Archive for the 'Resistance' Category
07
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 7, 2024) American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a newly revised technical report describing how antibiotic use in animal agriculture contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance in medical use and can adversely affect child healthâ in the context of this fast-emerging threat to U.S. and global health. This AAP finding comes just as the United Nations (UN) held its second High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)âŻon September 26 (the first was held in 2016) at which global leaders committed âto a clear set of targets and actions, including reducing the estimated 4.95 million human deaths associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) annually by 10% by 2030.â The release from the UN, âWorld leaders commit to decisive action on antimicrobial resistance,â states, âThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), known as the Quadripartite, welcome the declaration. The Quadripartite applauds countries for recognising the need for global, regional and national efforts to address AMR through a One Health approach, which recognizes that the health of people, animals, plants and the wider environment, including ecosystems, are closely […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial, Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
03
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 3, 2024) The American Academy of Pediatrics published a technical report in September on antimicrobial resistance, which it calls a global public health threat, identifying the health implications of antibiotic use in animal agriculture. The lead authors, both medical doctors from the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, note the rise in antimicrobial-resistant infections that result in increased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs for not only adults, but infants and children as well. â[A]ll use of antimicrobial agents exerts selective pressure that increases the risk of development of resistance,â the authors state, highlighting the importance of limiting antimicrobial uses. âAntimicrobial resistance is an organismâs ability to survive exposure to an antimicrobial agent that was previously an effective treatment. Resistance traits can be acquired either through new mutations or through transfer of genetic material between organisms,â the authors report. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, can be transmitted âthrough the food supply, direct contact with animals, environmental pathways, and contact with infected or colonized humans,â they continue. Use of antimicrobial agents, especially over extended periods of time or with repeated exposure, can cause resistance to not only that agent, but to multiple agents. As […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibacterial, Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Children, E.coli, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Fungal Resistance, Livestock, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, Resistance | No Comments »
06
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 6, 2024) Factory fish farming companies sinched a win in Scotland in July after the Scottish government announced it would not put forward restrictions on emamectin (aka emamectin benzoate)âa toxic pesticide used to kill parasitic sea lice that also kills various nontarget marine life up and down the trophic ladderâuntil 2028. As reported over many years by The Ferret, an independent journalism cooperative based in Scotland, seafood corporations lobbied the Scottish government in a multiyear campaign to weaken environmental protection standards to advance their economic interests. Health and environmental advocates in the United States acknowledge the parallels of agribusiness, pesticide manufacturers, and their allies in undermining science-based policy and continue to call for intercontinental coordination on organic principles and standards that would render the use of toxic pesticides like emamectin obsolete. Emamectin benzoate is a derivative of avermectin, a family of macrocyclic lactone compounds often used as the primary active ingredient in insecticides targeting parasites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers emamectin benzoate a restricted-use pesticide that is toxic to fish, mammals, and aquatic organisms. Avermectins act as poisons to the nervous system of target pests, stimulating the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system (a chemical âtransmitterâ produced […]
Posted in Aquaculture, azamethiphos, Bakkafrost, emamectin, Mowi, Pesticide Regulation, Resistance, Scottish Sea Farms, Water | No Comments »
26
Jul
(Beyond Pesticides, July 26, 2024) Beyond Pesticides released the latest issue of Pesticides and You this week, a compendium of scientific research on pesticide threats to human and environmental health. The issue is a breathtaking warning from the science community that environmental, health, and labor laws are not protecting the public. Beyond Pesticides says in its introduction that a shift away from toxic pesticide use is urgently needed. Included in this issue are scientific reviews of research reported by Beyond Pesticides in 2023, providing a critique of the independent peer-reviewed literature with a shocking range of adverse effects, including cancer, neurotoxicity, brain effects, reproductive impacts, diabetes and obesity, chronic kidney and liver disease, Parkinsonâs, respiratory illness and asthma, learning and behavioral abnormalities, and more, as well as disproportionate harm to people of color. In addition, the science documents pesticidesâ catastrophic harm to the ecosystems that sustain life. In total, these dramatic findings call for an end to the use of toxic pesticides, incompatible with respect for living organisms and, to environmental, health, and labor advocates, unconscionable given the availability of viable, cost-effective organic practices. This issue adds to the body of knowledge from two previous issues of Pesticides and You (Transformative Change: […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Chemicals, Climate, contamination, Disease/Health Effects, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fertilizer, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Pesticide Efficacy, Pests, Resistance, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
