Pesticide Hazards

Busting the Myths on New GMOs

As the European Union is preparing to decide on whether and how to deregulate new GMOs, Slow Food look sat the most frequent claims made by the biotechnology and seed industry to promote new GMOs and their deregulation. Spoiler: they’re misleading, if not deceptive. Myth #1: Changes brought by new GM techniques (or “genome editing”) to […]

EU to halve pesticides by 2030 to protect bees, biodiversity: draft

In a document published May 20, the European Commission proposed cutting in half the use of chemicals and “high-risk” pesticides by 2030. The proposal seeks to protect pollinators—bee colonies have undergone extreme losses in the past 15 years, threatening 76% of food production in Europe, officials claim. Outdoor use of neonicotinoids was banned in 2018. […]

National Institutes of Health study links dicamba to increased cancer risks

The drift-prone pesticide dicamba, designed for GM cotton and soybeans, has been sprayed over millions of acres in the South and Midwest in the past three years. A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health found that dicamba use could increase risk of liver and bile duct cancer, acute and chronic lymphocyte leukemia, and […]

Glyphosate linked to Parkinson’s disease

The most commonly used herbicide globally, Roundup, contains glyphosate, a chemical which has been linked to cancer, especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Japan’s Chiba University now finds exposure to glyphosate can also contribute to development of Parkinson’s disease (PD), a progressive and neurodegenerative brain disease impacting motor function that affects 1 million Americans. The study found that […]

Bayer reaches agreement to settle Roundup lawsuits

Agreement allows Bayer to continue selling Roundup without warning labels Bayer AG has reached verbal agreements to settle a significant amount of an estimated 125,000 lawsuits over the link between the company’s Roundup weed killer and cancer. The agreements, which have not yet been signed, cover an estimated 50,000 to 85,000 lawsuits and are part […]