pesticides

By Katherine Paul It’s been about a week since Monsanto and Bayer confirmed their intention to say “I do”—ample time for media, lawmakers, consumer and farmer advocacy groups, and of course the happy couple themselves, to weigh in on the pros and cons. Reactions poured in from all the usual suspects. Groups like the Farmers […]

By Joe Sandler Clarke Chemical giants Bayer and Syngenta commissioned private studies which showed that their neonicotinoid pesticides can cause serious harm to bees, a Greenpeace investigation has uncovered. The revelations come with the UK set to decide its own policy on pesticide use once it leaves the EU. The UK lobbied against the current […]

Monsanto has finally agreed to be purchased by Bayer AG in a historic $66 billion all-cash takeover. The agreement, which both corporations have confirmed, will form the largest seed and pesticide company in the world. The German pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant had been courting the St. Louis-based seed maker for roughly four months, with the […]

By Alexandra Rosenmann Did you know that American companies are legally permitted to manufacture dangerous pesticides for export—even after the chemicals have been banned in the U.S.? There are policies that create a “circle of poison”; toxic chemicals traveling around the world, ironically imported back to the U.S. through foodstuffs we eat. Circle of Poison, […]

Consumer group U.S. Right to Know filed a lawsuit Wednesday to compel the University of California, Davis to comply with requests for public records related to the university’s work on genetically engineered food, pesticides and its relationship with the agrichemical industry. Since Jan. 28, 2015, U.S. Right to Know has filed 17 public records requests […]

Earlier this year, Monsanto commercially launched its Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans—a product undoubtedly attractive to soy farmers. The new seeds not only promised higher yields, but it would be a new tool in a soy farmer’s arsenal to battle superweeds that have evolved to resist the herbicide glyphosate, aka Roundup. Xtend soybeans are genetically […]

Neonicotinoids, a common and highly controversial class of insecticides linked to catastrophic bee deaths, could be significantly lowering the sperm count of male drone honey bees and cutting their life span by a third, Swiss researchers found. Researchers from the Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern, Switzerland discovered that male drone honeybees […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved nearly 100 pesticide products over the past six years that contain mixtures that make them more poisonous and increase the dangers to imperiled pollinators and rare plants, according to an investigation by the Center for Biological Diversity. These “synergistic” combinations have been widely overlooked by the EPA […]