(Beyond Pesticides, November 20 2024) The perpetual use of pesticide coated seeds and tillage changed the composition of various beetle, spider, and other epigeal arthropod communities on New Hampshire farmland, according to a recent study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. Researchers fell short of finding conclusive results about the multi-variable impacts of both practices on biodiversity but raise notable issues on the impact of treated seeds. This research builds on the existing peer-reviewed scientific literature that highlights the threats of toxic pesticides and pesticide-coated seeds. Environmental and public health advocates are in agreement with organic and agroecological farmers who reject chemical-intensive land management practices. “At the root of the cascading crises of public health collapse, biodiversity loss, and the climate crisis is a reliance on petrochemical-based toxic products, rather than public policy and investments that strengthen consumer and institutional trust of nature-based, organic systems,” says Max Sano, organic program associate at Beyond Pesticides. “This is consistent with various interactions I have had with advocates across New England who are demanding action to stymie the impending biodiversity collapse enabled by government inaction.” Background and Methodology This study was coauthored and led by environmental researchers at the Department of Natural Resources […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 19, 2024) Researchers at Stanford University recently published a study in Cancer, an international interdisciplinary journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS), that reveals a correlation for numerous pesticides with increased prostate cancer occurrence and associated death. The study finds that exposure to 22 pesticides is positively associated with prostate cancer. The 22 pesticides include 2,4‐D, acephate, azoxystrobin, bifenthrin, carbaryl, chloropicrin, cloransulam‐methyl, cyhalothrin‐lambda, diflufenzopyr, diuron, glyphosate, hexazinone, linuron, methyl parathion, pendimethalin, propiconazole, sulfosate, thiamethoxam, thifensulfuron, tribenuron methyl, trifloxystrobin, and trifluralin. (See more on 2,4-D and cancer prevalence here and here.) As prostate cancer is a leading national health concern, the authors investigate agricultural pesticide exposure and compared it to prostate cancer incidence and mortality across counties in the contiguous U.S. “The geographic variation in prostate cancer incidence and mortality suggests that regional environmental factors, such as pesticide exposure, may contribute to the development of prostate cancer,” the researchers postulate. In comparing county‐level associations of 295 pesticides and prostate cancer reports, the authors were able to conduct an environment‐wide association study (EWAS) to determine any statistically significant links. “We acquired annual estimated total usage data (kg per county) for all pesticides reported and applied to agricultural crops grown […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 15, 2024) There are many pie-in-the-sky ideas to address the climate crisis while allowing business as usual in the extractive and industrial systems that are causing the crisis. Prominent among them are geoengineering to block sunlight and building industrial plants to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) from reaching the atmosphere, known as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Like geoengineering, CCS is a “solution for the future that always will be.” It has garnered decades of hype, research, and government funding of prototype projects without doing much of anything to remove carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contains numerous revenue streams aimed at coping with the climate crisis, including CCS. But it is a mixed bag of good and bad ideas. Beyond Pesticides analyzed the IRA in 2022, lauding the act’s “provision of unprecedented sums to address the existential threats we face related to climate, biodiversity, and health.” These include about $21 billion for “climate smart” agriculture and programs to reduce petrochemically dependent farming. But the analysis also details the many provisions for infeasible and counterproductive projects. Rather than complex and expensive technological projects, the best practitioners of CCS are […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 12, 2024) With revelations reported last month by Investigate Midwest and previously by The Guardian showing that Syngenta, the manufacturer and registrant of paraquat, kept secret scientific information on the weed killer’s adverse effects related to Parkinson’s disease, there is increasing concern that endocrine-disrupting properties have not been fully disclosed. Endocrine-disrupting synthetic chemicals, derived from fossil fuels, will be the focus of Session 2 of Beyond Pesticides 41st National Forum: Imperatives for a Sustainable Future on Thursday, November 14 from 1:00-3:00pm (EST). Keynote Speaker The keynote speaker, Tracey Woodruff, PhD, will address the scientific, health, and regulatory issues associated with societal reliance on these chemicals. Dr. Woodruff, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) senior scientist and policy advisor, is the director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, and professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.  