Two years ago, the debate over glyphosate‘s link to cancer took a surprising turn when the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) infamously rejected the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer’s March 2015 classification of the weedkiller as a possible carcinogen. However, new reporting from the Guardian reveals that the European agency’s recommendation […]
Member states of the European Union voted in favor of a European Commission proposal that limits the use of glyphosate during the herbicide’s 18-month extension granted by the commission last month. Member state experts agreed to the following conditions: A ban of a co-formulant POE-tallowamine from glyphosate-based products Obligations to reinforce scrutiny of pre-harvest use […]
It’s no secret that multiple countries within the European Union have a strong track record in onshore and offshore wind energy. However, the latest report from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) frames the advances of wind energy around an issue that won’t disappear anytime soon—water security. EWEA’s Saving Water With Wind Energy begins with statistics […]
TckTckTck By Heather Libby “The record or near-records being reported from year to year in the Arctic are no longer anomalies or exceptions. Really they have become the rule for us, or the norm that we see in the Arctic and that we expect to see for the forseeable future” – Jackie Richter-Menge, U.S. Army […]
Greenpeace By Rex Weyler We know what is killing the bees. Worldwide Bee Colony Collapse is not as big a mystery as the chemical companies claim. The systemic nature of the problem makes it complex, but not impenetrable. Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of factors—pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air […]
Beyond Pesticides A landmark decision by the European Commission yesterday, means that bee-killing, neonicotinoid pesticides will experience a continent-wide ban in Europe for two years. A 15-member states majority supported the ban, with eight against and four abstaining. European Health and Consumer Commissioner Tony Borg explains, “Since our proposal is based on a number of risks to […]
United Nations Environment Programme World Health Organization Many synthetic chemicals, untested for their disrupting effects on the hormone system, could have significant health implications according to the State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Health Organization (WHO). The joint study calls for […]
Worldwatch Institute Despite a slight decline between 2009 and 2010, since 1999 the global land area farmed organically has expanded more than threefold to 37 million hectares, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service. Regions with the largest certified organic agricultural land in 2010 were Oceania, including […]
Natural Resources Defense Council By Andrew Wetzler Now that the world’s delegates have returned home from climate negotiations in Doha, many ministries are turning their attention to other international environmental agreements—and the consequences of climate change that echo in their implementation. One of those agreements is CITES—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. For […]