(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 […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 24, 2026) In a review of scientific literature documenting pesticide contamination in the atmosphere, international researchers find human and ecosystem exposure even in remote and distant areas. As published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, the authors state: “Atmospheric transport of pesticides is a globally significant yet widely underestimated driver of human and ecological exposure, with contamination documented far beyond treated fields. This review provides a novel integrated synthesis, bridging emission pathways, atmospheric transformation processes, monitoring evidence, model limitations, and regulatory gaps to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the fate and impacts of pesticides in the atmosphere.” In analyzing the current knowledge on pesticide emissions, through both drift and volatilization (process where a solid or liquid converts into a gas or vapor), the researchers highlight “the widespread detection of both current-use and banned pesticides in environmental matrices far from their application,” along with the resulting implications for human health and environmental health. As the current risk assessment framework “fails to adequately address the perturbations caused by the atmospheric transport of pesticides,” the urgent need to transition away from chemical-intensive practices grows stronger. Background While this review highlights regulatory gaps in the European Union (EU), the cited scientific […]

Editor’s Note: The board and staff at Beyond Pesticides wish you a Happy Earth Day 2026! Click here or the banner below to honor today, a day of education and action that embodies the power of people in their communities engaging to advance changes in policies and practices that meet the environmental and public health challenges of the day!  (Beyond Pesticides, April 22, 2026) 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 zones, recognized as biodiversity hotspots, “are increasingly subjected to various stressors, including chemical contaminants such as pesticides,” the authors state. As transportation of these compounds can occur not only through surface runoff but through flooding events, the frequency and duration of floods can greatly impact the cumulative effects of pesticides on soil health and organisms within ecosystems. 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 […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 17, 2026) A comparative analysis published in The Lancet Planetary Health highlights the pervasiveness of pesticide pollution in organic and non-organic farms in Latin America (Costa Rica) and Africa (Uganda). While pesticides were detected in nearly all participating farmers, there is a significant relationship between lower biomarker concentrations (often correlating with less contamination) in urine samples of organic farmers relative to non-organic farmers. The researchers also identified that older farmers held higher herbicide and insecticide concentrations. This research builds on the preponderance of scientific evidence and lived experiences of agricultural communities across the globe, including the U.S., which documents nontarget contamination of food systems through air, water, and soil. In this context, Beyond Pesticides continues to advocate for a transition to organic land management practices. Methodology and Results “We collected urine samples from 601 conventional and organic smallholder farmers in Zarcero County, Costa Rica, and Wakiso District, Uganda, on two occasions during the primary spraying season,” the authors write in introducing their methodology. The researchers tested urine samples of small-scale farmers in Costa Rica and Uganda for a mix of pesticides that include a fungicide, herbicide and insecticides—mancozeb (ETU), 2,4-D, glyphosate, pyrethroid metabolites (3-PBA, DCCA), diazinon (IMPy), […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 15, 2026) Researchers in the Czech Republic tested indoor dust across 116 homes and found that 93 percent of homes across urban and rural areas contained residue of at least one current-use pesticide (CUP). The study also found in every household residues of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), the breakdown products or byproducts of certain banned organochlorine pesticides (OCP). These compounds, as well as DDT metabolites DDE and DDD, were detected in more than half of the homes tested. Results in this study and previous research confirm that pesticides used outdoors find their way indoors, resulting in an exposure pattern that is not calculated when pesticides are registered and allowed on the market. The findings are published in Indoor Environments. These findings characterize the legacy of toxic pesticide exposure resulting from the proliferation of pesticides in the United States and around the world without a complete assessment of the chemicals’ residual activity and multigenerational adverse impacts on health. Based on the decades of peer-reviewed scientific literature on pesticide exposure and effects from across the globe, public health and environmental advocates warn that there is a continuation of this pattern of long-term effects associated with new pesticides linked […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 14, 2026) A novel study mapping pesticide mixtures and cancer risk, published in Nature Health, “reveals a robust spatial association between environmental pesticide exposure risk and cancer incidence.” The team of international researchers incorporates pesticide risk modeling with Peruvian National Cancer Institute (INEN) registry data to map pesticide-induced cancer clusters in Peru, finding significant associations between pesticide mixtures and cases of carcinogenicity. The study