10
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 10, 2024) Expanding the planting of genetically engineered crops is the major focus of âThe Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology â Plan for Regulatory Reform under the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnologyâ (Framework), released in May by three federal agencies. In its Framework, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use the words âexemptâ or âexemptionâ in reference to federal safety regulations 21 times. Then, another 21 times the agencies identify their efforts to âstreamlineâ the process for bringing genetically engineered âplant-incorporated protectantsâ (PIPs) to market. Without including the word âresistanceâ even once, the Framework advances the interests of the biotech and allied industries, ignoring the serious scientific issues regarding health and environmental effects and the economic failure for farmers facing crop loss. Meanwhile, the issue of resistance is not new to EPA, which has for years acknowledged the resistance problem despite allowing continued weed resistance to weed killers used with herbicide-tolerant crops and insect resistance to the pesticides incorporated into plants.  >> Tell USDA, FDA, and EPA to replace agricultural provisions in the Framework with policies that discourage GE crops […]
Posted in Agriculture, Congress, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Genetic Engineering, Plant Incorporated Protectants, Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | 1 Comment »
29
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 29, 2024) A study from the Academy of Biology and Biotechnologies and the Federal Rostov Agricultural Research Centre adds to the body of science linking pesticide use with negative impacts on soil health and bacterial communities. Antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), considered a class of pollutants, are found in certain types of bacteria and can spread through the environment and subsequently to humans and animals. This study, performed by researchers and soil experts, found an increase in specific bacterial families that host ARGs with exposure to pesticides. The study aims to identify the role of agricultural soils in ARG transfer and to assess the presence and prevalence of bacterial families with and without exposure to fertilizers and pesticides. Since soil serves as a habitat for a wide range of bacteria, including many that are resistant to antibiotics, analyzing the organisms within soil samples is an indicator of overall environmental health. Agricultural soils are essential in food production, and as this study states, â[I]ntensive exploitation of such soils implies the widespread use of various chemical plant protection products (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides) and mineral fertilizers, which contribute to pollution and a decrease in soil quality.â  Within this field study, there is […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial, Fertilizer, Litigation, Mutagenesis, Resistance, soil health, Soil microbiome | No Comments »
16
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 16, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long been criticized for its failure to evaluate the effectiveness (or efficacy) of all the pesticides it registers. A petition, for which there is now an open public comment period (submit comments by January 22, 2024), challenges what advocates call a basic failure of the agency to evaluate the claimed benefits of pesticides. Because of this long-standing situation, those who purchase pesticides do not know that the pesticides they buy will meet expectations for control. For farmers, that means that EPA has not evaluated whether the pesticideâs use actually increases productivity of the treated crops and/or whether over time the target pest (weed, insect, fungus) will become resistant. For consumers, it also means that there is not an independent analysis of whether the pesticide products work. As EPA implements the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), not only is there no agency assessment of whether the pesticideâs use will achieve its intended purpose, there is not a determination as to whether there is a less toxic way of achieving the pest management goal. As Beyond Pesticides cited last year, a piece published in the Proceedings of the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), neonicotinoids, Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
11
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 11, 2024) In a move to safeguard public and animal health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned nine manufacturers and distributors in December last year to stop selling unapproved and misbranded antimicrobial animal drugs, with the director of FDAâs Center for Veterinary Medicine, Tracey Forfa, explaining to the public that âinappropriate use of medically important antimicrobials contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistance, which affects both human and animal health.â This action and announcement exhibit a higher degree of concern about antimicrobial resistanceâunderstood as a growing worldwide pandemicâthan the history and ongoing inaction by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)âresulting in the allowance of widespread nonmedical uses of antibiotics in agriculture and on synthetic (or artificial) turf. Contrary to broad scientific understanding, EPA told a federal appeals court last year that, âThere is no data that antibiotic use in agriculture leads to the presence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria of human health concern,â and that â[a]t the present time, there is little evidence for or against the presence of microbes of human health concern in the plant agricultural environment.â The issue of resistance discussed in the scientific literature concerns reduced susceptibility to clinically important antimicrobials, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibacterial, Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chewy, Corporations, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pets, Resistance | No Comments »
