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Friday, March 4th, 2022
(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2022) An article in My London reported by Finn Byrne, finds labeling on conventionally grown fruits and vegetables marked as non-vegan. The non-vegan label shocked many shoppers who buy the produce with chemical-intensive practices, as fruits and vegetables are inherently vegan. However, pesticides used in the production of fruits and vegetables render these foods non-vegan because of the harm that pesticides cause to animals and since a wax coating on fruits and vegetables made of shellac, a resin secreted from female lac beetles and thus non-vegan. Recent studies indicate plant-based diets can mitigate excessive pesticide use and exposure if they are organically grown. However, a plant-based diet reliant on pesticides does little to lessen the health and ecological effects of conventional agriculture. Fungicides are ubiquitous in agricultural and residential settings puts human and animal health at risk. Exposure to fungicides can manifest adverse health effects, including reproductive dysfunction, birth/developmental effects, kidney/liver damage, and cancer. Several researchers find that fungicide use promotes more drug-resistant fungal infections in humans as these fungicides are structurally similar to medical antifungal medications. After investigating fruits and vegetables at various United Kingdom (UK) grocery stores (i.e., Tesco, Morrisons, and Marks and Spencer), the report finds fungicides imazalil and propiconazole present […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Fungicides, Propiconazole | No Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2022
(Beyond Pesticides, January 10, 2022) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now undermining full public disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients in our food, both through misrepresentation in labeling and through a definition that allows a large percentage of ingredients to go undisclosed. The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Act, dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act by food safety advocates, establishes a national GMO (genetically modified organisms or genetically engineered GE) food labeling requirement that has led to deceptive messaging, preempts states from adopting stronger label language and standards, and excludes a large portion of the population without special cell phone technology (because information is accessed the QR codes on products). However, USDA regulations go furtherâcreating loopholes and barriers to transparency that prohibit the use of the widely-known terms “GMO” and “GE” and prohibit retailers from providing more information to consumers. Tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to require USDA agencies to honestly disclose genetically engineered ingredients and carry out the goals of the Executive Memorandum, Modernizing Regulatory Review. Urge your U.S. Senators and Representative to ask Agriculture Committees to hold oversight hearings to ensure that USDA holds to those goals.   USDA is hugeâencompassing 29 agencies and offices, with […]
Posted in Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, Labeling, Take Action, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Friday, January 7th, 2022
(Beyond Pesticides. January 7, 2022) Unbeknownst to most Americans when they woke up on New Yearâs Day 2022, a new labeling system for genetically modified-engineered foodsâ promulgated in 2019 â which does not mention genetically engineered or GMO ingredients, went into effect. Consumer, food, and environmental advocates say that the new label is misleading, insufficiently transparent, discriminatory, rife with loopholes, and confusing for consumers. The new labeling requirement mandates that genetically engineered foods bear labels that indicate that they have been âbioengineeredâ or that provide a text-messaging phone number or a QR code as avenues for further information. (âAdditional options such as a phone number or web address are available to small food manufacturers or for small and very small packages.â) The new labeling rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) aims, according to the agency, to eliminate the crazy quilt of labels affixed to foods and ingredients that have been scientifically altered. According to an agency spokesperson, the rule is designed to âbalance the need to provide information to consumers with the interest in minimizing costs to companies.â Genetically altered food items and ingredients have heretofore been called, and labeled as, âgenetically engineeredâ (GE) or âgenetically modifiedâ (GM), […]
Posted in Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, Labeling, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Monday, January 3rd, 2022
(Beyond Pesticides, January 3, 2022) Environmentalists and public health advocates are calling for an aggressive program of policy change in 2022âchange they say is critical to addressing existential crises of public health threats, biodiversity collapse, and severe climate disruption that is not being taken seriously by policy makers. On November 23, 2021, Senator Cory Booker introduced legislation to eliminate many of the current problems with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which regulates the registration and use of pesticides in the U.S. It corrects some of the worst mistakes in registering pesticides and removes some of the worst loopholes in the law. However, in order to prevent future pesticide problems, we need reform that goes deeper. Urge your Senators to co-sponsor legislation to reform the toxic core of federal pesticide law. Specifically, the bill, the Protect Americaâs Children from Toxic Pesticides Act of 2021 (PACTPA), would provide some desperately-needed improvements to FIFRA to better protect people and the environment, including: Bans some of the most damaging pesticides scientifically known to cause significant harm to people and the environment: Organophosphate insecticides, which are designed to target the neurological system and have been linked to neurodevelopmental damage in children; Neonicotinoid insecticides, which […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, December 23rd, 2021
