Archive for the 'Agriculture' Category
03
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 3, 2025) As highlighted by Beyond Pesticides in recent comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chlorpyrifos (CPF) has been under scrutiny for decades due to associated adverse health effects, noted particularly in the extensive and consistent scientific evidence of neurotoxic dangers to childrenâs health. The latest research on CPF, published in Environmental Toxicology and Genes & Diseases, reveals additional threats to the immune system and male reproduction that are not captured in current EPA risk assessments of chlorpyrifos and raises serious health questions, given that residues are found throughout the food supply. CPF, a widely used organophosphate insecticide in agriculture, is a cholinesterase inhibitor that binds irreversibly to the active site of an essential enzyme for normal nerve impulse transmission, acetylcholine esterase (AChE), inactivating the enzyme. Many insecticides, including organophosphates and carbamates, target AChE, causing them to be highly toxic to both insects and mammals that have this enzyme as a crucial part of their nervous systems. The history of chlorpyrifos exemplifies the failure of pesticide law and policy, as this chemical, among many others, not only has direct adverse health effects but is contributing to the climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, and disproportionate levels of […]
Posted in Agriculture, Cancer, Chlorpyrifos, Developmental Disorders, DNA Damage, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Immunotoxicity, Infertility, men's health, Oxidative Stress, Reproductive Health | No Comments »
28
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 28, 2025) The Rhine Valley in southwestern Germany is renowned for the agricultural bounty it has provided for centuries. Today, the area is home to dense wine, vegetable, fruit, and cereal cultivation. However, a study shows that current regulation of pesticides, even in the relatively progressive European Union, is inadequate to protect humans and all the other organisms that produce the environment necessary for human life and civilization. The study goal was to determine how farâand whichâpesticides traveled beyond the croplands of vegetables, fruit orchards, and cereals, as well forested lands, into nontarget areas that should serve as refugia for plants, animals, and invertebrates not considered pests. Based at the Landau Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, the researchers used innovative methods to measure the types, concentrations, and distribution of pesticides. They took samples from three landscape categoriesâvegetation, topsoil, and surface waterâat 78 sites distributed along six transects, each reaching from the valley floor to the tops of the mountains on either side. Samples were taken from grasses, shrub leaves, and topsoils along each transect, together with water samples from rivers, small streams, ponds, and puddles. They tested for 93 current-use pesticides (CUPs). There […]
Posted in Agriculture, boscalid, Chemical Mixtures, Clothianidin, cyflufenamid, Drift, European Union, fluopyram, Fungicides, Germany, Imidacloprid, International, metazachlor, pirimicarb, pyraclostrobin, spiroxamine, tebufenozide, thiacloprid, Uncategorized | No Comments »
21
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 21, 2025) Sin maĂz, no hay paĂs â âWithout corn, there is no countryâ (Mexican saying) In the face of U.S. efforts to require Mexico, under a trade agreement, to import genetically engineered corn, last week the Mexican legislature approved a constitutional amendment identifying native corn as âan element of national identityâ and banning the planting of GE seeds. This brings to a head a clash over issues of food sovereignty and security, genetic integrity, health protection, and environmental safety. In 2020, the Mexican government committed to phasing out the importation of genetically engineered (GE) corn by 2024. Mexico had also planned to ban by April 1, 2025, the weed killer glyphosate, integral to GE corn productionâbut recently delayed its decision. These actions by Mexico triggered vigorous pushback by the U.S., resulting in the formation of a panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to decide which country was in the right. The USMCA, negotiated in 2018 during President Trumpâs first term, replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement. Under USMCA, parties can adopt measures to protect human animal or plant life or health. However, in December 2024, the USMCA panel ruled in favor of the U.S., rejecting […]
Posted in Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, International, Mexico, Mexico, U.S. Trade Representative, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
10
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 10, 2025) Following International Womenâs Day, celebrated on March 8, 2025, the poignant findings on women, gender, and hazardous substances in a United Nations report raise critical issues of concern and cause for urgent action to phase out petrochemicals. The Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, by Marcos Orellana, was delivered to the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in July 2024. Excerpts from the report follow: âWomen make up roughly 60 to 70 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries where pesticides and pesticide handling are especially poorly regulated. In Zambia, for example, two thirds of the labour force is engaged in agriculture, and 78 per cent are women farmers and peasants. Women there play a significant role in pesticide application, often without any or adequate personal protective equipment, especially during activities such as weeding, harvesting, and washing pesticide-laden clothes.â âIn higher-income countries, women who do agricultural work are often poor and/or migrants; pesticides are one of many dimensions of marginalization and damage to their well-being. The European agriculture sector uses many seasonal and […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Endocrine Disruption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farmworkers, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
