect growth regulator with reported lower toxicity.

The results reveal that both toxicity levels can harm gut microbial composition, with EB-LFR “associated with observed reductions in beneficial bacteria and the detection of opportunistic microbes” and RH-5849 “associated with a broader depletion of beneficial taxa.” This indicates that all insecticides, even those considered “reduced risk,” can impact honey bee health and further contribute to the already devastating population declines of pollinators. (See more on the “insect apocalypse” here.)

“[E]ven when acute mortality is limited, alterations in gut microbiota composition may contribute to reduced colony resilience over time,” the researchers note. The classification of RH-5849 as having low toxicity or “reduced risk” in the regulatory environment is solely based on acute toxicity, which does not take into account chronic and low-level exposure that can lead to destabilizing effects, including those addressed in this study.

Background

Honey bees provide essential ecosystem services with pollination in both natural and agricultural ecosystems, which support global food security and overall biodiversity. Despite their importance, many environmental contaminants, namely pesticides, threaten pollinator populations. “In the United States, managed colonies decreased from six million in 1947 to 2.5 million in 2022, with annual losses averaging 30%,” the study authors share. They continue: “Similar declines are reported in Asia, where the distribution of the Eastern honey bee (A. cerana cerana) has contracted by 60% due to habitat degradation and biological invasions. These losses arise from multiple interacting stressors, including parasites, pathogens, nutritional deficits, climate change, and pesticide exposure.”

As the honey bee gut microbiome relies on a highly specialized community of bacteria, disruptions to gut microbiota can have devastating effects on honey bee health. “This community exhibits functional resilience under moderate environmental stress, but severe perturbations can disrupt colonization dynamics, metabolic interactions, and immune signaling,” the researchers note. Research shows that pesticide exposure is a major driver of dysbiosis in honey bees and other organisms, highlighting the microbial imbalance and reduction in beneficial microorganisms that can occur with exposure to environmental contaminants.

Methodology and Results

To address previous knowledge gaps for acute toxicity and gut microbiota responses in bees for exposure to insecticides with contrasting toxicity profiles, the study authors subject honey bees to EB-LFR and RH-5849 and analyze microbiota composition 24 hours and 48 hours after oral and contact exposure. Higher mortality occurred throughout the 48 hours in many of the bees with higher doses of contact exposure as compared to oral exposure, indicating delayed toxic effects. Both exposure methods reveal gut microbiota response patterns in honey bees, but differ in the types of bacteria that are impacted.

In describing the results, the authors state: “EB-LFR, a highly toxic formulation, was associated with reductions in core symbionts and the detection of opportunistic taxa, whereas RH-5849, a low-toxicity ecdysone agonist, was associated with a broader reduction in beneficial bacteria… These observations are consistent with previous work showing that pesticide chemistry and mode of action can influence microbial homeostasis in bees, and they highlight the importance of considering sublethal microbial responses alongside mortality in pesticide risk assessment.”

These changes in the gut microbiome of honey bees can impact colony-level health. Once the gut microbiota composition changes from the delicate balance needed for processing nutrients, detoxification, and immune functioning, honey bee survival is threatened. This imbalance can also leave organisms more susceptible to other diseases and impact foraging efficiency.

Previous Research

In Daily News, Variability in Effect of Pesticides on Bumblebee Survival Tied to Gut Microbiome Health, research shows that different species of bees can have variation in their sensitivity to pesticide exposure, as shown with changes in their gut microbes. These varying levels are important to understand, as pesticides can severely threaten certain organisms while being considered safe in risk assessments. (See Study of Pesticide Risk in Wild Bee Species Highlights EPA Risk Assessment Inadequacies for more information.)

Additional peer-reviewed science connects pesticides, particularly neonicotinoid insecticides, to adverse effects on pollinator health. One study of ecotoxicity risk from neonicotinoid insecticides, published in Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, finds that chemicals in this class of pesticides increase the body temperature of honey bees and subsequently accelerate the translocation (movement) of contaminants into hives. (See Daily News here.) Another study of chronic toxicity of the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam to honey bees, published in Insects, finds sublethal effects that threaten the survival of bee larvae and the health of bee colonies. (See here.)