**We’re taking a break for the holidays. Daily News will be back on January 3, 2022** (Beyond Pesticides, December 23, 2021) We at Beyond Pesticides wish our members, supporters, and collaborators all the best for the holiday season and new year. We look forward to working with you in the new year to meet the serious environmental and public health challenges with truly organic solutions. Our accomplishments are your victories. We are seeing the outcomes in communities across the countryâthe adoption of organic land management policies and practices that eliminate toxic pesticides, protect children, pets, and families, and protect the local ecology. With your support of Beyond Pesticides, we strive to reverse the destructive environmental and public health path that weâre on and advance the adoption of organic practices and policies that respect life. To view our accomplishments, see Beyond Pesticidesâ 2021 Year in Review. Beyond Pesticidesâ program supports a clear message: End toxic pesticide use and embrace organic practices and policies that respect the power of nature to healâ in the face of devastating and destructive toxic chemical-dependency. This past year has again elevated important public discourse on the threats that pesticides pose to health and the environment. Table […]
Posted in Announcements, Holidays | No Comments »
Friday, November 19th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, November 19, 2021) Thanksgiving offers an opportunity for people to come together and give thanks for the bounty of an organic harvest. Unfortunately, many Thanksgiving meals are produced by chemical farming practices that utilize hazardous pesticides, genetically engineered (GE) crops, and petroleum-based synthetic fertilizers. These inputs, apart from being unnecessary, degrade ecosystems and affect the health of consumers and agricultural workers alike. Itâs never too late to start a new tradition â for this year and into the future, make your Thanksgiving feast sustainable by going organic. Now, more than ever, itâs important to go organic: For Our Own Health Going organic drastically reduces the amount of pesticide in a personâs body. Although Thanksgiving is generally no time to think about dieting, weâll aim to make it instructive: recent research finds that one of the biggest health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet comes when you go organic. Compared to individuals on a Mediterranean diet filled with chemically farmed foods, those that ate organic had 91% lower pesticide residue. This finding is backed up by a considerable body of prior research. A 2015 study based on self-reported food intake found that those who eat organic generally have much lower […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Farmworkers, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, November 12th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, November 12, 2021) Omnivorous readers may have encountered an article, in the November 15 issue of The New Yorker magazine, titled â at best misleadingly, and certainly sensationally â âThe Great Organic-Food Fraud.â The subhead comports with the tone of the headline: âThereâs no way to confirm that a crop was grown organically. Randy Constant exploited our trust in the labels â and made a fortune.â The piece, by Ian Parker, tells a complex tale of the machinations of dishonest and greedy people who saw, in the commerce in organic grains, an opportunity to misrepresent nonorganic crops as organic and make a boatload of money in doing so. What the article fails to do is render any comprehensive picture of how National Organic Program certification and inspection work, and the underlying principles, values, and standards in federal law (the Organic Foods Production Act), nor does it review either the benefits of organic agriculture broadly or the massive harmful impacts of conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture in the U.S. Beyond Pesticides provides ballast, in this Daily News Blog article, to the failings of the New Yorker article and the damage it might do to the organic movement. It is worth noting […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, October 13, 2021) Pesticide use in conventional chemical-intensive farming is so pervasive that weeds are developing resistance to herbicides they have never encountered before. According to research published in Plant and Cell Physiology and New Phytologist, the notoriously difficult-to-control weed waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) is outpacing commercial crops in its ability to detoxify after herbicide exposure. “This is probably the first known example where waterhemp has evolved a detox mechanism that a crop doesn’t have. It’s using a completely different mechanism, adding to the complexity of controlling this weed,” says Dean Riechers, PhD, study co-author and professor at University of Illinois. Researchers found waterhemp resistant to the chemical syncarpic acid-3 (SA3). SA3 is one of the earliest versions of a 