28
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 28, 2025)Â It is well established that children are more vulnerable than adults to environmental insults such as pesticides, from conception onward. Children living in agricultural areas are exposed differently from those in urban areas. A study of rural children by researchers at Mexicoâs Universidad AtĂłnoma de Nayarit compared two communities located less than a quarter of a mile from agricultural fields with one control community located more than a mile away. The study shows that children in the field-adjacent towns are clearly exposed to pesticides and are experiencing cellular distress as a result. The state of Nayarit is on the west coast of Mexico near Mazatlan. Rural children encounter aerial application, spray drift, and erosion. If their parents are agricultural workers and especially if they apply pesticides, they bring home residues on their clothes. Residential storage of pesticides and small childrenâs propensity to play in the dirt and put things in their mouths exacerbate their exposure. Urban children get hit by pesticides in their homes, schools, and parks. The researchers took blood and urine samples from 431 children aged six to 12 and collected questionnaires as to pesticide exposures from the parents or guardians. They assayed the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Children, Uncategorized | No Comments »
26
Feb
*** Beyond Pesticides has recently received an insulting broadside from an environmental group; click here to read the original email and a response from the organization that includes a deep history of Beyond Pesticidesâ commitment to ecological and organic farming practices in local food systems that are just. (Beyond Pesticides, February 26, 2025) The National Park Service (NPS) recently announced a settlement agreement regarding the management of northern Californiaâs Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) that will result in the closure of 12 out of 14 historic dairy and cattle ranches, including those organically managed, within the park. This decision comes after nearly a decade of legal disputes and negotiations between environmental groups, ranchers, and the NPS, ending 170 years of family ranching, displacing multi-generational farmersâat least 90 farmworker familiesâand abandoning 77 historic ranch buildings. Critics lambast the agreement as devastating local organic agriculture and food production in West Marin County, which is essential for creating long-term climate solutions. Over the decades since PRNSâ inception, local and national environmental groups have litigated against ranchers and the National Park Service, including demanding range expansion for the native tule elk, which were reintroduced to the park by NPS in the 1970s. However, the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, California, Climate, Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Indigenous People, Litigation, Livestock, Regenerative, soil health, Straus, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
25
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 25, 2025) A literature review of over 90 scientific articles in Agriculture documents microplasticsâ (MPs) increase in the bioavailability, persistence, and toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture. The interactions between MPs and pesticides enhance the threat of pesticide exposure to nontarget organisms, perpetuates the cycle of toxic chemical use, and decreases soil health that is vital for productivity. âThe increasing presence of MPs in agricultural ecosystems has raised concerns about their impact on pesticide bioavailability, efficacy, and environmental behavior,â says study author Kuok Ho Daniel Tang, PhD, a global professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. He continues, âThese synthetic particles interact with pesticides through adsorption and desorption processes, altering their distribution, persistence, toxicity, and uptake by plants and other organisms.â Microplastics in the Environment As Beyond Pesticides has previously reported, microplastics are ubiquitous and threaten not only human health but all wildlife in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The universal distribution of plastics means that they cannot be avoided. Humans and other organisms take up plastics in the form of microparticles and nanoparticles by inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact every day. Microplastics are about the width of a human hair; nanoplastics […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Atrazine, Azoxystrobin, Biosolids, Carbendazim, Chlorpyrifos, Imidacloprid, Metolachlor, Myclobutanil, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, neonicotinoids, Oxidative Stress, Persistence, Pesticide Efficacy, Plastic, pyraclostrobin, simazine, soil health, synergistic effects, tebuconazole | 1 Comment »
24
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 24, 2025) The sweeping firing of federal workers, including an estimated 200,000 probationary employees (under one to two years of employment), will have a broad impact on programs to protect health and safety as well as the environment, leaving a critical need for local and state government to fill some of the gaps in critical programs, where possible. A headline in Science magazine warns, âMass firings decimate U.S. science agencies,â and the dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University told Oregon Public Broadcasting, âWeâve lost half of our teams, and all of these up-and-coming young scientists. . .so itâs like weâve lost the next generation of scientists in agriculture and natural resources.â The same applies to important positions across the federal government, affecting every aspect of work necessary to protect public health and biodiversity and address the climate crisis. In response to President Trumpâs executive orders and actions, there has been, as The New York Times reports, ânew lawsuits and fresh rulings emerging day and night,â raising what experts fear may become a constitutional crisis. With the upheaval in the federal government, attention turns to the importance of state and local policies and […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Take Action, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
