(Beyond Pesticides, March 10, 2025) Following International Women’s 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: “Women 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.” “In 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 […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2025) 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. “Our study is the first to estimate the effect of an agrichemical mixture on the pediatric cancer rate in Nebraska,” the study authors share. “One significant advantage of our study is that we identified the pesticide consistently applied over 22 years in Nebraska counties and then estimated the overall mixture effect of these pesticides on pediatric cancer.” The elevated effect of pesticide mixtures, a reality that is not evaluated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide registration program, was reported in Oecologia (2008), documenting harm to amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals is within limits considered acceptable. (See additional coverage here.) There is a wide body of science highlighting the disproportionate risk of adverse health effects in children with pesticide exposure. Their small size and developing organ systems, propensity to crawl and play near the ground, tendency for frequent hand-to-mouth motion, and greater intake of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 27, 2025) In analyzing current scientific literature and data on glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), a research article in Environmental Sciences Europe finds that glyphosate (GLY) persists in bones before reentering the bloodstream. The mechanisms in which GLY interacts with important cells for development, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and breaks and rearranges DNA offer a possible explanation for the heightened risk of cancer, specifically blood cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), myeloma, and leukemia. “Existing data on GLY/GBH metabolism and genotoxicity provide critical insights into how exposures may be contributing to blood cancers,” according to the study’s author, Charles Benbrook, PhD. Dr. Benbrook continues: “A significant portion of GLY reaching blood moves quickly into bone marrow and then bone, where it can bioaccumulate and persist… Data reviewed herein suggest that a portion of the GLY excreted by most people on a daily basis can be traced to the shedding of calcium-GLY complexes in bone back into the blood supply.” This allows for near-constant contact between glyphosate molecules and hematopoietic stem cells, which are immature cells that can develop into any type of blood cell. Mutations in hematopoietic stem cells can cause blood cancers to emerge. Those at disproportionate risk […]

(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, “Mass firings decimate U.S. science agencies,” and the dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University told Oregon Public Broadcasting, “We’ve lost half of our teams, and all of these up-and-coming young scientists. . .so it’s like we’ve lost the next generation of scientists in agriculture and natural resources.” 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 Trump’s executive orders and actions, there has been, as The New York Times reports, “new lawsuits and fresh rulings emerging day and night,” 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 […]

(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 nation’s 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 […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 10, 2025) With the shutting down of key federal government programs, Beyond Pesticides is urging the public to speak out, especially on issues that preserve state and local authority to protect public health and safety in the absence of adequate federal standards. In this context, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a petition with a proposed policy that would, if adopted, prohibit states from issuing warnings of pesticide hazards, like cancer, on product labels. EPA is taking public comment through February 20, 2025, on the petition, filed by the Republican attorneys general (AGs) of 11* states.  The petition asks EPA to prohibit “any state labeling requirements inconsistent with EPA findings and conclusions from its human health risk assessment on human health effects, such as a pesticide’s likelihood to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.” [*The 11 states filing the petition include: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.] According to Beyond Pesticides: “The only conclusion that can be derived from this petition is that the AGs do not care if the people, including farmers, of their states are harmed by pesticides, and they should not be able […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 4, 2025) Adopting a fully organic diet can reduce pesticide levels in urine within just two weeks “by an average of 98.6%” and facilitate faster DNA damage repair relative to a diet of food grown with chemical-intensive practices, according to findings from a randomized clinical trial published in Nutrire. The authors explain that their finding “is likely due to two main factors: the presence of compounds characteristic of [an organic] diet, which may have high levels of antioxidants that can protect DNA and also induce DNA repair [], and the absence or decrease in the incidence of pesticides in this type of diet, which are recognized for their genotoxic effects and have the ability to affect the genetic repair system of organisms [].” Public health professionals and affected families continue to sound the alarm on the unprecedented rates of chronic illnesses, many linked to pesticide exposure, as well as the urgency in developing solutions that acknowledge the connection to policies governing agriculture, nutrition policies, and public health. Background and Methodology The purpose of this study is to identify any relationships