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) inhibiting herbicide. HPPD inhibiting herbicides, which include herbicides like isoxaflutole and mesotrione, are selective (ie plant-specific) and break down amino acids that are required for plant growth and development. Corn generally tolerates HPPD-inhibiting chemicals, detoxifying them through different channels depending upon the specific type of HPPD herbicide. Weeds that grow in and around corn fields where these chemicals are regularly sprayed, like waterhemp, have likewise evolved the ability to detoxify HPPD-inhibitors, mostly mimicking the process that […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, August 18, 2021) Multinational chemical company Bayer filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court this week, seeking a reversal of a lower court verdict that established Bayer liable for damages from the use of its weed killer Roundup. After purchasing Roundup-maker Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has been mired in a deluge of court battles from injured customers throughout the country who assert that their use of the glyphosate-based herbicide resulted in their cancer diagnosis. Bayer, for its part, has consistently lost these court cases. The companyâs Supreme Court petition is now regarded as its best and last chance to avert responsibility for the ongoing harm to public health caused by its carcinogenic herbicide. Bayerâs Supreme Court challenge pertains to the Hardeman v. Monsanto case. In that suit, a California court found unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman. Mr. Hardeman told the jury he had used Roundup since the 1980s to spray poison oak and weeds around his property, resulting in his diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2014. He was awarded $5.27 million, while his punitive damages were ultimately reduced from $75 to $20 million. Bayer is bringing two main arguments to the Supreme court. First, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Bayer, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Litigation, Monsanto, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 13th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, August 13, 2021)Â Across the pond in the UK, two years of trials with spring and winter wheat varieties have shown, according to the Farmer Scientist Network (FSN), which conducted the study as Crop Health North, that so-called âbiopesticides,â alone or in combination with conventional pesticides, can be useful in generating yield and grain quality comparable to those obtained through use of conventional âcrop chemistryâ (aka, synthetic chemical pesticides). According to Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman, biopesticides are a âmixed bag,â generally poorly understood, and defined differently by various entities and stakeholders. He notes that the term can be misleading and mixes contradictory approaches, adding that, âItâs troublesome when we continue to look for product replacements or substitutions for agricultural practices that are clearly ineffective, and in the process avoid the changes necessary to transition to organic practices,â which represent the real, long-term solution to the problems efforts such as these trials seek to remedy. The project was sponsored and supported by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS) through the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI). YAS collaborated with universities, farmers, research institutes, agricultural organizations, and technology and food testing centers to conduct trials on three farms in the north of […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, June 8, 2021) Biosolid-based fertilizer products like Milorganite, often sold to consumers as âorganic,â are contaminated with dangerous PFAS chemicals, according to a study published by Sierra Club and Ecology Center. Biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, have been found in the past to contain residues of hazardous pesticides, heavy metals, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and a range of other toxicants. While the latest news may not be surprising for careful shoppers who have long avoided biosolid fertilizers, none of these risks are relayed to consumers on fertilizer packages. With fertilizer regulations failing the American consumer, it becomes more important than ever to seek out certified organic fertilizer products. Sierra Club and Ecology Center looked at nine fertilizer products, each produced from the sewage sludge of a particular American city. For instance, Milorganite, perhaps the most well-known biosolid sludge fertilizer, is derived from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin sewage treatment system. Other products were derived from locations including Sacramento, CA (Synagro); Tacoma, WA (TAGRO); Madison, GA (Pro Care); Las Vegas, NV (Ecoscraps); Eau Claire, WI (Menards Premium Natural Fertilizer); Jacksonville, FL (Greenedge); North Andover, MA (Earthlife); and Washington, DC (Cured Bloom). As the report notes, many of […]