Beyond Pesticides continues to cover the regulatory deficiencies involving neonicotinoids and other pesticides, as evidenced in previous Daily News Study Cites Ban of Bee-Killing Pesticides in EU, Inaction in U.S. and Canada. This reviews the varied agricultural neonicotinoid insecticide regulation approaches regarding bans and exemption-based restrictions in the European Union, Canada, and the United States. Despite an ever-growing and overwhelming body of science linking neonicotinoids to adverse effects on pollinators and other nontarget species, all regulations fall short in protecting the environment and wildlife, further supporting the urgent need for a full transition to organic agriculture and land management practices that remove neonicotinoid exposure routes and subsequent health threats.

Support the Organic Solution

The tenuous balance seen in nature, with proper ecosystem functioning, relies on rich biodiversity. Insects, such as honey bees, are invaluable for pollination, which many plants depend on for survival and reproduction, including those in food production. The role of pollinators in global crop yields and biodiversity in natural ecosystems, however, is gravely threatened by environmental contaminants, as documented in the current study and a plethora of other scientific literature.

As a solution, organically managed systems can help protect and support pollinator populations. One study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, builds on the breadth of existing research in recent years that underscores the adverse public health and biodiversity effects associated with a food system that is drenched in synthetic chemicals, as well as additional evidence of the ecological and economic benefits of organic agriculture. In investigating the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes in organic and non-organic areas in “bee hotels,” the researchers find that there is a positive correlation between organically managed fields and numerous indicators of improved pollinator health, including an increase in bee abundance, species richness, and diversity. (See Daily News here.)

For more information on the direct impacts of organic practices on pollinators, see Study Adds to Wide Body of Science Highlighting Benefits of Organic for Insect Biodiversity. Additional health and environmental benefits are available here and here. Take action to advance organic programs both locally, such as with the Parks for a Sustainable Future program, and across the U.S., or even right in your own backyard. Learn how to implement non-toxic lawns and landscapes and Spring Into Action!

Tell your U.S. Representative and Senators to become a cosponsor of the Opportunities in Organic Act (S. 3717/H.R. 7318). The Opportunities in Organic Act will: 

• Modernize and expand Organic Certification Cost Share, covering up to $1,500 per operation per scope, with flexibility to exceed that cap for socially disadvantaged producers or regions with higher certification costs;  

• Invest in organic transition and resilience, including funding for nonprofits to provide hands-on support, pass-through assistance to farmers, and help offset income losses during transition;  

• Strengthen organic supply chains, including processing, storage, distribution, and market access—especially in underserved regions;  

• Expand technical assistance and education, through USDA agencies, extension, universities, Tribes, and nonprofit partners, ensuring farmers nationwide can access organic expertise; and  

• Provide $50 million in annual funding initially, with an increase to $100 million in 2030-2031.

You can also join Beyond Pesticides as a member, where you add your voice to the urgent movement to eliminate fossil fuel-based pesticide use within the next 10 years, help put a stop to toxic emissions and exposure, and advocate for public health and the environment. Help us continue to raise the alarm about the climate crisis, biodiversity decline, and health challenges, and promote the solution: organic agriculture and land management. Join today to be part of the organic movement!

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source:

Kan, Y. et al. (2026) Contrasting Toxicity Classes Differentially Affect Gut Microbiota Composition in Honey Bees, Insects. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/17/4/437.

(Beyond Pesticides, May 5, 2026) In a literature review of peer-reviewed research published in Cambridge University publication Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, researchers at Institute for Applied Agriculture Research (Germany) and Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems (Arizona State University, USA) determine that organically managed systems have better performance indicators under climate-induced stressors, emit less nitrous oxide emissions, increase overall soil organic carbon, and reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The researchers also point out the potential socio-ecological benefits of organic management systems, including their potential for building local and regional food systems.

On the eve of the Spring National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting in the United States, advocates continue to call for a wholesale transition to organic and for the immediate appointment of five Board members, who the U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to seat to fill vacancies, representing farmers, consumers, and an organic certifier.

Main Findings

This literature review is a follow-up to a 2010 literature review that evaluates the climate mitigation and adaptation potential of organic agriculture based on new science from 2010 to 2025. The research is derived from meta-analyses, peer-reviewed studies, and global reports published by sources such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO). Findings include metrics on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil carbon sequestration, energy use, and yields, among others, pertaining to climate resilience.

Climate Mitigation Findings

• Organically managed systems reduce indirect CO2 emissions largely due to the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers. (See cited studies here and here.)
• Organic agriculture increases soil organic matter, offering potential long-term offsets for agricultural emissions more broadly. (See cited studies here and here.)
• There are lower N₂O emissions per hectare. (See cited study here.)
• There are potential reductions in methane emissions in livestock systems due to grazing and composting. (See cited studies here and here.)
• Total GHG emissions are lower in organic versus conventional systems due to reduced agrichemical inputs and gains in soil carbon. (See cited studies here and here.)

Climate Adaptation Findings

• Organic systems improve soil fertility due to higher organic matter, which in turn supports soil structure and water retention capacity, critical under drought conditions and climate variability. (See cited studies here and here.)
• Under harsher conditions, organic systems show more stable yields compared to conventional systems. (See cited studies here and here.)
• Organic systems have been found to emphasize local seed breeds and genetic diversity, lending to climate adaptation potential relative to the chemical-intensive status quo. (See cited studies here, here, and here.)

System-Level Assessment Findings

• Organic farming alone does not guarantee climate-neutral agricultural systems, with broader transformation necessary along the lines of incentivizing integrated crop-livestock, landscape diversification and integration (agroforestry), and on-site crop diversification, among other interventions.
• A transition to plant-based diets with organically managed systems is essential, according to the researchers, in terms of GHG emissions and competing demands for land and resource use. (See cited studies here, here, and here.)
• Organically managed food systems associated with local supply chains and lower consumption of meat combine to ensure more sustainable consumption patterns. (See cited studies here, here, and here.)
• From a behavioral change standpoint, organic systems encourage an environmental ethic and strengthen cooperatives (considering many organic farmers organize in associations across the globe and the U.S.), ultimately enhancing knowledge-sharing among agricultural stakeholders. (See cited studies here and here.)

Previous Coverage

The preponderance of scientific evidence, not to mention the various field trials led by farmers themselves, demonstrates that the organic transition is necessary for ensuring climate-resilient and smart agriculture without greenwashed solutions. (See Daily News here and here for examples of greenwashing.) This is in addition to increasing findings on the synergistic nature of the climate and pesticide contamination crises.

To better understand synergistic interactions between multiple stressors, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, analyze exposure to the pyrethroid insecticide esfenvalerate with two nonchemical environmental factors: elevated temperature and food limitation. In their recent publication in Environmental Pollution, the authors find the greatest synergistic effects when Daphnia magna (D. magna) are subjected to esfenvalerate under conditions experienced with climate change, including lower food availability and increased temperature. D. magna, also known as daphnids or water fleas, are small planktonic crustaceans that represent an essential part of the food web in lakes and ponds. Impacts on populations of daphnids can lead to effects throughout multiple trophic levels that impact overall biodiversity. As the researchers state, “Global biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate in response to multiple environmental stressors… A key challenge is understanding synergistic interactions between multiple stressors and predicting their combined effects.” (See Daily News here.)

The climate crisis exacerbates pollution in communities. One recent example includes the destructive impact of Hurricane Milton, a climate-change-fueled extreme weather event that slammed into Florida in early October 2024 and led to the temporary closure of all phosphate mining facilities, integral to petrochemical fertilizer production, in the state after reported wastewater spillage, according to reporting by Tampa Bay Times. The Mosaic Company, the largest phosphate mining company in Florida, reported at least 17,500 gallons of wastewater from one of its processing plants leaked into Tampa Bay (“The Bay”), according to a company press release at the time. An analysis by Environment Florida Research & Policy Center found that the state environmental agency conservatively estimated that at least 91.65 million gallons of contaminated waterways and communities. Most of the pollution reports identify raw/partially treated sewage sludge (which has been found to include PFAS contamination), citing additional overflows from sources including a coal ash pond, ammonia, and phosphate mining wastewater. (See Daily News here.) For additional related coverage, please see here.

Another wrinkle to consider is the impact of Arctic ice melting induced by the climate crisis and the potential for additional toxic chemical and pesticide pollution. A study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment warns that thawing of permafrost (a ground that remains completely frozen for two or more years) in the Arctic region can prompt the reemergence of greenhouse gases (e.g., methane and carbon dioxide), microbes, and chemicals (e.g., banned pesticides like DDT). Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including banned and current-use pesticides, are present in snow and ice on top of Arctic glaciers, according to a study published in Environmental Science & Technology.  Included are seven industrial chemicals, which include hexachlorobutadiene, 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorobenzene, 1,2,4,5-T4CB, pentachlorobenzene, pentachloroanisole, 3,4,5,6-tetrachlorodimethoxybenene, and pesticides include heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide B, aldrin, α-and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), chlorpyrifos, trans- and cis-chlordane, 4,4′-DDE, dieldrin, dacthal (DCPA), trans-nonachlor, and α-endosulfan. Chlorpyrifos, dieldrin, and trans-chlordane dominate most Arctic areas, accounting for at least 50% of the total pesticide concentrations at each sample site. (See Daily News here. (See Daily News here.) For additional coverage, please see here.