21
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 21, 2025) The prospects for rational environmental policies in the U.S., including commitments to biodiversity and public health protections, are in disarray as the Trump administration sweeps through the federal government without any evaluation of program importance or effectiveness. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the destruction is likely to derail or reverse reasonable decisions to ban or restrict numerous toxic chemicals and to bury concern for ecosystem-wide harms. On biodiversity, President Trump has killed a major report, the National Nature Assessment, that had been due for completion on February 11. The assessment is part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces the national climate assessment, but it was created by an executive order issued under President Biden rather than by Congress. More than 150 experts, including federal employees and volunteers from academia, nonprofits, and businesses, reviewed the state of the nationâs lands, water, and wildlife. The assessment is a U.S.-specific version of a recent global report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), covered here by Beyond Pesticides. The IPBES details the many steps that can be taken at every level of the problem to preserve the ecosystem services […]
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), International, Uncategorized, United Nations | 2 Comments »
19
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2025) In Global Ecology and Conservation, a study of bat species in organic desert date palm plantations highlights the invaluable ecosystem services these beneficial organisms provide. âBats are crucial in suppressing pest arthropods in agroecosystems, contributing vitally to sustainable agriculture,â the study authors share, which makes supporting bat populations important not just for biodiversity but to help enhance their roles in pest management. Â Â There are various studies connecting organic agriculture and the value it provides for bats and their ecosystem services. (See studies here, here, and here.) While many studies also recognize bat species threatened by pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change, “the importance of bats in agriculture in extreme environments, such as deserts, has received far less attention,â the researchers state. (See previous coverage on pesticide exposure and bats here and here.) They continue, âDate palm plantations represent one of the few productive systems in hyper-arid regions,â noting the studyâs novel design. The date palm, primarily grown throughout the Middle East and North Africa, is one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees. âThe date palm cultivationâs monocultural nature increases susceptibility to pest infestations due to limited plant diversity, involving 112 mite and insect species.â […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Bats, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Pollinators, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
18
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 18, 2025) With petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers linked to the climate crisis and extraordinary threats to health and biodiversity, recent actions by the Trump administration are highlighting the critical importance of local and state action to mitigate the hazards. On this point, the headline of a National Public Radio article published last week says, âTrump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow.â Previously, President Trump as a candidate called climate change a âhoaxâ and has targeted “‘every one’ of President Bidenâs policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels,” according to The New York Times. The Guardian reported last October after Hurricane Helene, âAs the hurricane continued to ravage the region over the weekend, the former president dismissed global warming in a Saturday speech, and the following day referred to the climate crisis as âone of the great scams of all time.â When considering the historic Palisade fires that began in January in southern California, according to The Guardian, John Abatzoglou, a climatologist at the University of California, Merced, said, âClimate change is adding fuel to the fire and it is absolutely outpacing our ability to adapt in certain areas.â With the apparent absence of federal programs to […]
Posted in Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, New York, Uncategorized | No Comments »
13
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 13, 2025) 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 âregenerative agricultureâ that is being widely criticized as undermining the transition of agriculture to certified organic practices that eliminate petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. The call for the urgent and widespread adoption of organic land management is advanced by those who see organic practicesâwith its focus on soil health management, a national list of allowed and prohibited substances, an enforcement system, and a prohibition on genetically engineered seeds and plants, synthetic fertility and biosolidsâas the only way to effectively address the current health, biodiversity, and climate crises. Nonetheless, the Boardâs recommendation, accepted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), loosely defines regenerative agriculture as âan integrated approach to farming and ranching rooted in principles of soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resiliency.â The  15-member SBFA advisory board, appointed by the governor, unanimously finalized a recommendation formally defining âregenerative agriculture,â concluding two yearsâ worth of workgroups and stakeholder engagement. The proposal, addressed to Secretary Karen Ross, fulfills a Board project outlined in Californiaâs Ag Vision for the Next Decade. It […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, California, Cargill, Fertilizer, General Mills, Herbicides, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Organic Foods Production Act OFPA, Organic Trade Association OTA, Patagonia Provisions, Regenerative, soil health, Synthetic Fertilizer, Uncategorized, Wal-Mart | No Comments »
