Pesticide News

National Institutes of Health links dicamba to increased risk of cancer

A study from the U.S. National Institutes of Health warns that use of the pesticide dicamba increases risk of liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers, acute and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and mantle cell lymphoma. The comprehensive study, published in International Journal of Epidemiology, followed nearly 50,000 pesticide applicators’ use of dicamba for two decades in […]

Texas grape growers sue over dicamba herbicide drift damage

Neal Newsom has battled many foes since 1986 to protect his 150 acres of grapevines near Plains, Texas, including cold weather and hailstorms. But in recent years he’s up against the agro-chemical dicamba herbicide sprayed on nearby GM cotton crops. Newsom filed a lawsuit recently with 56 Texas grape growers, seeking $1 million in damages […]

Glyphosate herbicide linked to preterm births

Exposure to a chemical found in the weed killer Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides is significantly associated with preterm births, according to a new University of Michigan study. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that the presence of the chemical in women’s urine in late pregnancy was linked to an increased risk for […]

Government watchdog issues scathing report of Trump EPA abuses to approve dicamba weedkillers

Agency deliberately ignored policy to approve dicamba in 2018 A recent report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) details how senior officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored the agency’s policies to approve three dicamba herbicides—FeXapan, XtendiMax, and Engenia—in 2018. The OIG, a federal agency that reviews EPA decisions and policy for abuse […]

Iowa farmer leads class action lawsuit against makers of paraquat herbicide

First glyphosate herbicide was the target of lawsuits over its connection to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer, and now makers of paraquat herbicide are facing lawsuits because the weedkiller is linked to Parkinson’s disease. Doug Holliday, a farmer in Adair County, Iowa, is leading a nationwide class-action lawsuit against the manufacturers of paraquat. On behalf of himself […]