Posted in Asthma, Biosolids, Cancer, Developmental Disorders, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fertilizer, PFAS, Reproductive Health, Sewage Sludge, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, June 1, 2021) Farmworkers are at greatest risk from pesticides. EPAâs policies toward farmworkers comprise a blatant example of systemic racism. Although everyone suffers from pesticide poisoning, farmworkers and their families shoulder a disproportionate burden of the hazards. Agricultural justice demands that we ensure a workplace with fair wages and benefits, no discrimination or coercion, and protection from hazards, such as harmful chemicals, including pesticides. Acknowledging, respecting, and sustaining the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest our food is central to the basic values and principles that advance sustainable practices. Agricultural justice demands that we ensure a workplace with fair wages and benefits, no discrimination or coercion, and protection from hazards, such as harmful chemicals, including pesticides. Acknowledging, respecting, and sustaining the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest our food is central to the basic values and principles that advance sustainable practices. Tell EPA to protect farmworkers from pesticides. Worker Protection Standards Are Inadequate to Protect Farmworkers Worker protection standards are set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The original standard was developed after field hearings in which EPA heard from growers, but not farmworkers. With the threat […]
Posted in Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farmworkers, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, May 28th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, May 28, 2021)Â A report by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concludes that scientific analyses by the agency were altered so as to favor top Trump administration officialsâ policy choices in the 2018 reapproval of the highly toxic and problematic pesticide, dicamba. The report, âEPA Deviated from its Typical Procedures in Its 2018 Dicamba Pesticide Registration Decision,â was publicly released on May 24. It confirms aspects of what Beyond Pesticides and many others in the science, advocacy, public health, and environmental communities have been saying and reporting since 2016: the Trump administration executed a wholesale assault on scientific integrity in federal decision making. In its research on the matter, the Inspector Generalâs office (OIG) reviewed EPAâs 2016 and 2018 decisions on dicambaâs registration, documentation that purported to support those decisions, and the concerns forwarded in the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and by many stakeholders. (See more in figure below.) It also reviewed EPA internal procedures and guidance on pesticide registration, and agency scientific integrity materials; interviewed career scientists and other agency staff; and communicated with EPAâs Scientific Integrity (Science Advisor) program staff. As reported […]
Posted in Chlorpyrifos, Dicamba, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 26th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, April 26, 2021) Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M), and 17 House cosponsors have reintroduced the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA), which establishes a roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions from agriculture by 2040, while empowering farmers with the tools and resources needed to improve soil health, sequester carbon, reduce emissions, enhance their resilience, and tap into new market opportunities. Pingree first introduced the legislation in the 116th Congress, where it served as a model for recognizing agriculture as a part of the climate solution. Ask your U.S. Representatives and Senators to Cosponsor the Agricultural Resilience Act. Thank those who already have. The ARA offers farmer-driven climate solutions to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. agriculture by 2040: Research Increases funding for USDAâs Regional Climate Hubs Invests in public breed and cultivar research Soil Health Authorizes USDA to offer performance-based crop insurance discounts for practices that can be demonstrated to reduce risk Creates new USDA grants to state and tribal governments to improve soil health Directs USDA to establish a Soil Health and Greenhouse Gas Advisory Committee Farmland Preservation and Farm Viability Creates a new Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP) subprogram to help Farmers develop and expand markets for […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, April 2nd, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, April 2, 2021) Having raised the alarm for many years (and most recently in November 2020) on the dangers of the burgeoning antibiotic resistance crisis, Beyond Pesticides has joined a coalition of public interest groups in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its approval of use of the medically important antibiotic streptomycin on citrus trees. Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman comments: âIt is past time to take urgent action to transition away from practices in agriculture that are dependent on antibiotics, advance organic farm management, and avoid new deadly pandemics. This lawsuit is an important action to reverse the previous administrationâs decision to ignore the science and allow expanded use of an antibiotic in agriculture.â According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the suit charges that EPA âfailed to ensure that the approved uses of streptomycin as a pesticide would not cause unreasonable harm to human health or the environment and failed to adequately assess impacts to endangered species.