07
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 7, 2025) With the strong associations established in epidemiologic studies and a dearth of evidence on the actual mechanisms by which pesticides inflict their damage on the brain, a new meta-analysis identifies studies that pesticides can overwhelm cellsâ defenses against them, interfere with cell communication in the brain, and disrupt the epigenetic (gene function) regulation of gene expression. In the journal Nucleus, Bilal Ahmad Mir, PhD and colleagues at the University of Kashmir in Srinagar, India, review what is known at the molecular level about pesticidesâ role in brain cancer. Brain cancer is a heavy burden for its victims and their families, and attributing a cause is, as with many diseases, fraught with difficulty. But there are strong clues: For example, farming is a known risk factor. In a 2021 meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies between 1998 and 2019, analyzed here by Beyond Pesticides, farming was associated with a 13% increase in the risk of brain cancer. For farmers whose specific exposure to pesticides was documented in the studies, the increase jumped to 20 percent. So there is some reason to point a finger at synthetic chemicals. But agricultural workers are not the only ones at risk. According […]
Posted in Agriculture, Brain Effects, Cancer, Chlorpyrifos, Epigenetic, organochlorines, organophosphate, Paraquat, Pyrethrin, pyrethroids, Uncategorized | No Comments »
06
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 6, 2025) Months after publishing a June 2024 study regarding concentrations of pesticides discovered in legal (and illegal) cannabis products in California, the Los Angeles Times has released a follow-up exposĂŠ highlighting extensive pesticide contamination, including from âhiddenâ pesticides that regulators have not monitored. The authors conclude that in Californiaâs legal weed market, over half of available smoking products are found to contain hidden chemicalsâtoxic pesticides present in products but not regulated or monitored by state authorities. Since 2015, Beyond Pesticides has laid out health, safety, and environmental concerns related to the contamination of cannabis by pesticides (and fertilizers) alongside an imperative need to mandate an organic systems approach to cannabis production. Yet ten years later, it appears nationally that California state regulators are alone in moving forward in 2021 with state organic cannabis certification. There are other marketplace-based cannabis certification labels that require comparable organic certification practices (see Beyond Pesticides reporting here and here). For more information, please see past Pesticides and You reporting here and here. The Los Angeles Times analyzed the results from state licensed laboratory testing of more than 370 legal cannabis products, representing 86 brands. In addition to the 66 chemicals required […]
Posted in Acephate, Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Bifenthrin, California, Cannabis, chlorfenapyr, contamination, Fungicides, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, organophosphate, Pesticide Regulation, pymetrozine, trifloxystrobin, Uncategorized | No Comments »
29
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2025) A team of researchers recently discovered the benefits of using natural biofertilizers and biostimulants in the production of tomatoes, the results of a two-year study featured in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. When the researchers added a biofertilizer consisting of fungi and bacteria, and/or a biostimulant made of algae, the tomato plants grew bigger, faster, and produced significantly more (and sweeter) fruit than plants that received neither treatment. This research, published in August 2024, adds to a growing body of evidence that non-synthetic, natural fertilizer alternatives can support a global transition away from the toxic chemical treadmill of modern commercial farming. [A note about the definition of plant biostimulants. They are substances or microorganisms that enhance natural plant processes, improving resource efficiency, stress tolerance, and overall growth without directly providing nutrients or controlling pests. There is ongoing confusion regarding a lack of a set definition, as some biostimulants overlap in function with fertilizers or biocontrol agents. The definition of biofertilizersâalso referred to as inoculants, bioinoculants, or bioformulationsâare products containing beneficial microorganisms in active or inactive forms. These microorganisms, applied singly or in combination, colonize the rhizosphere or plant tissues to enhance […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, biofertilizers, Biofertilizers, Biostimulants, Fertilizer, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, Microbiome, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs), Regenerative, soil health | No Comments »
28