Roundtable Discussion Dr. Woodruff’s talk will be followed by a roundtable with panelists, including a former senior scientist focusing on ecosystem effects, a breast cancer activist, and a farmworker advocate who will share their experience and insight into both the regulation of hazardous materials […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 6, 2024) An analysis in the International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews emphasizes the role of biodiversity in agriculture, adding to a wide body of science on its importance. The authors, from Western Illinois University in the United States and Rome Business School in Italy, find that biodiversity supports critical ecosystems and organisms needed for sustainable food production. Through literature reviews and case studies, the interconnectedness of agriculture with plant and animal diversity, beneficial insects, soil health, and climate change is highlighted, as well as the need to manage land organically to support biodiversity. Plant and Animal Diversity As the researchers note, “A diverse agricultural system can better absorb shocks and maintain productivity, ensuring food security in the face of uncertainty.” A wide range of species present within ecosystems protects from changing environmental conditions and improves resilience. When farmers use monocultures for their crops, this leads to reduced ecosystem services from beneficial insects and increased vulnerability to pests and diseases. “By contrast, diverse cropping systems can enhance resilience, providing a buffer against environmental changes and fostering sustainable food production,” the authors say. Research shows that higher plant diversity disrupts pest life cycles and promotes beneficial insects, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 21, 2024) To solve the existential crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and human disease, Beyond Pesticides is urging that organic agriculture grows—over the next decade becoming universally adopted for all agriculture. However, with the expiration of the Farm Bill on September 30, 2023, and subsequent one-year extension, core organic programs including the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) will expire without Congressional action. This leaves thousands of organic farmers with a huge net increase in their annual certification costs—and presents a disincentive for others to make the transition to organic. The OCCSP will disappear in 2025 unless Congress passes a five-year Farm Bill with funding or includes sufficient funding in a stopgap bill this fall. Chemical-intensive agriculture, with its dependence on petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers, is a major contributor to the existential health and environmental crises and contamination of air, land, and water. Organic agriculture, certified and labeled in compliance with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) provides: A definition of organic agriculture that defines health-biodiversity-climate friendly practices; A requirement for a systems plan that establishes baseline management practices to create resiliency and prevent pests; A rigorous process for an allowed/prohibited substances list with a mechanism for […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 15, 2024) In Environmental Epidemiology, researchers from Columbia University and the University of Southern California, along with representatives from the nonprofit Comite Civico del Valle in Brawley, California, report the heightened risk of wheezing for five- to twelve-year-olds in the rural communities of California’s Imperial Valley. Through a school-based survey, the authors find associations between living near pesticide applications and more wheeze symptoms among the children. According to the authors, residents of the Imperial Valley, which is located near the border between the United States (U.S.) and Mexico, “are primarily Latino, 1 in 3 children live in poverty, and there is a 20% unemployment rate. The county faces poor air quality and excess particulate matter levels. Further, one in five children is diagnosed with asthma and the rate of asthma-related pediatric emergency room visits and hospitalizations is two times the CA state average.” This highlights the disproportionate risk for residents in this area regarding environmental exposure to harmful chemicals. Children are already more susceptible to health complications following pesticide exposure, as they take in greater amounts of toxic chemicals relative to their body weight and have still-developing organ systems. Young children in environments with higher levels of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 11-14, 2024) Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated this year on Monday, October 14, 2024 and has been described as follows: “[T]hroughout our Nation’s history, Indigenous peoples have faced violence and devastation that has tested their limits. . . Today, Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions. . . They challenge all of us to celebrate the good, confront the bad, and tell the whole truth of our history.  And as innovators, educators, engineers, scientists, artists, and leaders in every sector of society, Indigenous peoples contribute to our shared prosperity.  Their diverse cultures and communities today are a testament to the unshakable and unbreakable commitment of many generations to preserve their cultures, identities, and rights to self-governance.  That is why, despite centuries of devastation and turmoil, Tribal Nations continue to thrive and lead in countless ways.” This language is taken from a Proclamation issued by President Biden (2023), first issued in 2021 and then again last year. This year’s Proclamation states: “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor Indigenous peoples’ strength, courage, and resilience.  We celebrate the vast contributions of Indigenous communities to the world.  And we recommit […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 10, 2024) On September 16, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an order allowing Kaizen Technologies LLC to sell off its chlorpyrifos-based insecticide product—Bifenchlor, a known neurotoxicant. This reverses an existing stocks agreement that Kaizen voluntarily negotiated with EPA in August 2022 when the company withdrew Bifenchlor from use. The agency attributes this new order to a November 2023 Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which vacated EPA’s prior 2021 chlorpyrifos ban on food crops (see here). EPA’s practice of permitting the sale and use of existing stocks of canceled pesticides has been a longstanding concern for public health and environmental advocates, as it enables the continued use of petrochemical pesticides that the agency has found to be dangerous. Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate with adverse health effects on children (see here and here), is now the latest example.  In reporting on the almost unprecedented decision on August 7, 2024, to use its emergency authority to ban Dacthal/DCPA, Beyond Pesticides argues that the “Dacthal Standard” is a positive precedent, a step forward in modern regulatory history; however, EPA’s continued approval of chlorpyrifos’s existing stock, complicated by the 2023 court decision, may suggest otherwise.   