30
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 30, 2023) TAKE ACTION. It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And so it goes with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyâs (EPA) proposal to register a new genetically engineered pesticide for the Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB); this time with a pesticide that has not been fully evaluated for its adverse effects to people and the environment. [Submit a public comment before comment period ends today, October 30, 2023.] Chemical-intensive agriculture has failed to control CPB since resistance to DDT was identified in 1952 and has continued with every family of pesticides since then. CPB has been dubbed the billion-dollar-bug because of the investment in failed attempts of chemical manufacturers to control the insect, the profits generated by chemical companies despite this failure, and the resulting losses for chemical-intensive farmersânot to mention government expenditures for the registration of chemicals that have short efficacy, pollution costs associated with chemical production and use, and lost ecosystem services. But, EPA is at it again, registering a new novel pesticide active ingredient, Ledprona, which raises the stakes on potential harm. The only winners in this ongoing failure […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Colorado Potato Beetle, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), GreenLight Biosciences, Ledprona, Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
26
Sep
(Beyond Pesticides, September 26, 2023) In Ethiopiaâs Bahir Dar, where Lake Tana feeds into the Blue Nile, a major hydroelectric power plant stands, serving as an emblem of the ecosystem services the river provides to over two million inhabitants. Yet ever since its first appearance in 2012, this crucial waterway has been under attack by one of the worldâs most invasive species: the water hyacinth.  In America and Europe, where agrochemical giants such as Bayer and Syngenta are headquartered, such problems might quickly be remedied using herbicides. However, the prevailing ethos coming from the African continent is quite different. Dion Mostert, whose South African boat business has suffered due to the water hyacinths infestation, encapsulates this sentiment, saying he has considered herbicides but sees them as a temporary fix to a much larger challenge. Instead of relying on temporaryâand often harmfulâagrochemical solutions, Ethiopia and other African countries are embracing holistic and sustainable solutions.  For instance, Lake Victoria–a water body shared by Kenya, Tanzania, and Ugandaâsuffered from a water hyacinth infestation in the 1990s. In response, scientists introduced two species of weevils known to be natural predators of the hyacinth: Neochetina bruchi and Neochetina eichhorniae. The initiative was extremely successful, […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Biological Control, Ecosystem Services, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, Resistance, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
07
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 7, 2023) Why is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowing the use of pesticides under the âunreasonable adverse effectsâ to health or the environment standard of the federal pesticide law (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act [FIFRA]) if the pesticides quickly lose their efficacy? Pest resistance to pesticides is a well-known biological mechanism that becomes problematic when farmers are faced with crop failure and economic loss. It becomes especially threatening when the goal is to manage insects that are a disease vector and when the regulatory process ignores nonchemical management strategies that are efficacious and sustainable. Tell EPA, Governors, and Congress that given the certainty of pesticide resistance, ecologically-based mosquito management must replace a reliance on pesticides. Insect resistance to insecticides has been an issue since the introduction of DDT in the 1940s. Although most countries currently ban DDT use, several currently used insecticides pose the same threat. In fact, resistance is predicted by elementary population genetics, and the speed of its evolution is directly related to the toxicityâthat is, strength of selection pressureâand inversely related to the generation length of the organism. When that target organism of the pesticide is a disease vector, like West […]
Posted in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mosquitoes, Pesticide Efficacy, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
02
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 2, 2023) A study published in Pest Management Science finds resistance to insecticides like pyrethroids are challenging attempts to control the mosquito Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti), the primary transmitter (vector) of dengue fever. While this study takes place in Bangladesh, resistance to biocidesâwhether to antibiotics, antimicrobials, or pesticidesâis growing globally. Prevention of disease outbreaks is threatened by reliance on chemical biocides to which pathogens and their vectors develop resistance. In fact, resistance is predicted by elementary population genetics, and the speed of its evolution is directly related to the toxicityâthat is, the strength of selection pressureâand inversely related to the generation length of the organism. (See PAY articles here and here, a PBS article here.) Insecticide resistance has been an issue since the introduction of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) in the 1940s. Although most countries currently ban DDT use, the compound is not the only chemical pesticide promoting pest resistance. Several current-use insecticides pose the same threat. Areawide, indiscriminate spraying of insecticides is causing resistance to develop among many pests. Mosquitoes have become increasingly resistant to synthetic pyrethroids, in addition to other classes of insecticides, such as carbamates and organophosphates. Thus, this study demonstrates the need for sustainable and practical strategies […]
Posted in Infectious Disease, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Resistance | 1 Comment »
10
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 10, 2023) Scientists are uncovering more information about a fungal pathogen behind a disease outbreak in Indian hospitals that sickened 10 pre-term infants. According to a study published in mBIO late last month, the yeast pathogen Lodderomyces elongisporus was the causative agent of this outbreak and is rapidly evolving resistance to control measures. There is growing concern globally over the spread of fungal pathogens, with scientists increasingly identifying agriculture as the driver behind pathogenic mutations and resistance. Scientists in Delhi, India were called to investigate an outbreak of L. elongisporus that sickened ten infants with low birthweight in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from September 2021 to February 2022. L. elongisporus is more commonly known for attacking severely immunocompromised adults, including those with heart conditions or a history of intravenous drug use. However, there are an increasing number of reports of fungal infections in neonatal care units. Further, the fungus appears to be spreading globally, with reports of infections in the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and North America. âThis yeast is among a growing list of fungi capable of causing severe infections among humans,â said lead study author Jianping Xu, PhD a professor at McMaster University […]
Posted in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fungal Resistance, Fungicides, Resistance, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
21
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 21, 2023) Into the annals of âentropic methods of agricultural pest controlâ arrives recent research showing that pests are, unsurprisingly, developing resistance to a genetically engineered (GE) biopesticide used for more than 90% of U.S. corn, cotton, and soybeans. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a naturally occurring bacterium; the versions deployed in conventional agriculture are engineered into Plant Incorporated Protectants (PIPs) â GE ingredients âinsertedâ into seeds for multiple kinds of crop plants. These PIPs target multiple crop-destructive insect species, including (in larval form) the corn rootworm and cotton bollworm, in particular. Beyond Pesticides continues to warn that âcontrols,â whether synthetic chemical pesticides or GE âbiologicalâ agents (such as GE Bt) that target living things (e.g., pests and weeds) are not sustainable over time because â in addition to the harms they cause â the issue of resistance will ultimately thwart their efficacy. There are two basic categories of genetic engineering employed in conventional agriculture. One technology transfers genetic material into seed to make plants tolerant of specific herbicide compounds that will be applied after planting (for example, the infamous âRoundup Ready,â glyphosate-tolerant seeds and plants). The other comprises plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs), in which the genetic material introduced […]
Posted in Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Genetic Engineering, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
30
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2023) Because antibiotics and fungicides are widely used in agriculture (except organic), they contribute significantly to the increasing efficacy problems with antimicrobial (antibiotic and antifungal medicines) use in health care, contributing to a growing crisis. According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, World Health Organization Director-General, âAntimicrobial resistance undermines modern medicine and puts millions of lives at risk.â Microorganismsâincluding bacteria, fungi, and virusesâare notoriously quick to evolve resistance to antimicrobial medicines. We know that selection for resistance is directly related to the frequency and intensity of antimicrobial use, so medical practitioners try to avoid using those medicines unless they are necessary. Tell EPA to cancel all uses of a pesticide when resistance is discovered or predicted to occur. Tell Congress to ensure that EPA protects public health from deadly antifungal and antibiotic resistance. Unfortunately, the medical profession lacks complete control over the use of antimicrobials. Many of the same chemicals used in human medicine are also used in agriculture. These may show up in or on treated food, but can also spread antimicrobial resistance through horizontal gene transfer. So, in addition to ingesting antibiotics in our food, the movement of resistant bacteria and fungi in the environment […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic, Antimicrobial, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
09