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 28, 2025) Beyond Pesticides is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move more cautiously in  its proposal for âstreamlined . . . registration review decisions for several biopesticides,â subject to a public comment period through February 10, 2025. The organization is raising EPA review process concerns. The organization states: âAlthough the biopesticides listed in EPA’s proposal for streamlining the registration review process for âlow risk biopesticidesâ can be considered relatively low risk compared to conventional pesticides, the precedent for relying on the original or previous registration data and review is troublesome. EPA’s rationale for registration reviewâthat âscience is constantly evolving, and new scientific information can come to light at any time and change our understanding of potential effects from pesticides,â should guide the agency in its decisionsâespecially when previous decisions have depended on limited actual data, data waiver request rationales, and purported absence of new data or adverse incidents reported.â While Beyond Pesticides advocates for allowance of pesticides compatible with organic standards that are protective of human health, biodiversity, and healthy ecosystems, it urges EPA to establish rigorous standards in its registration review of these materials. The issue of biopesticide review is made complicated by the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, Biological Control, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Integrated and Organic Pest Management, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
27
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 27, 2025) A public comment period ends today, January 27, 2025, on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) proposed critical habitat rule to protect the rusty patched bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This proposal is responsive to the agency’s 2024 stipulated settlement agreement resulting from years of advocacy and government review and a 2023 court order (NRDC et al. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, et al.). The proposal follows a 2017 determination by the agency that lists the bumble bee as an endangered species. (See previous Daily News here, here, here, here, and here.) >> Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fully protect the endangered rusty patched bumble bee by finalizing its proposed critical habitat rule with strengthening provisions. The FWS proposal grows out of a species status assessment (SSA) conducted by â15 scientists with expertise in bumble bee biology, habitat management, and stressors (factors negatively affecting the species).â University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign insect ecologist Jason Robinson, PhD concludes in his paper, âProject-specific bumble bee habitat quality assessment,â âAs the first social insect listed under the ESA, the listing of RPBB has required new methods for biological assessment. This species has a complex life cycle requiring a mosaic of different habitat types, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pollinators, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 4 Comments »
07
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 7, 2025)Â A report, released in December 2024 from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), confronts the problem of âsiloingâ environmental elementsâfood, health, water, biodiversity and climate changeâwhen they instead intersect at a nexus from which each element affects all the others. The problem is essentially that all the elements are part of the same crisis, yet actions to address issues within eachâand, importantly, to resist addressing themâare dealt with in isolation. A proper perspective, gleaned from the report, is to view each element from the center where all parts meet, thus addressing the issues in coordination. According to the IPBES report, â[F]ragmented governance of biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change with different institutions and actors often working on disconnected and siloed policy agendas, resulting in conflicting objectives and duplication of efforts.â The IPBES is an independent body analogous to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) but structured similarly and in close contact with the United Nations (UN). The new report comes at the behest of IPBESâs 147 member countriesâ75 percent of the UNâs membershipâto address the interconnections among the five global crises. The report strongly demonstrates that a holistic, globe-spanning frame […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, International, Parks, Parks for a Sustainable Future, Pollinators, Uncategorized, Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
02
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 2, 2025) Adding to the body of scientific literature on the fast escalating antibiotic resistance crisis is a study published by Chinese scientists in Environmental Science & Technology, which shows that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in soils move up through trophic levels via predation. Gut microbiomes of soil fauna have been found to be reservoirs of ARGs. How this process operates in soils is vital, because what happens in soil microbes does not stay there. If bacteria altered in soils move up trophic levels, ARGs may strengthen the multicellular agricultural pests the industry is trying to killâinsects, fungi, plantsânot to mention bringing their libraries of resistant genes into the microbiomes of vertebrates, including humans. Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon, but human activity has greatly increased its presence in ecosystems the world over, including in one of the ecological niches of greatest concern to the future of food and human health: soils. Soils are complexes of mineral and organic substrates populated by billions of microorganisms and tiny animals. They are rapidly being degraded by conventional agriculture, forestry, and land management practices generallyâmore than a third of the worldâs agricultural land has already been severely damaged by pesticides, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic, Antibiotic Resistance, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Resistance, Soil microbiome, Uncategorized | No Comments »
23
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 23, 2024)Â As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) proposes to list the Monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, a look at the factors contributing to the butterflyâs catastrophic decline includes a stunning failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyâs (EPA) regulation of pesticides to protect biodiversity and the ecosystems necessary to its survival. While there are many factors affecting the survival of Monarchs, EPAâs Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has allowed pesticide use to continue unabated, with only rhetorical attention to the problem. Meanwhile, the science shows a range of pesticide effects associated with insecticides and herbicides. A study published in PLOS One in June identifies insecticides as the primary driver in butterflyâs decline, as EPA points, almost exclusively to herbicide use and the destruction of Monarchsâ food source, milkweed habitat. While two or several factors can be true at the same time, EPA has failed to consider the confluence of factors, including the impacts of climate, as rising temperatures are exacerbated by the production and use of petrochemical pesticides. FWS is stepping in at a critical time with looming biodiversity collapse and in the absence of EPA taking the reins […]
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pollinators, Take Action, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
19
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 19, 2024) As The New York Times reported last month, the government in South Africa declared a national emergencyâ23 children died and nearly 900 people were sickened from pesticide poisoning in Johannesburgâs Soweto township. The illnesses and fatalities have been traced to small amounts of highly neurotoxic pesticides, including the insecticides terbufos and aldicarb, found in local food items. These chemicals, described by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as âstreet pesticides,â are being increasingly used (legally and illegally) for pest infestations in the townships and informal settlements of South Africaâs poorest communities, where poverty and inadequate waste collection exacerbates the pest management challenges. Without formal electricity, running water, or municipal garbage collection, many residents rely on highly toxic pesticides for pest infestations in their homes and makeshift markets, resulting in food inadvertently being contaminated with pesticides. The announcement highlights the dangers of allowing these highly toxic agricultural chemicals to be used in farming, with tragic consequences for vulnerable communities when they are diverted for use in urban settings. This tragic situation also draws attention to the elevated threat that pesticides pose when stringent enforcement mechanisms are not in place to ensure compliance with pesticide restrictions, even with […]
Posted in Agriculture, Aldicarb, Bayer, Children, contamination, Death, Environmental Justice, Farmworkers, Food Borne Illness, Imidacloprid, Monsanto, organophosphate, Paraquat, Pesticide Regulation, Pests, Poisoning, Rodenticide, Rodents, terbufos, thiacloprid, Uncategorized, United Nations | No Comments »
16
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 16, 2024) The fact that three-quarters of all U.S. fruits and nuts and one-third of all U.S. vegetables are grown in California means that all U.S. food eaters have a stake in how food is grown there. California is proposing the continued use of the fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D, also known as Telone), which can cause deadly effects to farmworkers and endocrine disrupting effects to communities of people exposed through nontarget chemical drift from farmland. So, it is with deep concern that Beyond Pesticides is urging the state of California, where the chemical is undergoing review, to ban the toxicant. Endocrine disruption, an adverse effect for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has never completed a pesticide testing protocol, adversely affects the functioning of glands and hormones and is linked to major life-threatening diseases in most organ systems in the bodyâcontributing to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Parkinsonâs, Alzheimerâs, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, early puberty, infertility and other reproductive disorders, and childhood and adult cancers. In a recently released draft regulation, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) will allow highly elevated exposure to 1,3-D, ignoring the scientific literature and advice of the stateâs own toxicologists at […]
Posted in 1, 3-dichloropropene, 1-3D, ADHD, Agriculture, Alzheimers's, Cancer, Diabetes, Endocrine Disruption, Obesity, Parkinson's, Telone, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
13
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 13, 2024) In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the registration applications of BASF Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals Crop & Life Solutions, Inc. for the use of different formulations of the L-isomer of glufosinate (also known as âL-glufosinateâ and âglufosinate-Pâ) as new active herbicidal ingredients. This decision marks one of the first times that EPA has employed its new Herbicide  Strategy Framework to determine the level of mitigation necessary to protect listed species and critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Glufosinate is an organophosphate, with known neurotoxic, reproductive/developmental effects, toxic to aquatic life, and mobile in soils (see Beyond Pesticides Gateway). Scientists have found that formulated glufosinate is generally more toxic to aquatic and terrestrial animals than the technical grade active ingredient. Manufacturers are introducing newer glufosinate products as alternatives for glyphosate-based herbicides, like Bayer/Monsantoâs âRoundupâ and dicamba. The Center for Biological Diversity notes in comments submitted to EPA on this decision, âL-glufosinate has the potential to be used on tens of millions acres of land every year given the crops EPA has proposed to register it on. The scale of potential use is far above most new active ingredients.â This first significant application […]
Posted in Agriculture, BASF, Chemical Mixtures, Chemicals, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), glufosinate, Herbicides, Lawns/Landscapes, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »