Pesticide Hazards

Monsanto trial begins over Roundup/cancer connection

Over 400 farmers, consumers, and landscape workers have sued Monsanto, claiming its Roundup weed killer triggered non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cell cancer—and their consolidated lawsuits opened trial in early July in San Francisco. One dying man, 46-year-old father of three DeWayne Johnson, is taking the plaintiff’s seat in the courtroom. Johnson, a school groundskeeper in […]

Dicamba disaster year 3: states reporting record spray drift complaints

1 million acres damaged, drift complaints up 50 percent in Iowa, 75 percent in Indiana, 400,000 acres damaged in Arkansas

Hawaii may ban neurotoxic pesticide that EPA kept on the market

In May, the Hawaii legislature made a momentous decision to pass a bill that would ban the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos. The bill, SB 3095,  includes several other protections from and disclosures around pesticides that can harm children, including buffer zones around schools. The bill now heads to Hawaii Governor David Ige — who can sign […]

EU approves total ban on insecticides harming bees

Neonicotinoid insecticides are implicated in dramatic losses of bee pollinator colonies, and the European Union has voted to ban the three primary ones effective the end of 2018. Eighteen member states, including France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, voted in favor. “Authorizing neonicotinoids a quarter of a century ago was a mistake and led to […]

Glyphosate study shows negative effects to microbiome at “safe” dosage

A new global study examined the impact on rats of the EPA’s acceptable daily dietary exposure level of the herbicide glyphosate, and found health impacts related to sexual development, genotoxicity, and the intestinal microbiome. The level of 1-1.75 mg per kg of bodyweight per day was the concentration given to the rats over three months. […]