â The coalition of plaintiffs includes Beyond Pesticides, NRDC, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, Migrant Clinicians Network, and U.S. PIRG. The coalition is represented […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic Resistance, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Litigation, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, March 26th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, March 26, 2021) Certified organic, soil-based growers were dealt a blow on March 22 when a U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled that soil-less hydroponic growing operations can continue to be eligible for USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) organic certification within the National Organic Program (NOP). According to the Center for Food Safety, the judge ruled that USDAâs exemption of hydroponics from the âsoil fertility requirement mandatory for all soil-based crop producers was permissible because the Organic Foods Production Act did not specifically prohibit hydroponic operations.â The litigation was brought by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and eight organic producers, and asked that the court to prevent USDA from allowing hydroponically grown crops to be sold under the USDA certified organic label. Beyond Pesticides has advocated against allowing soil-less crop production to be certified as organic under the NOP because doing so âundermines the authenticity of organic farming, and creates unequal competition, market instability, and consumer distrust in organic certification.â The coalition of plaintiffs in the suit included some long-standing U.S. organic farms, such as Swanton Berry Farm, Full Belly Farm, Durst Organic Growers, Terra Firma Farm, Jacobs Farm del Cabo, and Long Wind Farm, in […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Hydroponics, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | 5 Comments »
Monday, March 8th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, March 8, 2021) In the face of 1,700 pet deaths linked to Serestoâs flea and tick collarâas reported March 2, 2021 by USA Today, based on EPA recordsâEPA has taken no action. This unconscionable inaction is defended by an EPA spokesperson who told the media that, despite these incidents, the agency has deemed Seresto collars ââeligible for continued registrationâ based on best available science, including incident data. . . . No pesticide is completely without harm, but EPA ensures that there are measures on the product label that reduce risk.â Seresto is developed by Bayer and sold by Elanco. Tell EPA and Members of Congress to take responsible and immediate action to stop the death of dogs and cats by stopping the sale of Seresto flea collars. Beyond Pesticides is calling on EPA to recognize, finally, that the label on flea collars is not adequately protective, as evidenced by the number of deaths and 75,000 incidents. âEPA has the authority to act now, and it should use its powers to protect the health and lives of pets,â said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. âEPA should act on the deaths immediately, not wait for further study, just […]
Posted in Bayer, Elanco, Flumethrin, Imidacloprid, Pets, Synthetic Pyrethroid, Take Action, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
Friday, March 5th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, March 5, 2021) Pet owners will be alarmed to read the report, by USA Today, that a popular flea and tick collar â Seresto, developed by Bayer and sold by Elanco â has been linked to nearly 1,700 pet deaths, injuries to tens of thousands of animals, and harm to hundreds of people. At the time of publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which regulates pesticides, had issued no informational alert to let the public know about these risks to pets â despite many hundreds of incident reports in its Office of Pesticide Programs Incident Report database. Beyond Pesticides and other advocates have warned of the toxicity of pet pesticide treatments, not only to the animals themselves, but also, to children and other household members. There are nontoxic ways to protect pets from fleas and other pests, and to protect human family members at the same time. Beyond Pesticides is calling on EPA to recognize, finally, that the label on flea collars is not adequately protective, as evidenced by the number of deaths and 75,000 incidents. âEPA has the authority to act now, and it should use its powers to protect the health and lives of pets,â […]
Posted in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fleas, Flumethrin, Imidacloprid, Pets, Synthetic Pyrethroids, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, February 9, 2021) Multinational agrichemical corporation Bayer/Monsanto released a proposal last week to provide up to $200,000 per claimant in compensation to future victims of its Roundup weed killer, according to Reuters. The proposed settlement, agreed to with lawyers representing victims, continues Bayer/Monsantoâs attempts to limit the spiraling cost Roundup lawsuits, which have awarded individual victims millions of dollars in damages. The company appears to consider the proposal a good investment, as it has announced no plans to stop sale and production of its carcinogenic weed killer. However, under the current proposal, plaintiffs would not be forced to go through a compensation fund, and could seek additional punitive damages through a separate suit. As the attorney for Roundup victims, Elizabeth Casbraser, of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, told the Wall Street Journal, âItâs really about options, and itâs really about choice. I think itâs a great option that offers predictability and transparency for people who donât want to wait, who want to be compensated.â To stop the surge of cancer victims â comprising roughly 125,000 lawsuits â from further damaging the company financially, Bayer/Monsanto last year proposed a $10.9 billion settlement with current litigants. Unresolved future claims were […]
Posted in Bayer, Glyphosate, Lawns/Landscapes, Litigation, Monsanto, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
(Beyond Pesticides, January 26, 2021) As the world moves toward another pandemic associated with antibiotic resistance, Beyond Pesticides sued Sargento Foods, Inc. for misleading its customers with product label claims of âno antibiotics,â which is false according to the complaint. The lawsuit alleges that Sargentoâs cheese products are made with milk from cows raised with antibiotics and that antibiotics can be found in some of the companyâs finished food.   The use of antibiotics in agriculture is contributing to a âlooming potential pandemicâ worldwide, resulting from a ârise in multidrug-resistant bacterial infections that are undetected, underdiagnosed, and increasingly untreatable, [which] threatens the health of people in the USA and globally,â according The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, in September. The World Health Organization has declared that, âAMR [antimicrobial resistance] is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.â The primary contributors to AMR identified in the scientific literature are antibiotic uses in agriculture and overuse in medicine. âThis lawsuit is motivated by the urgent need to transition away from practices in agriculture that are dependent on antibiotics, advance organic farm management, and avoid new deadly pandemics,â said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. âOne way to do this is to […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic Resistance, Litigation, Resistance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, December 24th, 2020
(Beyond Pesticides, December 24, 2020) We at Beyond Pesticides wish our members, supporters, and collaborators all the best for the holiday season and new year. We look forward to working with you in the new year to meet the serious environmental and public health challenges with truly organic solutions. Our accomplishments are your victories. We are seeing the outcomes in communities across the countryâthe adoption of organic land management policies and practices that eliminate toxic pesticides, protect children, pets, and families, and protect the local ecology. With your support of Beyond Pesticides, we strive to reverse the destructive environmental and public health path that weâre on and advance the adoption of organic practices and policies that respect life. Meeting the Challenges Ahead Beyond Pesticides is working toward the societal transition to practices and policies that eliminate toxic pesticide use. This work intersects with daily decisions made in households, school districts, and municipal and state governments, as well as at the federal level, on crucial issues relating to the health of children, families, and workers, the climate crisis, and biodiversity. Our work helps to inform practices and policies that go to the core of public health protection and the sustainability of […]
Posted in Holidays | No Comments »
Monday, December 14th, 2020
(Beyond Pesticides, December 14, 2020) As the President-elect chooses the leadership in his administration, it is critical that we in the affected communities establish our expectations of what is needed from agencies to address critical issues of the day. While we may feel that different choices of personnel could have been made, ultimately we are looking forward to advancing programs across all agencies that represent meaningful and foundational changes to our social, economic, and environmental norms. As we focus on the appointment of a Secretary of Agriculture, issues of foundational change come into sharp focus, relating to sustainable land management, distribution of resources and access to land, food security, protection of human and ecosystem health, and climate. It is normal, therefore, to look at any individual appointeeâs past performance and positions as a measure of future decisions or policies that may be advanced. Ultimately, though, it is the administration that sets the tone, establishes a framework, and forges the direction of the governmentâs programs and policies. President-elect Biden has talked about a framework for policy to which we can and must hold all officials in the administration accountable across all agencies. These key elements of the framework intersect with the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020
(Beyond Pesticides, November 18, 2020) The herbicide atrazine is likely to adversely affect over half of endangered species listed in the United States, according to a report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). Based on both adverse human health and environmental threats, Beyond Pesticides joined with Center for Food Safety, CBD, and other public-interest groups in October to sue EPA over its decision to reapprove atrazine, an endocrine-disrupting herbicide banned across much of the world. These actions follow the agencyâs recent reapproval of atrazine, which reduced a number of safeguards for public health and the environment, and itâs enactment of rules that limit endangered species reviews. See (Lawsuit Challenges EPA Reapproval of Endocrine-Disrupting Pesticide Atrazine: Agency Slashes Protections for Children, Waterways.) Although advocates are hopeful that the next administration will shift toward an EPA that lives up to its namesake, there is considerable ground to make up. Atrazine is an herbicide that disrupts the endocrine system by mimicking the bodyâs natural hormones, binding to hormone receptors in the body. In humans, the effect can result in birth defects, damage to the reproductive system, and chronic […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »