The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter

Corporate studies affirming glyphosate safety have major flaws, report finds

Reflecting a worrisome trend of regulators using industry-funded research and ignoring red flags, a new analysis of corporate-backed studies on glyphosate safety (Roundup) reveals serious flaws. The Institute of Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna’s 187-page report found that only two of 53 safety assessments met current international scientific standards. The others used […]

Study associates organic food intake in childhood with better cognitive development

  Photo: Robo Wunderkind / Unsplash A study analyzing the association between a wide variety of prenatal and childhood exposures and neuropsychological development in school-age children has found that organic food intake is associated with better scores on tests of fluid intelligence (ability to solve novel reasoning problems) and working memory (ability of the brain […]

Sri Lanka’s ban on agrochemicals lowers suicide rates, earning “Policy Oscar”

The country of Sri Lanka has received the Future Policy Special Award 2021 from Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific. The award recognized two policies that were instrumental in banning Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HPPs), chemicals responsible for thousands of suicides in the country. Five winners of the award—the “Oscar on Best Policies”—were chosen from 55 policies […]

Organic grain sales soar during pandemic

In the burgeoning organic food market, organic bread and grains account for 11.4% of sales. The Organic Trade Association recorded $5.7 billion in 2019 sales for the category. Nielsen reports an 8% increase in organic bread sales from 2018 to 2019, and a whopping 19% from 2019 to 2020. Organic flour sales rose 51% that […]

U.S. beekeepers report second highest colony losses ever—with pesticides as major culprit

The Bee Informed Partnership reported in June the second-highest annual losses of honeybee colonies for the second year running. A preliminary report reveals that beekeepers lost nearly half (45.5%) of their colonies over the past year. Agricultural pesticides are a key driver of population decline for honeybees and other pollinators, like native bees and butterflies. […]