In terms of water systems, a study of the effects of flooding on aquatic-terrestrial pesticide transfer, published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, finds heightened risks to riparian zone ecosystems as flooding frequency continues to increase with climate change. Riparian buffers, recognized as biodiversity hotspots, “are increasingly subjected to various stressors, including chemical contaminants such as pesticides,” the authors state. As transportation of toxic compounds can occur not only through surface runoff but also through flooding events, the frequency and duration of floods can greatly impact the cumulative effects of pesticides on soil health and organisms within ecosystems. (See Daily News here.) This builds on the findings of a previous study, published through the American Chemical Society, which analyzes pesticide contamination in riparian soil and plants as a result of flooding from streams in Germany.   “[O]ur study provides evidence from the field that nontarget plant species typical for riparian stream sites receive considerable pesticide exposure via flooding events,” the authors state. This exposure, and subsequent bioaccumulation in plants, threatens the food web, as many riparian plants are a vital food source for insects. (See Daily News here.)

The research on soil systems is also detailed. Through a literature review and data analysis of almost 2,000 soil samples, the authors of a recent study find negative effects on the presence of plant-beneficial bacteria (PBB) in soil with pesticide exposure, particularly bacteria with plant growth-promoting traits that are essential for crop productivity. The study, published in Nature Communications, by researchers at China’s Shaoxing University and Zhejiang University of Technology, adds to scientific literature documenting the effects of pesticides on soil health. (See Daily News here.) For additional coverage, please see here.

In the midst of a climate crisis and a lack of government recording of atmospheric measurements of sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂), a study of the estimated emissions of sulfuryl fluoride throughout the U.S. shows elevated levels being released in California. The study, performed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, University of California’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Global Monitoring Laboratory, uses measurements from the NOAA Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network and a geostatistical inverse model.  Sulfuryl fluoride is a fluoride compound and pesticide used primarily for the extermination of drywood termites and beetles—linked to increased greenhouse gas emissions and having acute exposure consequences—with little data collected or reported on the amount of sulfuryl fluoride being used and released into the atmosphere. (See Daily News here.)

Pesticide dependency and climate change exacerbate biodiversity breakdown. In the book, Biological Control Systems and Climate Change, published this month, Danilo Russo, PhD—a speaker during the first session of our 42nd National Forum, The Pesticide Threat to Environmental Health: Advancing Holistic Solutions Aligned with Nature—and other researchers add to the existing literature on the climate change threat to ecosystem services. Dr. Russo’s chapter, entitled “Impact of Climate Change on Bats Involved in Biological Control,” explains one of the lost benefits of ecological balance attributable to the climate crisis. As explained in the book: “In conservation biological control, habitats surrounding and within crops are managed to favour an increase in natural enemy populations while suppressing pest populations. These agroecological systems can be complex, and are affected by climate change.” The ability of climate change to influence the effectiveness of biological control systems is explored, showing the “effects on the large diversity of macro- and microorganisms involved in biocontrol, and the possible increase or decrease in pest outbreaks following changes in characteristics (morphology, physiology, behaviour….), distribution or phenology.” (See Daily News here.) A study published in Global Change Biology adds to research demonstrating that climate change can exacerbate the adverse impacts of pesticide exposure on managed and wild bees. Temperature can alter the sublethal effects of pesticides, particularly the neonicotinoid (neonic) imidacloprid and the sulfoximine sulfoxaflor, on bumble bee behavior tied to fitness and pollination services. Both an increase and a decrease in temperature can cause diverging thermal responses in bumblebee behavior. However, increasing temperature bears more severe behavioral abnormalities than cooler temperatures. (See Daily News here.) For additional analysis on the linkages between insect and pollinator die-offs, climate change, biodiversity, and pesticide impacts, please see here, here, and here.