analyzes 31 active ingredients to identify pesticide-associated cancer hotspots, none of which are classified as carcinogenic on their own by international standards. When combined as pesticide mixtures, as experienced in real-world environments, heightened risks and synergistic effects are noted. “Collectively, these findings strongly support a mechanistic [causal] link between pesticide exposure and cancer, challenging assumptions of human non-carcinogenicity derived from reductionist experimental models,” the authors state. “This study redefines the exposome [measure of all environmental, dietary, lifestyle, and social exposures of an individual] as a lineage-conditioned, mechanistically tractable framework and shows how complex pesticide mixtures can contribute to carcinogenic trajectories, with profound and far-reaching implications for global health policy and socio-ecological equity.” Background An extensive body of scientific literature connects individual pesticide active ingredients to a wide array of health and environmental effects […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 27, 2026) In a study of birth outcomes in Arizona, published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, researchers find that preconception and prenatal exposure to certain carbamates, organophosphates, and pyrethroids increases the risk of lower Apgar scores, a metric used to assess neonatal health at one minute and five minutes after birth. The results reveal that exposure to “several pesticide active ingredients at any point during preconception and/or pregnancy were associated with increased odds of low Apgar scores: the carbamates carbaryl and formetanate hydrochloride; the organophosphates diazinon and tribufos; and the pyrethroid cypermethrin.” This multi-institutional study, led by the University of Arizona with researchers from Harvard Chan School of Public Health and UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, provides novel insights, as it incorporates pesticide exposure over a 15-year period both before conception and throughout pregnancy. “To analyze associations of preconception and prenatal exposures to carbamate, organophosphate, and pyrethroid pesticide classes and 25 individual active ingredients with newborn Apgar scores to evaluate the relationship between these exposures and neonatal health,” the authors explain. They continue: “We used pesticide use registry and birth certificate data from 2006 to 2020, linked as part of the Arizona […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 26, 2026) A review of pesticide exposure from a family member working in agriculture (“take-home” residues) finds that pesticide levels in the home are elevated between 2.6- and 3.7-times. This and other nonoccupational exposure data from homes are drawn from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) prospective study of cancer and other health outcomes in a cohort of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses from Iowa and North Carolina. Between 1993 and 1997, with follow-up between 1999 and 2021, AHS tracks occupational and nonoccupational exposure and subsequent health effects from pesticide exposure. The current study, published in Environmental Advances, reexamines a quantitative analysis on nontarget, “active-ingredient-specific” exposure to pesticides from multiple pathways—applying new criteria to AHS spousal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos and the herbicide atrazine. The three pesticide exposure pathways include take-home, agricultural drift, and residential use. Building on a 2019 study, researchers consider data from additional studies published between 2019 and 2024, “providing support that all three pathways contribute to pesticide exposure.” More importantly, the updated estimates of nontarget exposure to chlorpyrifos and atrazine are overall strengthened by the incorporation of new data, highlighting the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 24, 2026) Published in Environmental Pollution, study results in the floriculture region of Ecuador find detections of neonicotinoid insecticides (NNI) and the herbicide atrazine in drinking and irrigation water. The biomonitoring data reported in an earlier journal article in the same region found a total of 23 compounds used as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, their associated metabolites (breakdown products), which include organophosphates, pyrethroids, and neonicotinoids. (See Daily News here.) Researchers from the University of Iowa, University of California, San Diego State University, and Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, determined that 1 in 5 households (20.5%) have detectable levels of one or more neonicotinoids in drinking water samples surrounding floricultural agricultural operations. This builds on previous research underscoring the nontarget pesticidal effects in communities near agricultural operations where the chemicals drift through the air and move into soil and water. Methodology and Results The authors report that, “This study focused on household tap water in proximity to floricultural plantations and in the ESPINA [Secondary Exposures to Pesticides among Children and Adolescents] participants’ homes with a range of NNI and total pesticides in urinary metabolite samples of the children.” They continue: “Participant households in the water study were […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 19, 2026) A study of water contamination in Protected Areas (PAs) in Brazil, published in Science of The Total Environment, highlights the pervasiveness of pesticides. “Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of these PAs in mitigating pesticide contamination in watercourses and to investigate how land use patterns influence the presence of pesticide residues,” the authors state. “We found pesticide compounds in biofilms [mutually beneficial community of microorganisms] both inside and outside PAs’ streams, with no buffer effect of these protected lands against herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, contrary to our expectations.” In analyzing epilithic biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms that adhere to submerged rocks and surfaces in aquatic ecosystems, the researchers find residues of 14 pesticide compounds and one metabolite across the 19 sampling sites, threatening aquatic organisms and ecosystem functioning. The authors say, “[M]onitoring epilithic biofilms in PAs provides valuable information by detecting pesticide compounds that analysis of surface water and sediments might miss.” Through various routes, such as runoff to waterways, leaching into groundwater, and aerial drift, pesticides are ubiquitous in the environment, even in remote and protected areas. As the testing of the freshwater epilithic biofilms in this study reveals 15 pesticide residues […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 12, 2026) Editor’s Note. This is a piece about improving risk assessments and a proposal that could offer a more realistic characterization of the harm associated with the complexities of pesticide exposure. Beyond Pesticides notes that risk assessment methodology, unless it is considered in the context of a rigorous alternatives assessment, begins with the mostly false assumption that petrochemical pesticides are needed (or are essential) to achieve cost-effective pest management, agricultural productivity and profitability, and quality of life, when, in fact, this is not the case. Therefore, improved risk calculations—as the article being reviewed here proposes—while important to characterizing the harm and the unknown adverse effects associated with pesticide use, still impose some level of harm deemed by the government to be acceptable. Even worse, the adverse effects of exposure cannot be fully characterized because of uncertainties or a lack of data on harmful endpoints, as is the case currently with endocrine-disrupting pesticides not fully evaluated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), or other regulatory bodies. These pesticides are known to induce cancer, reproductive harm, infertility, biodiversity decline, and other life-threatening, often multigenerational, effects. The authors do recognize the serious […]

[Update on February 9, 2026: In a press release on Friday, February 6, titled “EPA Implements Strongest Protections in Agency History for Over-the-Top Dicamba Use on Cotton and Soybeans for Next Two Growing Seasons,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to ignore the wide body of science that documents harms from dicamba, as well as the viability of alternative methods, in establishing what the agency is boasting are “the strongest protections in agency history for over-the-top (OTT) dicamba application on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean crops” as a direct response to the “strong advocacy of America’s cotton and soybean farmers.” These so-called “strong protections” are described as a way to ensure farmers can access the tools they “need” while also protecting the environment from dicamba’s harmful drift. In using “gold-standard science and radical transparency,” EPA created new label restrictions for the next two growing seasons that include “cutting the amount of dicamba that can be used annually in half, doubling required safety agents, requiring conservation practices to protect endangered species, and restricting applications during high temperatures when exposure and volatility risks increase.” Relying on unenforceable label restrictions and mitigation measures, however, fails to adequately protect health and the environment. See […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 28, 2026) 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.” Results The study results reveal that no landscape is safe from pesticide exposure, despite the European Union having better regulations in place than most other countries/regions. The researchers found: “There was no sample site where […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 16-19, 2026) This year marks 40 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was first federally observed in 1986, three years after President Reagan initially signed the bill into law in 1983, to honor the civil rights leader. In 1994, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day became a National Day of Service, calling for action and encouraging Americans to volunteer and serve their communities with Dr. King’s message of justice and equality in mind. Now more than ever, in the face of the administration’s action to dismantle or deregulate programs to address disproportionate harms to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities across various federal agencies, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words resonate: “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” In the spirit of Dr. King’s fight for racial equality and human rights, this day offers a chance for reflection and the opportunity to participate both locally and more broadly in actions that support and protect disproportionately impacted communities. In celebration of Dr. King, consider reading his “I Have a Dream Speech” or listening to it here. Environmental Justice As the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 2, 2026) Texas-based pecan orchard Swift River Pecans is collaborating with local conservation nonprofit Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation “so they could collect more information on the species that visit his 266-acre property, and to show off the bats’ value to his operation,” according to recent coverage by NPR affiliate KCUR. “Bats love to munch on insects like stink bugs and moths. Some