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 9, 2023)Â The Biden EPA still needs a new vision in order to meet the existential crises in public health, climate change, and biodiversity. The Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed in four years much of the progress made by the EPA in decades. Despite a broad new perspective embodied in President Bidenâs Executive Memorandum (EM) Modernizing Regulatory Review issued on his first day in office, the Biden EPA has not adopted a new direction for regulating pesticides. Tell President Biden, EPA, and Congress to adopt a new direction for pesticide regulation. Immediately following his inauguration, President Joe Biden issued the EM, which directs the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This EM could reverse the historical trend of status-quo regulatory reviews required by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that typically support vested economic interests of polluters (e.g., petroleum-based pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers). The Presidentâs EM sets the stage for the adoption of agency policy across government to […]
Posted in Biodiversity, Children, Endocrine Disruption, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farmworkers, Nervous System Effects, Pollinators, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
05
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 5, 2022) The use of insecticidal bed nets (IBNs) to prevent mosquito bites in malaria-endemic communities can result in resistance developing in secondary pests like bed bugs, according to research published in Parasites and Vectors. Decreased efficacy against bed bugs and other non-mosquito pests may result in misuse of both mosquito adulticides and bed nets, hampering efforts to stop the spread of malaria and other insect-borne disease. With resistance following a predicable pattern in both disease-transmitting and secondary pests, there is a critical need to embrace safer, nonchemical solutions, including both ecological and structural approaches to pest management. Researchers investigated the efficacy of untreated bed nets along with those treated with the commonly used synthetic pyrethroids deltamethrin and permethrin against both a population of insecticide-susceptible and pyrethroid resistant bed bugs. Insecticidal netting was secured between two glass jars in both an aggregation and blood meal experiment. For the aggregation experiment, fully fed bed bugs were set up to cross through the bed net to reach a darker resting location. With the blood meal experiment, unfed bed bugs were set up to cross the netting to receive a blood meal. Both experiments show the bed nets carrying little […]
Posted in Deltamethrin, Mosquitoes, Permethrin, Resistance, Synthetic Pyrethroid, Uncategorized | No Comments »
15
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 15, 2022) Industrial agriculture has both created and amplified the spread of the now highly problematic waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) plant, according to research published this month in the journal Science. Over the last 80 years, the push to increase monoculture plantings, expand cropland, and utilize chemical fertilizers and pesticides has changed waterhemp from a tame riparian wild plant into an aggressive, weedy intruder able to compete with row crops like corn and soybean. âThe genetic variants that help the plant do well in modern agricultural settings have risen to high frequencies remarkably quickly since agricultural intensification in the 1960s,â said study author Julia Kreiner, PhD with the University of British Columbiaâs Department of Botany. âThe types of changes weâre imposing in agricultural environments are so strong that they have consequences in neighbouring habitats that weâd usually think were natural.â To better understand how this plant went from a waterside obscurity to North Americaâs most notorious “weed,” researchers tracked the shifts occurring within the plants genome. Using data from herbarium samples first collected in 1828 until 2011, scientists sought out alleles (genetic mutations) that corresponded with agricultural intensification and analyzed the frequency of their occurrence over the nearly […]
Posted in Agriculture, Herbicides, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
22
Nov
(Beyond Pesticides, November 22, 2022) Fungus that survive a fungicide application may be able to multiply and thrive, putting plant yields at risk. This finding comes from research recently published by scientists at University of Illinois, focusing on the impact of fungicide use on soybean yields and the disease Septoria brown spot, caused by the fungus Septoria glycines. The research underlines the danger of preventive chemical applications in an attempt to protect yield and shows how precarious pesticide use can be when subject to the complexity seen in field conditions. Scientists began with the intent of analyzing the soybeanâs phyllosphere mycobiome, the fungal microbial make-up of the outside of the plant, including all its surfaces above-ground. A field trial was established near Urbana, Illinois, and soybeans plants were separated into four different plots according to their treatment. One group was inoculated with Septoria glycines, another inoculated and sprayed with a fungicide, a third not inoculated yet sprayed with a fungicide, and a final control group neither inoculated nor treated with a fungicide. A range of different analyses were conducted to view changes in the disease development and mycobiome composition over time. Soybean plants that had been inoculated with Septoria showed […]
Posted in Agriculture, fluxapyroxad, Fungal Resistance, Fungicides, Microbiata, Microbiome, pyraclostrobin, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
28
Sep
(Beyond Pesticides, September 28, 2022) âWeedy rice,â a close relative of cultivated rice that invades rice fields and reduces yields, is rapidly developing herbicide resistance in critical rice growing areas throughout the United States. According to research published this month in Communications Biology, the widespread planting of herbicide-resistant rice, developed through traditional, transitional (non-genetically engineered) breeding techniques, is driving this concerning phenomenon. The findings highlight the risk to agricultural production that relies on crops developed to tolerate repeated applications of synthetic chemicals, regardless of their method of development. Weedy rice is a form of rice that was âre-wilded,â or âde-domesticatedâ from cultivated rice, independently evolving multiple times throughout the world. It is highly adapted to grow in areas where cultivated rice is produced, and can result in significant yield loses, as well as a reduction in quality that reduces marketability. In the early 2000s, the agrichemical industry believed they had found a solution to the weedy rice. Multinational chemical corporation BASF developed a line of rice cultivars, produced through traditional breeding, that conferred resistance to imidazolinone class herbicides. This includes chemicals like imazapyr, imazaquin, imazethapyr, and imazamox, which poses cancer, reproductive, and neurotoxic risks to human health, and is toxic […]
Posted in Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, Herbicides, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
01
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 1, 2022) A new evolutionary strategy spreading among German cockroaches is making them more difficult to kill than ever before. In a recent publication in Nature Communications Biology, scientists determined that cockroaches are developing an aversion to sugar baits containing glucose, with impacts that are changing their behavior and altering their mating rituals. âWe are constantly in an evolutionary battle with cockroaches,â said study co-author Coby Schal, PhD, of North Carolina State University. âEvolution can be sped up tremendously in the urban, human environment because the selection force imposed on insects, especially inside homes, is so intense.â At issue with German cockroaches is a trade-off between natural and sexual selection. Natural selection or, in this case, human-induced natural selection, has led cockroach females to become averse to baits containing glucose sugars. While many are now familiar with the fact that the vast majority of German cockroaches are resistant to nearly every synthetic pesticide, with some resistant to upwards of 10x the label application rate, less reported is the pestsâ growing resistance to sugar-laced baits. Sugar-containing baits have been employed for decades and, over time, cockroaches that are able to survive in locations where sugar baits were employed […]
Posted in Cockroaches, Pesticide Efficacy, Resistance, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
10
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 10, 2022) Widespread weed resistance on chemical corn and soybean farms is leading farmers to till their fields more often, significantly increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These findings were published late last month in the journal Nature Food by a team of Iowa State University researchers. With agricultural practices accounting for roughly 10% of U.S. GHG emissions, and 25% of worldwide releases, farming practices that preserve soil health and sequester GHGs are essential for the future of food production. Tillage is a farming practice that can provide a range of benefits for crop production, but only in the right conditions. A range of tillage practices exist, ranging from yearly conventional tillage, where most crop residue is plowed into the soil, to conservation tillage where some residue remains, and no-till systems where the soil remains covered. Repeated tillage causes significant harm to soil structure and biology, and result in erosion and the release of GHGs like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from soil into the atmosphere. The harms of tillage have led both chemical and organic farmers toward no-till or reduced tillage systems. Organic no-till farming, as practiced by farming groups like the Rodale Institute, employs the […]
Posted in 2,4-D, Alternatives/Organics, Dicamba, Genetic Engineering, glufosinate, Glyphosate, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
12
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 12, 2022) A recent study published in Scientific Reports warns that parasitic salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in Pacific Ocean open-net fish farming operations are becoming resistant to emamectin benzoate (EMB), an active ingredient used to control salmon lice population in North America, both in the U.S. and British Columbia, Canada. Previously, researchers believed parasitic salmon lice only had high rates of chemical resistance in the Atlantic region due to the mixing of farmed and wild salmon. However, Pacific salmon lice are exhibiting similar rates of decreased sensitivity to EMB from various sources, including a decrease in the wild Pacific salmon population, overuse of chemical treatments, and reliance on single chemical treatments. The aquaculture industry (e.g., farmed seafood/fish) repeatedly faces sustainability issues, failing to adhere to environmental regulations and threatening marine health. Extensive use of pesticides to rid the parasite has led to widespread resistance to multiple pesticides, prompting increasing infection rates among North Atlantic salmon populations. These parasites endanger both farmed salmon and wild salmon, in addition to other local species of fish. In this context, pesticide treatments contributes to resistance among lethal pest populations, especially in ecologically vulnerable and interconnected ecosystems like ocean basins. The researchers caution, âSalmon […]
Posted in Aquaculture, emamectin, Resistance, Water | No Comments »