As demonstrated historically with […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 4, 2024) Coffee is a staple of morning routines for millions around the nation—and as the demand for coffee remains high, so goes the surge in certified organic coffee, offering space for coffee lovers to enjoy the drink and lower their carbon footprint, according a study in Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy. A 2024 survey conducted by the International Food Information Council found that “[t]he majority of Americans (88%) consume caffeine, with 8 in 10 reporting they consume it daily, and nearly half (47%) reporting they consume it multiple times a day.” Coffee overwhelmingly leads in popularity, with 54% of respondents indicating the beverage as their preferred source of caffeine with soft drinks a distant second (17%). Researchers found in the new coffee production study that certified organic coffee producers in Peru have a lower carbon footprint than transitional organic coffee farmers. As organic land management practices and principles continue to proliferate, advocates continue to stress the importance of third-party certification as an integral part of the integrity of the USDA organic label, overseen by the National Organic Program. As the National Organic Standards Board goes through its mandatory public comment review this month, consumers, companies, farmers, and […]

(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. “[A]ll use of antimicrobial agents exerts selective pressure that increases the risk of development of resistance,” the authors state, highlighting the importance of limiting antimicrobial uses. “Antimicrobial resistance is an organism’s 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,” the authors report. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, can be transmitted “through the food supply, direct contact with animals, environmental pathways, and contact with infected or colonized humans,” 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 […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 30, 2024) Public Comment Period on Issues of Organic Integrity Closes Today. Farming is a notoriously risky enterprise, and organic farming presents further challenges along with its multiple benefits. Generally, organic has made great strides over the last several years and is strongly supported by American consumers, findings in the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census. Even late this year, there is the prospect of several more important changes that will improve the organic certification process and some issues that will take more policy changes to resolve in the future. As a part of this process to ensure the integrity of the USDA organic label and the permitted production practices, Beyond Pesticides urges that the public submit comments TODAY (the last day for the comment period) on issues currently before the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). See two sets of comments on key issues that can be submitted with one click each. Click here on issues related to use of plastic, nonorganic ingredients in processed food, and seeds and plant starts. Click here on inert ingredients, contaminants in compost, and drugs in livestock production. U.S. agriculture overall has remained fairly robust between the USDA Census in […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 27, 2024) A recent article in Flatwater Free Press identifies a growing trend of companies, communities, and farms nationwide advancing organic agriculture and land management. Among the signs of this change is Belltown Farms, a Philadelphia, PA owner and operator of organic and organic-transitioning farms, that, according to Flatwater, is “the second-largest buyer of Nebraska’s increasingly expensive farmland by money spent between 2018 and 2022” with plans to expand to 50,000+ acres in various states across the country. Similarly, the continued success of the Nebraska-based, on-farm processing operation, Grain Place Foods, and its collaboration with farmers focused on small-scale organic production, represents the diversity of economic and organizational models that can exist in local, regional, national, and even international food systems. This National Organic Month, organic advocates, consumers, and farmers continue to call on federal policymakers to expand opportunities for the proliferation of small-scale farming operations. In advancing growth of organic and integrity of the organic food label, organic advocates are seeking to ensure equity and access to land as integral to any growth. In this context, Beyond Pesticides had identified the promise of organic in fighting existential health, biodiversity, and climate crises and ongoing threats to the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 25, 2024) In a semiannual report released in August 2024, EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) identifies a number of “unresolved” issues that strike the core of the agency’s failure to carry out its responsibilities to protect health and the environment. One of the issues identified is EPA’s failure to conduct an adequate and independent assessment of the cancer effects of the fumigant, 1,3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D or Telone). OIG’s original report, The EPA Needs to Improve the Transparency of Its Cancer-Assessment Process for Pesticides, was issued in 2022 and concluded that EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) engages in secret meetings with industry, elevates unqualified individuals to decision-making roles, uses an untested scientific approach, fails to conduct a simple literature review, and neglects public transparency. Other pesticide issues that OIG identified in its report include: The EPA Needs to Determine Whether Seresto Pet Collars Pose an Unreasonable Risk to Pet Health The EPA Has Not Verified that Its Laboratories Comply with Hazardous Waste Requirements EPA Needs an Agencywide Strategic Action Plan to Address Harmful Algal Blooms EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program Has Made Limited Progress in Assessing Pesticides EPA Needs to Evaluate the Impact of the Revised Agricultural Worker […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 16, 2024) After the release of a hard-hitting study