Latest News...
- Thursday, August 15, 2019
California Pesticide Regulators Release Free App to Report Pesticide Incidents
to facilitate the reporting of pesticide incidents in the state
California Pesticide Regulators Release Free App to Report Pesticide Incidents (Beyond Pesticides, August 14, 2019)
'The app, CASPIR (California’s System for Pesticide Incident Reporting), is available for download on the Google Play or Apple iTunes app store and should work with most smart phone devices...CDPR has been increasingly criticized by environmental justice organizations for its response to pesticide incidents, particularly in at-risk and low-income communities, and this app appears to be a response by the agency to address these concerns. The app is bilingual, provides the ability for users to add photos and videos, and records the GPS location of the user.'
link to Canadian adverse effects reporting system
- Thursday, August 15, 2019
Levels and trends of current-use pesticides (CUPs) in the arctic: An updated review, 2010–2018
Levels and trends of current-use pesticides (CUPs) in the arctic: An updated review, 2010–2018 (Jennifer E.BalmerabAdam et al, Science Direct, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2019.02.002)
'Since 2010, at least seven new CUPs have been measured in Arctic media: 2-methyl-4- chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA), metribuzin, pendimethalin, phosalone, quizalofop-ethyl, tefluthrin and triallate. Considering the large number of pesticides in current use, the number measured in the Arctic is very limited, however, modelling studies have identified additional CUPs as potential Arctic contaminants that have yet to be investigated in the Arctic. Owing to their recent detection, reports of CUPs in the Arctic are limited, but growing. CUPs have been reported in a wide range of abiotic Arctic matrices, including air, snow, ice, freshwater and seawater, indicating their capacity for long-range atmospheric transport, however, concentrations are generally low in comparison to legacy pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs)...however, in contrast to POPs, the highest concentrations of many CUPs were found in lower trophic-level organisms'
filed under water
- Thursday, August 15, 2019
Chemical-Intensive Agriculture Is Increasingly Toxic to Insects
Chemical-Intensive Agriculture Is Increasingly Toxic to Insects (Beyond Pesticides, August 15, 2019)
An article in the journal Plos One, “An assessment of acute insecticide toxicity loading (AITL) of chemical pesticides used on agricultural land in the United States,” shows that recent shifts in insecticide use—from organophosphates and carbamates to synthetic pyrethroids and neonicotinoids—have made a large contribution to the ongoing insect apocalypse. This shift to insecticides that target insects based on both selective toxicity and delivery method occurs within a context of shrinking habitat and biodiversity...Both studies use the median lethal dose (LD50) to honey bees as a measure of acute toxicity and calculate the potential number of bee deaths based on the number of lethal doses of various insecticides applied in the field. In both cases....The two studies show that acutely toxic doses of insecticides used in agriculture in Great Britain and the U.S. increased by a factor of 3.9 to 48 over the study period.
filed under wildlife/insects and bee decline
- Sunday, August 11, 2019
I’m a journalist. Monsanto built a step-by-step strategy to destroy my reputation
I’m a journalist. Monsanto built a step-by-step strategy to destroy my reputation (by Carey Gillam, Opinion in The guardian, 9 August 2019)
But when I recently received close to 50 pages of internal Monsanto communications about the company’s plans to target me and my reputation, I was shocked. One Monsanto plan involved paying for web placement of a blogpost about me so that Monsanto-written information would pop up at the top of certain internet searches involving my name. The correspondence also discussed a need to produce “third party talking points” about me. In addition, Monsanto produced a video to help it amplify company-engineered propaganda about me and my work. I even inspired a Monsanto spreadsheet: as part of “Project Spruce”, the “Carey Gillam Book plan” lists more than 20 items, including discussion of how the company might get third parties to post book reviews about Whitewash. On the list: the development of an “issue alert” laying out the “flaws of argument” in the book and a link to the book sales page on Amazon where people presumably could post negative reviews. The plan called for enlisting “industry & farmer customers” to potentially post reviews using points puts together by Monsanto. FTI’s Cubbage also designated for “immediate action” the “paid placement of existing blog post on Carey Gillam when google search ‘Monsanto Glyphosate Carey Gillam’”... But if a story I wrote quoted a critic of the company or cited scientific research that Monsanto didn’t consider valid, Monsanto would repeatedly complain to editors, tying up editorial time and resources. '
and more more on industry shenanigans main page because it illustrates example of many categories.- Saturday, August 10, 2019
Impossible Burger Causes Some Beef in the Green Market
Impossible Burger Causes Some Beef in the “Green” Market
(Beyond Pesticides, August 8, 2019)
'The (Impossible) burger, manufactured by the Impossible Foods Group, is comprised of genetically engineered soy and heme (iron-containing molecule that is a component of hemoglobin and common to plants and animals). It contains over 11.3 times the amount of glyphosate residue as its counterpart, the non-GMO Beyond Burger.'
'The results show that the Impossible Burger produces 89% fewer GHG emissions than conventional beef. However, Quantis also conducted an LCA at White Oaks Pasture and found that beef produced in their regenerative agricultural system is carbon negative. Their system produces over 100% less CO2 than both conventional beef or the Impossible Burger: For every 1kg of beef produced at the farm, their overall system, including the soil and their vegetation, removes 3.5 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere....'filed under pesticide in food
- Saturday, August 10, 2019
The Great American Lawn: How the Dream was Manufactured
video
The Great American Lawn: How the Dream was Manufactured. (New York Times) 7:10 minutes video
filed under Lawn/turf
- Saturday, August 10, 2019
Insect Honeydew Secretions, Contaminated with Neonicotinoid Insecticides then Eaten by Other Insects, and Birds Contribute to an Expansive Threat
Insect “Honeydew” Secretions, Contaminated with Neonicotinoid Insecticides then Eaten by Other Insects, and Birds Contribute to an Expansive Threat (Beyond Pesticides, August 9, 2019)
'Pollinators such as honey bees, solitary bees, bumblebees, and even birds have been observed feeding on honeydew.'
'Results were bad news for beneficial hoverflies and parasitic wasps. Every hoverfly that ate honeydew from the thiamethoxam-sprayed trees died within three days of exposure, compared to 10% of the control group. Of the hoverflies that consumed honeydew from the trees soil-treated with thiamethoxam, nearly 70% died, compared with 14% for the controls. Results for the parasitic wasps were marginally better: more than 50% died after consuming honeydew from both soil- and foliar-treated trees, compared with less than 20% mortality among controls. The honeydew itself was also evaluated: samples from trees treated with thiamethoxam were highly toxic to both species of beneficial insects, and honeydew from those treated with imidacloprid was moderately toxic to hoverflies.'
filed under wildlife and neonicotinoids
- Thursday, August 8, 2019
Updates of provincial and municipal pesticide bylaws in Canada
Summary of Pesticide Regulations across Canada (Federal, Provincial and Municipal): Urban Landscapes FINAL DRAFT (British Columbia Landscape & Nursery Association. 2019) includes list of products banned and Municipalities with Pesticide Bylaws in Canada Population Statistics by Municipality (June 2016 update) is no longeravailable. The lack of adequate protection from unwanted exposure to lawn pesticides at the federal and provincial level has fueled a growing surge in municipal pesticide ordinances designed to enhance the protection of public health and the environment.
Cosmetic Pesticides – Provincial Policies & Municipal Bylaws: Lessons Learned & Best Practices (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2016) As of June 2016 the aggregate number of municipal by-laws in Canada totaled over 200.
more on bylaws
- Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Kids Carry Higher Levels of Glyphosate in Their Bodies than Adults, Study Finds
up to 4 times the level of their parents
Kids Carry Higher Levels of Glyphosate in Their Bodies than Adults, Study Finds
(Beyond Pesticides, August 7, 2019) significantly higher. '...recent data from the American Cancer Society (ACS) indicat)es) that pediatric cancer in the U.S. surged by almost 50% from 1975 to 2015... Results showed that over 90% of participants had been recently exposed to glyphosate. In most child/parent pairs, the child’s body had surprisingly higher concentrations of glyphosate (up to 4 times that of the parent), supporting research that glyphosate poses a greater threat to children... While American Cancer society (ACS) is for the most part silent on the impact of pesticides on childhood cancer, the Canadian Cancer Society recognizes these risks.
Links to study and more.
filed under cancer/Links between individual pesticides..., body burden, and children
- Wednesday, August 7, 2019
EU experts agree pesticide may damage unborn children
EU experts agree pesticide may damage unborn children (Staffan Dahllof, EUObserver, 5. Aug 2019)
'There are no safe levels for exposure to the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, dubbed 'the most dangerous you've never heard of', EU experts have said in an unprecedented preliminary-finding into the pesticide - suggesting an EU-wide ban is a step closer.'