Category: Pesticides

EPA teams with activist group in novel move to ban atrazine?

The EPA has taken the unusual (unprecedented?) step of seeking in a Federal Register notice public comment on a petition from Save the Frogs to ban the herbicide atrazine. Continue reading EPA teams with activist group in novel move to ban atrazine?

More Agent Orange Con: Aspen Institute urges $300 million in reparations to Vietnam

Should U.S. taxpayers fork over $300 million to Vietnam for Agent Orange reparations? Continue reading More Agent Orange Con: Aspen Institute urges $300 million in reparations to Vietnam

Made in China: POPs linked to birth defects?

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims to link placental levels of various “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) with neural tube defects (NTDs) in a population of rural Chinese. Continue reading Made in China: POPs linked to birth defects?

Poll: MRSA-infested bedbugs or pesticides?

A new study reports that bedbugs are infected with drug-resistant staph bacteria (MRSA). There is no evidence so far that bedbugs are spreading MRSA, however.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could end the resurgence of bedbugs with a stroke of the pen by bringing back banned pesticides (e.g., DDT, organophosphates, diazinon and Dursban) and encouraging the development of new pesticides. But so far, the EPA has opted to let the bedbugs infest with impunity.

Read the story and take the poll below:

Organic Valley identified as secret funder of 'FrogTV' pesticide scare campaign

Is American agriculture facing yet another major attack on food safety similar to the 1989 Alar scare? Continue reading Organic Valley identified as secret funder of 'FrogTV' pesticide scare campaign

Anti-pesticide activists exploit poor kids

By Steve Milloy

While it’s not surprising that children from the inner city and Latino farmworker communities might perform slightly less well than average American children on development tests, anti-pesticide activists can make it news if they can link that performance to pesticides. And so they have tried. Continue reading Anti-pesticide activists exploit poor kids

Obama finally embraces malaria victims — as political pawns

By Steve Milloy

U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah and Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson win this week’s award for cynicism. Continue reading Obama finally embraces malaria victims — as political pawns