in health effects of chemical-intensive versus organic diets in a two week-period. More specifically, the authors say […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 3, 2025) As a result of executive orders on January 20, 2025 and subsequent actions by the Trump administration, the public airwaves have been flooded with presidential proclamations, some of which have been subject to legal action and outrage. While the president has issued dozens of executive orders dismantling programs—from the environment to foreign aid, the impact of the orders on the functioning of an independent government workforce has been raised by those targeted. On January 29, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed a lawsuit that “asserts that President Trump illegally exceeded his authority in attempting to unilaterally roll back a regulation that protects the rights of civil servants,” according to an AFGE press release. The release continues, “The suit also names the Office of Personnel Management for its role in failing to adhere to the Administrative Procedure Act in its attempts to roll back this same regulation.” According to AFGE National President Everett Kelley, “AFGE is filing suit with our partner union today to protect the integrity of the American people’s government,” On January 27, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair and Commissioner Charlotte Burrows, having […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2025) A research article in Biology Letters, published by The Royal Society, finds that the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid disrupts survival and reproductive patterns in Bombus impatiens bumblebees. The study adds to the wide body of science highlighting how exposure to pesticides “can result in immediate mortality or cause long-term detrimental effects on pollinators‘ health, lifespan and reproductive success,” the authors state. The researchers performed two experiments to assess the effects of various concentrations of imidacloprid, one of which focuses on bees during diapause, a period of dormancy. “Wild bees, which provide the majority of pollination services worldwide, undergo an annual life cycle that includes a winter diapause, that can span over 75% of their life cycle and during which their metabolism, growth and development are halted,” the authors note. They continue: “The time spent in diapause can have lasting effects on pollinator fitness and their ability to establish nests or colonies in the following spring. This period is especially critical for social bee colonies, which are founded by a single queen after diapause and play a vital role in large-scale pollination.” Exposure to pesticides during diapause can occur while bee species overwinter in contaminated soils. In […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 28, 2025) Beyond Pesticides is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move more cautiously in  its proposal for “streamlined . . . registration review decisions for several biopesticides,” subject to a public comment period through February 10, 2025. The organization is raising EPA review process concerns. The organization states: “Although the biopesticides listed in EPA’s proposal for streamlining the registration review process for ‘low risk biopesticides’ 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 review—that ‘science is constantly evolving, and new scientific information can come to light at any time and change our understanding of potential effects from pesticides,’ should guide the agency in its decisions—especially when previous decisions have depended on limited actual data, data waiver request rationales, and purported absence of new data or adverse incidents reported.”  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 […]

(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 “15 scientists with expertise in bumble bee biology, habitat management, and stressors (factors negatively affecting the species).” University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign insect ecologist Jason Robinson, PhD concludes in his paper, “Project-specific bumble bee habitat quality assessment,” “As 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, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 24, 2025) Based on data collected from government sources and independent monitoring, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Connecticut finds that 46% of Connecticut waterway samples are contaminated with levels of the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid—one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States on lawn and golf courses. The authors relied on federal data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), state-level data from Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT-DEEP), and a small-scale data collection study by the Clean Rivers Project funded by the nonprofit Pollinator Pathway, Inc. In their report, Neonicotinoids in Connecticut Waters: Surface Water, Groundwater, and Threats to Aquatic Ecosystems, the researchers provide the most comprehensive view to date of neonicotinoid levels in Connecticut and offer critical recommendations for future testing within the state and nationally, given glaring data gaps. It is important to note that the authors acknowledged early in the report the “abandonment” of Integrated Pest Management in “the use of neonicotinoids has coincided with and been implicated in the decline of many non-target species of insects, in particular pollinators such as bees () and monarch butterflies.” They point out that […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 17-20, 2025) Martin Luther King Day recognizes the achievements of a remarkable civil rights leader while asking the nation to assess what more the country must do to ensure equality and environmental justice, as well as protection for those who suffer disproportionately from toxic chemical exposure. Advocates and