When it comes to organically managed systems, emerging evidence continues to pile up in terms of their competitive edge over the chemical-intensive status quo on various climate resilience metrics. For example, a study published in European Journal of Agronomy, based on a 16-year, long-term experiment (LTE), finds that organic crops (cotton production with wheat and soybean rotations) in tropical climates are competitive with chemical-intensive (conventional) systems when evaluating systems’ resilience (to weather and insect resistance), input costs, and profitability. One of the underlying assumptions of continuous pesticide use is that the chemicals will continue to serve as effective weapons in the never-ending war against insects, weeds, and fungal diseases that threaten the economic viability and sustainability of the farming operations. While organic systems faced reduced yields due to pest pressures from pink bollworm infestations, their relative productivity decline was much smaller than that of the chemical-intensive operations. This study’s findings indicate that a different direction is not only possible, but necessary, for the long-term financial viability of farms. Farmers understand that the health of the soil is a compounding investment that will help or hurt you depending on the actions taken yesterday, today, and tomorrow. (See Daily News here.) A comprehensive study released in Journal of Cleaner Production in August 2023 identifies the potential for organic agriculture to mitigate the impacts of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the fight to address the climate crisis. In “The spatial distribution of agricultural emissions in the United States: The role of organic farming in mitigating climate change,” the authors determine that “a one percent increase in total farmland results in a 0.13 percent increase in GHG emissions, while a one percent increase in organic cropland and pasture leads to a decrease in emissions by about 0.06 percent and 0.007 percent, respectively.” (See Daily News here.)

A study published in Scientific Reports highlights the benefits of organic agriculture in comparison to different farming systems over five years on four crops (maize, tomato, faba bean, and potato). “Soil carbon sequestration is a long-time storage of carbon in soil which represents 70% of the carbon in land,” the authors note. “Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the agricultural practice systems on the soil carbon sequestration and properties, productivity, water consumption, soil carbon sequestration, CO₂ emission and cost of some agricultural crops.” As a result, the experiment reveals that, compared to chemical-intensive farming, organic methods enhance soil properties, reduce water consumption, provide higher yields and higher soil carbon sequestration, reduce CO2 emissions, and achieve the highest total net profit for all four crops after five years. (See Daily News here.)

The benefits of organic agriculture will also ensure that consumers can continue to enjoy popular products as the impacts of the climate crisis deepen. For example, organic banana production is significantly more conducive to microbial decomposition than its chemical-intensive counterparts in the Caribbean nation of Martinique, according to a recent study published in Applied Soil Ecology. “Macrofaunal decomposition was increased more (55%) than microbial decomposition (20%), indicating that organic farming removes a constraint of conventional farming, especially affecting macrofauna.” Biological activity in the soil is foundational to organic land management and critical to the cycling of nutrients that feed plant life while contributing to resiliency and soil water retention. (See Daily News here.) Additionally, In the Journal of Environmental Quality, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that a 4-year organically managed corn-soybean-oat system reduces nitrogen (N) loads by 50 percent with corn and soybean yields “equivalent to or higher than conventional [chemical-intensive] in most years.” The findings from a 7-year study comparing nitrate loss in organic and chemical-intensive management found that organically managed perennial pasture reduced nitrogen loads significantly. The study, which focused on nitrate pollution in agriculture that harms biodiversity, threatens waterways, drinking water, and public health, and releases nitrous oxide (an extremely potent greenhouse gas), was conducted at USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment. (See Daily News here.)

Call to Action

For additional background and analysis on the intersection of the climate, agrichemical, and fossil fuel dependency crises, see here for a review of a poignant article published in 2024 by Tracey Woodruff, PhD, author and professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

The Spring 2026 National Organic Standards Board meeting will be held in Omaha, NE, and virtually, May 12-14, 2026. As part of this process, the public is invited to submit written comments and/or provide oral comments on the Spring 2026 meeting issues. Please see the Action of the Week, Organic Must Lead the Way, with suggested comments on priority issues to copy/paste into Regulations.gov; also featured in the Daily News from April 27, 2026, “Organic Standards Open to Comment; USDA Defies Congressional Mandate to Fill Organic Board Vacancies.” The deadline to submit written comments is 11:59 pm ET on Monday, May 4, 2026. Please get them in as early as possible! More information is also available in the  Keeping Organic Strong resource hub.

You can also contact your members of Congress to ask them to become a cosponsor of the Opportunities in Organic Act, which provides a significant opportunity to reduce barriers to organic farming, strengthen organic supply chains, and ensure that farmers have the support they need to transition to and remain in organic production to meet the growing demand for organic food and grow the sector. Importantly, the bill will provide an opportunity for partners to continue the transition support and technical assistance models that are proving effective through USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which ends in 2026. 

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems