Section » Pesticides
Just say YIMBY: Weed expert Nancy Gift talks about lawns for dinner
By Holly Hickman vs. Recently, a man I know sprayed his front and back lawns with a brand of weed killer he'd bought from the store and administered himself. He had lived for
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Do I dare to eat a peach? Not a conventional one, says Tribune study
Another day, another facet to the debate over whether organic produce is worth the extra moolah. Unless you've been living on a remote mountaintop with no wireless, you've probably witnessed the recent frenzy over a UK
Pesticides in well water increase risk of Parkinson’s disease
Well water isn't always healthy: Pesticide-contaminated well water has been hypothesized as a cause of Parkinson's disease, with several epidemiologic studies providing support. A new study in Environmental Health Perspectives bolsters
A roundup of pesticide drift coverage: Who should pay for unruly spray?
Chemical standoff: Farm country residents mostly "grin and bear it" when pesticides from neighboring farms drift onto their property, but some are speaking out. In Illinois, a vineyard owner tires of watching clouds of 2,4-D engulf (and kill) his grapes when a nearby farm sprays. A retired minister gives
So-called “inert” ingredients in Roundup weed killer can kill human cells
Rounding up the damning evidence: Monsanto's top-selling weed killer Roundup is widely used not just in grain crops, but yards and parks. French researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The new findings
“Biopesticides” are hot stuff
Sounds good — what's the catch?: Scientists are working on natural compounds and organisms called biopesticides that control agricultural pests and don’t have adverse health effects on people. Researchers at Michigan State University recently identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato
Neonatal DDT exposure linked to obesity
Silent, fat spring: Part of the mounting evidence of the chemical-obesity link, researchers find that babies exposed to DDT in the womb were more likely than their counterparts to be overweight. (Discovery) SHARETHIS.addEntry({
Digest - Blogs, features and snacks: Pesticide perversions, subsidy love, the anti-Pollan
Small-town physician sees effects of Big Ag: an Indiana neonatologist finds that birth defects, including spina bifida, cleft pallet and lip, down syndrome, urogenital abnormalities, and club foot (among others) are more likely to occur in pregnancies that begin between April and July — the time period
Digest - News: Perilous pork, the First Lettuce, food safety plateaus
Free-range throwdown: A New York Times op-ed turns the food-fear spotlight on pastured pork, covering a study that finds that "free-range pork can be more likely than caged pork to carry dangerous bacteria and parasites" including potentially-deadly Trichinosis. The author gets in a few more digs with
Digest: Pass the potatoes, hold the pesticides, and Bittman takes a bite (of sardines)
Salmon dieu!: On Wednesday, the National Organic Standards Board will rule on whether any fish can be labeled organic. Under the guidelines as proposed, wild salmon will not make the grade but farm-raised salmon could, even if they eat fish meal, which is feed spiked with ground-up wild fish. (
Calamity cowboys: On Iowa, obesity, and earthquakes
Living directly on top of the Hayward Fault, which seismologists claim is overdue for a major earthquake, I'm pretty familiar with the idea that there are losers (of which I may be one) and winners in moments of human tragedy. Here, the winner
Everything looks better when your head’s in the sand: The USDA stops tracking pesticide use
When I was four, I ate my mother's houseplant. (I claimed to have thought it was salad.) As any responsible mother would, she freaked out and called poison control. The friendly folks at the 800 number — who must get these kinds of calls all the time, poor guys — immediately asked her the two most
Saving the songbirds (and ourselves)
Today's New York Times featured an op-ed by Bridget Stutchbury, a biology professor at the University of Toronto and author of Silence
Coming home to industrial ag: A tour of the Central Valley
There’s an image that’s stuck with me from the cross-country drive that my dad and I took last summer. It was one of many late-night stints at the wheel, perhaps 11 p.m., and we were hurtling along through the Utah desert. A sign at the last gas station had warned us of a nearly 100-mile
Pesticides, like the huddled masses, yearn to be free
The Farm Bill is back. (Admit it -- you'd been missing it.) House and Senate ag staffers have taken to lurking in each other's offices and furrowing their brows over what could be a protracted conflict between members of the conference committee, that group of reps and senators assigned to turn the meat