disproportionately affected communities acknowledge the historic nature of the Biden Administration’s commitment to elevating environmental justice in the decision-making of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, according to Willy Blackmore, writer for Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (“the oldest Black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota and one of the longest-standing, family-owned newspapers in the country”), “[T]he more systemic change that [Administrator] Regan’s EPA tried to bring about was stonewalled by legal challenges that threatened to undermine the agency’s strongest tool for righting environmental injustices.” Black communities across the nation face disproportionate impacts to petrochemical infrastructure and toxic chemicals, including pesticides and fertilizers. A 2021 study published in BMC Public Health found that biomarkers for 12 dangerous pesticides tracked over the past 20 years were found in the blood and urine of Black participants at average levels up to five times those in White participants. A University of Michigan study found […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 15, 2025) There is robust scientific literature that unpacks the adverse human health effects of pesticide exposure, however immunological impacts do not receive adequate attention in regulatory review processes, according to an in-depth literature review. In a piece published in Frontiers in Immunology (2024) critiquing recent peer-reviewed scientific studies, as well as unpublished research produced by the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine in partnership with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina, researchers assess immune system effects of pesticide exposure, which creates the conditions for deadly health conditions including various forms of cancer. The focus of this study, according to the authors, is “to critically review fundamental aspects of toxicological studies conducted on PPPs [Plant Protection Products] to provide a clearer understanding of the risks associated with exposure to these compounds on human health.” PPPs are pesticide products that contain more than one active ingredient, and can include synergistic ingredients that supercharge them alongside inert ingredients that pesticide companies are not legally required to disclose under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), but are often manipulated biologically and chemically active. Most studies analyze the toxicological impacts of active ingredients in isolation rather […]

(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 kill—insects, fungi, plants—not 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 generally—more than a third of the world’s agricultural land has already been severely damaged by pesticides, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 23, 2024) 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 butterfly’s catastrophic decline includes a stunning failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation of pesticides to protect biodiversity and the ecosystems necessary to its survival. While there are many factors affecting the survival of Monarchs, EPA’s 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 butterfly’s decline, as EPA points, almost exclusively to herbicide use and the destruction of Monarchs’ 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 […]

(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 “L-glufosinate” and “glufosinate-P”) 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/Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ and dicamba. The Center for Biological Diversity notes in comments submitted to EPA on this decision, “L-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.” This first significant application […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 6, 2024) On December 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yet another milestone in the convoluted life span of the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Under the deceptive headline “EPA Proposes Rule to Revoke Most Food Uses of the Insecticide Chlorpyrifos,” EPA stated that it is improving environmental protection by revoking all usages of chlorpyrifos except for 11 food and feed crops. The proposal was deemed “unconscionable” by Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman in an article in The New Lede. EPA claims this plan would reduce annual chlorpyrifos application by 70% compared to “historical usage.” Chlorpyrifos is a known neurological and reproductive toxicant. EPA has been cutting back on approved uses for years but is far behind other environmental authorities—the European Food Safety Authority and Thailand have banned it altogether, and California has banned its agricultural use. The trouble with EPA’s latest attempt is that it does nothing to clarify and rationalize EPA’s process, and it will not protect the public, because those 11 remaining products are among the most extensively grown and used in the world: soybeans, sugar beets, cotton, wheat, apples, citrus fruits, strawberries, alfalfa, cherries, peaches, and asparagus. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate chemical. These […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 5, 2024) A novel, comprehensive study published in Science reviews a library of 1,024 different chemicals (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and plant inhibitors) finding that, even at “sublethal” exposure levels, 57% of tested chemicals impact the behavioral and physiological health of house fly larvae. Mosquito and butterfly populations are also susceptible to long-term adverse effects at sublethal levels. Environmental and public health advocates continue to raise concerns about adverse effects resulting from the failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider cumulative exposure (resulting in aggregate and synergistic effects) across different mechanisms of toxicity and different classes of pesticides, including at exposure levels below allowable levels set by the agency. In the context of the regulatory gaps and pesticide industry influence at EPA (See Daily News here), advocates stress the importance of transitioning land and agricultural practices to organic principles. Methodology and Results  Background, Goals, Primary Takeaways  This research was led by an international team of experts from various universities and institutes, including European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Institut Pasteur, and Heidelberg University (Center for Infectious Diseases, Parasitology Department). The authors received funding from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the German Center for Infection Research, and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 3, 2024) In an article in Science, Sabrina Rondeau, PhD reviews her research from 2022-2024 showcasing species of ground-nesting bees, often found in crop fields, that are highly vulnerable to soil pesticide residues and subsequently suffer population declines. Dr. Rondeau, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa, points to regulatory deficiencies, specifically in environmental risk assessments (ERAs), and the detrimental effects of pesticides on pollinators that threaten food security and biodiversity. “Modern intensive agriculture faces a critical paradox: The very pesticides designed to protect our crops endanger essential pollinators that sustain their productivity,” Dr. Rondeau says in the article. Her research (see here, here, here, here, here, and here) identifies important gaps overlooked in current assessments and regulations for bee species, including the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) and the hoary squash bee (Xenoglossa pruinosa). Bumble bee queens in temperate climates hibernate for 6-9 months in the soil, while the hoary squash bee is a solitary ground-nesting species. Reference additional Daily News coverage on ground-nesting bees here and here. “‘Our findings show that over 70% of wild bee species, which are crucial for pollinating our food crops, face significant risks […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 22, 2024) With numerous campaigns at the state and federal level to ban the weed killer paraquat and nearly 6,000 individual lawsuits alleging exposure to it causes Parkinson’s disease (PD), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and six Senators on October 31 called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the chemical. Citing that “[f]armworkers and rural residents are disproportionately exposed to paraquat,” the Senators’ letter to EPA stating that, “Paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, thyroid cancer, and other health harms such as kidney, liver, and respiratory damage, and reproductive harm, including neurodevelopmental impact on developing fetuses [and] [i]n rural areas, exposure to paraquat and other pesticides during pregnancy can increase the risk of leukemia.” Most of the 6,000 cases against paraquat’s manufacturer, Syngenta, have been consolidated into Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. In April, the MDL judge ousted the plaintiffs’ expert witness regarding causality, which resulted in the first five cases ready for trial being tossed out. The defendant sells paraquat globally and is doing everything it can, according to investigative news reports, to discredit any link between paraquat and Parkinson’s, including the use […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 18, 2024) With the reported appointment of former U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to the position of Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Senate confirmation hearings will be an important process that is intended to shine a light on individual nominations, the policies of an administration, and the science (or lack thereof) behind them. There have been reports in the media that the Trump administration may attempt to circumvent the “advice and consent” rule of the U.S. Senate by making recess appointments. Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers: No. 76 that Senate confirmation hearings act as a safeguard against the appointment of “unfit” officials. Numerous interviews and critiques are painting a picture of what the future holds for environmental protection and all that means for addressing the serious catastrophic threats of ongoing and escalating health, biodiversity, and climate crises. “Mr. Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax,” has targeted “every one” of Mr. Biden’s policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels,” according to The New York Times reporting on June 26, 2024. The Guardian reported on October 1 after Hurricane Helene, “As the hurricane continued to ravage the region over […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 14, 2024) The destructive impact of Hurricane Milton, a climate-change-fueled extreme weather event that smashed into Florida in early October, 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 their processing plants leaked into Tampa Bay (“The Bay”), according to a company press release. It is unclear to local communities if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will permit the company’s request earlier this year to test 1,200 tons of phosphogypsum, an industrial byproduct of phosphate rock mining, as a potential material in roadways. Local advocates find this alarming given a reported tear in a gypsum stack operated by Mosaic in one of its plants in New Wales. The wastewater was used as a storage medium for phosphogypsum, which when dissolved contains cancer-causing radon, according to reporting by Reuters. Besides phosphate waste leakage, over 30 waterways across Tampa Bay were polluted after back-to-back hurricanes (Tropical Storm Debby in August, Hurricane Helene in September, and Hurricane Milton in […]