last week published in Science that pinpoints the cycle of increasing pesticide use with ecosystem and bat decline, resulting in higher infant mortality, Beyond Pesticides is calling for state and local action to transition public land to organic practices. Without a healthy ecosystem, the study documents increased pesticide use with dramatic adverse health effects. To take corrective action, Beyond Pesticides’ action asks governors and mayors to do the following: Eliminate the use of pesticides that imperil bats by adopting biodiversity conservation goals including— (1) ecological mosquito management with measures that recognize the benefit of preventive strategies, establish source reduction programs to manage breeding sites on public lands, educate on the management of private lands, employ programs for larval management with biological controls, and eliminate the use of toxic pesticides; (2) prohibition of systemic insecticides and treated seeds, including neonicotinoids; and (3) land management on public lands—including hospitals, higher education institutions, schools, and parks—using regenerative organic principles and organic certified practices and products, to transition to a viable organic system that prioritizes long-term health of the public, ecology, and economy. The new research connects declines in bat populations with increased […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 13, 2024) While chemical companies persist in pushing simplistic solutions to complex problems, there is a large amount of evidence that organic farming presents effective solutions to many of those problems. Now there is new evidence that organic agriculture prevents the untold harms of pesticide-driven monoculture. In a new study, German researchers compared 16 agricultural landscapes in Lower Saxony and northern Hesse that had different combinations of semi-natural habitat, organic practices, and annual and perennial flower strips. Overall, the researchers find that organic farming provides the highest benefit to the bees, along with the presence of diverse flowering plants in and near monoculture fields. The study compares the effects of three honey bee conservation methods on the prevalence of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and the 11 parasites Varroa transfers to bees, and the impact of these destructive organisms on bee colony growth. The findings were reported in the June issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology. Organic practices lead directly to lower parasite load and higher colony growth—essentially, the more organic crops, the more bees, and the more parasites, the fewer bees. Pesticides plus monoculture doubles the damage: Pesticides increase mortality, damage bees’ immune systems, and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 11, 2024) A literature review in Environments, written by researchers from South Korea and Ghana, highlights the threat to nontarget species and the biodiversity of insects that occur as a result of agricultural pesticide use. “Insects have experienced a greater species abundance decline than birds, plants, and other organisms, which could pose a significant challenge to global ecosystem management. Although other factors such as urbanisation, deforestation, monoculture, and industrialisation may have contributed to the decline in insect species, the extensive application of agro-chemicals appears to cause the most serious threat,” the authors state. The so-called “insect apocalypse” has been reported with one-quarter of the global insect population lost since 1990.  The authors, seeking to summarize the decline in insect species richness and abundance, link reliance on petrochemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers to cascading negative impacts. Insects provide many important services, such as maintaining healthy soil, recycling nutrients, pollinating flowers and crops, and controlling pests. These nontarget and beneficial species are at risk through pesticide exposure, both directly and indirectly, which then affects these essential functions.   “Extensive and indiscriminate pesticide application on a commercial scale affects insect species abundance and non-target organisms by interfering with their growth, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 10, 2024) Results from a natural experiment, published in Science, shows ecosystem disruption of bat populations with cascading impacts on human health. Eyal Frank, PhD, an assistant professor of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, links increased insecticide use in croplands in the absence of bat species to a rise in infant mortality. As Dr. Frank says in an article in Science Daily, “[B]ats do add value to society in their role as natural pesticides, and this study shows that their decline can be harmful to humans.”  Many farmers rely on bats as alternatives to pesticides to protect their crops from insects, but White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) has greatly impacted bat populations since 2006. With the collapse of many bat populations in counties in North America, these farmers turn to toxic chemicals to replace the ecosystem services bats usually provide. These chemicals, however, lead to ripples through the ecosystem and endanger human health.  WNS is an invasive fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) found in caves that affects bats during hibernation. As highlighted in an article in the New York Times, three species of bats in North America have been decimated by this syndrome, and bats […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 9, 2024)  Comments are due by 11:59 PM EDT on September 30, 2024. With the opening of the public comment period on organic standards that determine the integrity, strength, and growth of the organic agricultural sector, a study was released last week that shows degradation of the ecosystem linked to increased infant mortality associated with higher pesticide use by chemical-intensive farmers compensating for losses in bat populations. It is well known that bats, among other wildlife including birds and bees, provide important ecosystem services to farmers by helping to manage pest populations and increase plant resilience and productivity. While degradation of ecosystems is attributable to many factors, pesticide use accounts for an important element