farmers are now relying on the mammals for pest control – and ditching chemicals,” says Michael Marks, reporter for NPR (Harvest Public Media) and Texas Standard. The orchard operator and nonprofit have been collaborating since 2004, after Troy Swift (orchard owner) employed a chemical-intensive approach since purchasing the land in 1988. Merlin Tuttle, “an ecologist and conservationist who has spent 65 years studying bats around the globe,” has been setting up bat boxes using cypress trees from a lumber mill on-site—the researcher has opted for this wood type because it is porous and regulates temperature appropriately. “Our job is to work with Mother Nature instead of against her to make the best pecans money can buy. That’s the way we see it,” says Mr. Swift, who also serves as the president of the Texas Pecan […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 6, 2025) The report, Designed to Kill: Who Profits from Paraquat, and accompanying interactive storymap, unpacks the supply chain of the infamous herbicide paraquat and underscores the true costs of pesticide products, from manufacturing to use in the fields. This report is part of a larger initiative, the Pesticide Mapping Project—“a collaborative research series that illustrates the health and climate harms of pesticides across their toxic lifecycle: including fossil fuel extraction, manufacturing, international trade, and application on vast areas of U.S. land.” Top Highlights This report highlights, among other notable points, “that every stage of the paraquat supply chain—which spans the globe—emits greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants.” With SinoChem as the lead producer and player in the paraquat market, the Chinese government-owned pesticide company’s supply chain “includes fossil fuel extraction in Equatorial Guinea and Saudi Arabia, chemical manufacturing in India, Germany, and the United Kingdom, international chemical shipping, and final formulation and distribution in the United States.” Paraquat is not currently manufactured in the U.S., accounting for imports of “between 40 and 156 million pounds of paraquat each year, according to the last eight years of pesticide import records available from the private database.” Despite the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 28, 2025) 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. . .” 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 OP pesticide use.” Significant disparities were found in terms of elevated exposure to pesticides, “with Hispanic/Latine, 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.” The authors suggest that “regulatory changes to limit use or restrict applications in close proximity to residential areas could have a substantial public health benefit on children’s brain development.” These findings add to the existing scientific literature on perinatal and maternal pesticide exposure associated with adverse long-term health effects for children and mothers. They also serve as a reminder to public […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 10-13, 2025) On Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Monday, October 13), Beyond Pesticides acknowledges that we recognize that the land we are situated on is the ancestral lands of the Ncothtank (Anacostan), and neighboring Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples, who have served as stewards for the region’s land, water, and air for generations. In reverence for the sovereignty and leadership of First Nations, and with respect for the wisdom of Indigenous peoples globally, environmental and public health advocates continue to advocate for the elimination of petrochemical-based pesticides and fertilizers, and the advancement of organic regenerative criteria that align with ecologically-based food and land management systems. This year, Indigenous Peoples’ Day falls on the petrochemical fertilizer industry-supported Global Fertilizer Day, which promotes synthetic fertilizers, rather than recognizing the value of agroecology—the shared understanding of the inextricable link that binds agricultural and ecological systems. Reflection of Turbulent U.S. Position on Indigenous Sovereignty The federal holiday on October 13, traditionally known as Columbus Day, has for many been reoriented to recognize that the “discovery” of the Americas was, in fact, an invasion of the Western hemisphere by European colonists who expropriated unceded land and devastated Indigenous cultures, self-governance, and ways of life. In […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 25, 2025) Reinforcing numerous studies’ findings of widespread environmental contamination with PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), heavy metals, pesticide metabolites, and pharmaceuticals, researchers detected the chemicals in noncommercial backyard eggs laid in Greece, according to a study published in Science of The Total Environment. The researchers found that “[o]nly 9 out of 17 samples were compliant to the limit….set by the [European Union] for the sum of PFHxS [perfluorohexanesulfonic acid], PFOS [perfluorooctanesulfonic acid], PFOA [perfluorooctanoic acid], and PFNA [perfluorononanoic acid].” They continue: “[A]s regards PFOS, PFHxS, and PFNA, seven, six and one out of 17 samples, respectively, were above the ML (maximum limit) as set by the EU.” With current regulatory standards focused on evaluating exposure to individual chemicals and, in some instances, cumulative risk associated with chemicals that have a common mechanism of effect, this study points out the importance of looking at mixtures of chemicals and the potential synergistic effects. There are some fluorinated pesticides defined as PFAS due to their molecular structure and high toxicity, which makes the chemicals highly persistent in the environment. Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility reviewed the full list of active […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 9, 2025) SprayDays California, the pesticide notification and mapping tool run by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), was updated in late August after public backlash (including from farmworkers), which identified inadequate notice of pesticide use to those who work in or live in proximity to agricultural fields. According to a DPR press release from August 28, these changes include attempts to bring down barriers for users so that, in the words of DPR Director Karen Morrison, the department can “provide Californians with access to information and services.” While public health advocates view notification as a step that may allow people to leave a treatment area or take shelter to reduce exposure, groups continue to express concerns about a focus on notification to the exclusion of addressing the root causes of exposure—chemical-intensive agriculture, despite the viability of organic compatible practices and products. The groups criticize the continuous registration of pesticide active ingredients and product formulations without considering widely available practices and nonchemical and nature-based alternatives to pest management. These include regenerative organic principles and practices that draw inspiration from Indigenous land management and agroecological systems that have thrived in coexistence with nature. Recent Updates There are […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 3, 2025) A study in Environmental Entomology shows that habitat and open space near agricultural fields become a killing field of pesticides, threatening biodiversity due to contamination from toxic drift. The study detected 42 pesticides, including several neonicotinoids, which are among the most lethal threats to pollinators. The research reveals the complexity of pesticide flow through the environment and the inadequacy of current methods of protecting nontarget organisms, including honey bees, bumblebees, and hundreds of other species of native bees worldwide. Their catastrophic declines is tied to pesticides in large part and highlights the inadequacy of current pesticide reduction strategies, such as integrated pest management (IPM) and now other loosely defined concepts like “regenerative,” in an attempt to protect the environment and nontarget organisms in chemical-dependent land management and agriculture. (See What the Science Shows on Biodiversity.) The researchers on the study, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cornell University and Michigan State University, put silicone bands on fence posts in open areas adjacent to highbush blueberry fields on 15 farms in western Michigan. Silicone takes up chemicals in the atmosphere which can then be extracted and analyzed. The fence posts were placed at seven intervals ranging […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 27, 2025) A study published in European Journal of Agronomy finds that “organic farming equals conventional yield under irrigation and enhances seed quality in drought, aiding food security.” For decades, organic advocates have heard from defenders of chemical-intensive agriculture that organic farming is not commercially attainable for widespread adoption and cannot compete on productivity and profitability at a commercial scale. At the same time, chemical manufacturers, chemical-dependent farmers, and their allies greenwash their products (e.g., active ingredients, full formulations, and pesticide-treated seeds) and practices by insisting in regulatory comments, contract science studies, and lobbying campaigns that they are necessary for climate-smart, sustainable, regenerative, and/or integrated pest management agriculture and land management. In this context, the chemical industry alliance is now pushing deregulation, preemption of state and local authority to restrict pesticides, and immunity from lawsuits for the harm caused by their products and practices. An expansive coalition of farmers, farmworkers, conservationists, medical professionals, Indigenous communities, and environmental and public health advocates is fighting back, including Beyond Pesticides. Background and Methodology The researchers tested twelve common bean genotypes of Phaselous vulgaris L., with eight local [Basque Country] landraces (defined by Oxford Language as “a local cultivar [plant] or […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 12, 2025) Last week on August 9, the United Nations observed International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a critical acknowledgement of Indigenous “food sovereignty, food security, biodiversity conservation and climate resilience,” as outlined in the report of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Eighteenth Session (July 14–18, 2025). As the report states, under Article 20 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, “Indigenous Peoples possess distinct economic systems rooted in traditional knowledge, practices and resources and have the right to sustain, strengthen and develop these systems in accordance with their cultures, traditions, values and aspirations.” It continues, “When deprived of their means of subsistence and development, this article provides that Indigenous Peoples are entitled to just and fair redress.” In a statement recognizing the importance of the day, Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume, focuses on the need for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recognize that, “Indigenous Peoples have long been stewards of knowledge, biodiversity, and sustainable living [and] [w]ithout their meaningful participation, AI systems risk perpetuating historical injustices and deepening the violation of their rights.” Meanwhile, the current U.S. administration has shifted away from federal […]