in harm to bats and biodiversity. The study, “The economic impacts of ecosystem disruptions: Costs from substituting biological pest control,” published in Science, concludes with a finding  that “insect-eating bat population levels induce farmers to substitute with insecticides, consequently resulting in a negative health shock to infant mortality.” Daily News will cover this study in depth in an upcoming edition. According to research published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2022), bat population declines cost American farmers as much as […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 6, 2024) A literature review in the Internal Journal of Molecular Sciences provides promising insights into biofungicides as a “sustainable and economically viable alternative” to synthetic fungicides in expanding organic agriculture. The authors note that organic “… is the most sustainable response to current crises of all kinds, as it can better anticipate and prepare for crises and create long-term equity and resilience in food systems.” The authors point out that fungal infections in crops are estimated to account for 20-40% of failures annually, and understanding how to control such agricultural diseases will be crucial to meeting the needs of a growing global population. Organic farmers and land managers note that biological tools can be integrated into practices that work with the ecosystem, rather than be utilized as “substitute” products or controls with practices that ignore soil health and beneficial organisms that enhance biodiversity and provide ecosystem services (see here and here). Conducted by researchers in Mexico, the review examines data on biosynthesis (how plants create their own fungicide, known as secondary metabolites or SMs); the mechanisms of action of secondary metabolites against phytopathogenic (plant-killing) fungi; extraction techniques and biofungicide formulations; the biological activity of plant extracts on phytopathogenic fungi; and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 5, 2024) As insect-borne diseases like EEE (eastern equine encephalitis) become a focus of mosquito managers, there is a continuing pattern of mosquito resistance to synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, which are the primary tools in conventional mosquito control programs—a strategy more focused on attempting to kill adult mosquitoes than the management of breeding sites. A study published in PLOS One documents Aedes aegypti mosquito resistance to synthetic pyrethroids permethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, and deltamethrin in study sites in Córdoba, Colombia. Aedes aegypti is a common mosquito species that can carry the EEE virus and others. There is significant scientific literature highlighting the prevalence of pesticide resistance in mosquito, fly, and other insect populations. Pesticide resistance is an inherent problem with pesticide dependency generally, creating a complex fabric of threats from insect resistance to plant incorporated protectants (PIPs), weed resistance in genetically engineered crop production dependent on chemical-intensive weed control, to antibiotic resistance to medically important drugs, exacerbated by agricultural use and horizontal gene transfer. As the frequency of deadly mosquito vector diseases is expected to increase with rising temperatures and greater precipitation—which raises the number of breeding sites—advocates, physicians, beekeepers, and community leaders are calling on elected officials to prioritize ecological […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 29, 2024) The Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) earned the 2024 Innovators Award from The Better Cotton Initiative (Better Cotton) for its leadership in developing capacity and expansion of organic standards and practices in the Pakistani cotton sector, according to a press release by Better Cotton. Given the millions of pounds of some of the most toxic chemicals used to produce cotton, and Pakistan being an exporter of $3.5 billion worth of cotton (2021), including $240 million to the U.S. (2022), cotton production is a worldwide contamination problem. The U.S. is currently the fourth largest cotton producer (domestic and export) and the largest cotton exporter in the world, accounting for 30% of all cotton produced, valued at $5.7 billion (2021). The farm value of U.S. organic cotton is $35.55 million (2021). According to the Organic Trade Association, organic cotton comprises approximately 0.95% of global cotton production. “CABI, for its multifaceted work in Pakistan which has included the creation of a national organic agriculture policy for Pakistan that is currently being assessed by the country’s Ministry of Food Security and Research,” the release goes on to discuss the implications of the years-long initiative. “If approved, the policy […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 28, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide labeling requirements fail to adequately communicate acute toxicity levels to the public, as evidenced in a recent study of consumers published last month in the journal Nature. After evaluating whether the current three “signal” words (CAUTION, WARNING, DANGER) on pesticide products adequately convey pesticide toxicity, the authors conclude that current labeling may result in “unintended adverse effects” because it does not “effectively communicate toxicity risks to consumers.” The signal words on pesticide labels, based on laboratory animal testing for determining lethal doses, are intended to protect users of the product from exposure that can kill through inhalation, skin absorption, and ingestion of the pesticide. However, the signal words do not warn about long-effects like cancer, neurological diseases, reproductive harm, as well as other adverse effects associated with pesticide exposure. (See Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database.)   The study tests two prototype labels to evaluate the effectiveness of visual elements in communicating toxicity information, citing research in cognitive psychology that indicates visual elements, like images and graphics, are more effective for conveying information than text alone. This is particularly crucial for pesticide labels, where complex toxicity details need to be communicated quickly […]