Latest News...
- Wednesday, October 20, 2021
EPA to Create Advisory Councils to Restore Scientific Integrity in Pesticide/Chemicals Division
EPA to Create Advisory Councils to Restore Scientific Integrity in Pesticide/Chemicals Division
(Beyond Pesticides, October 20, 2021) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week plans to establish a new position and two advisory councils in order to enhance scientific integrity within the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). SNAP Comment: would that also be useful in Canada?.
- Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Common Insecticide Malathion Linked to Chronic Kidney Disease
Common Insecticide Malathion Linked to Chronic Kidney Disease
(Beyond Pesticides, October 19, 2021) 'Exposure to the insecticide malathion increases risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.... Risk was not significantly increased by exposure to the other pesticides studied'.(2,4-D, chlorpyrifos, and 3-PBA, the major metabolite for most synthetic pyrethroid insecticides). 'Despite strong links between malathion and a range of different cancers, EPA deigned the chemical as having “suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity,” not the stronger “likely carcinogen” designation initially proposed by EPA staff.'
SNAP Comment: As of 19 October 2021, there are 13 malathion products registered in Canada, 5 of those for domestic use (use by consumers, all for outdoor use only)
- Monday, October 18, 2021
Common Mosquito Pesticide Exacerbates Health Issues Associated with Zika Virus
Microcephaly
Common Mosquito Pesticide Exacerbates Health Issues Associated with Zika Virus
(Beyond Pesticides, September 28, 2021) 'A widely used mosquito pesticide may exacerbate the effect of the Zika virus on fetal brain development, according to research published by an international team of scientists in the journal Environmental Pollution. Pyriproxyfen, an insect growth regulator often used as a mosquito larvicide, is registered for use in hundreds of commonly used pesticide products.' Through tadpole studies and studies of stem cells created from mouse brains, researchers determined that not only was pyriproxyfen toxic to brain cells, but that it also modified cells to increase production of Musaschi-1 protein, which the Zika virus employs in order to transmit the virus to other cells in an individual’s body.
SNAP Comment: As of 18 October 2021, a PMRA label search indicates that pyriproxyfen is not nor has it been registered in Canada.
filed under nervous system effects/brain damage and overview/links...
- Monday, October 18, 2021
Common Fungicide Causes a Decrease in Antioxidant Responsible for Defense Against Diseases like COVID-19
the fungicide fludioxonil
(Beyond Pesticides, October 8, 2020) 'Research from the University of Wisconsin—Madison (UWM), suggests that fludioxonil—a commonly used agricultural fungicide—decreases the human body’s ability to defend itself against illnesses, like COVID-19, and promotes disease permanency. Tristan Brandhorst, a Ph.D. scientist at UWM, notes that a pesticide-induced reduction in the antioxidant glutathione could be responsible for this lack of bodily defense against disease. Dr. Brandhorst recently discovered that the chemical causes metabolic shock to fungi, hindering glucose transport across the cell membrane. Additionally, further analysis finds that exposure to fludioxonil decreases glutathione levels in non-fungal cells, promoting “the ability of the fungicide fludioxonil to act on a sugar-metabolizing enzyme common to all cells, and to produce the damaging compound methylglyoxal.”
SNAP Comment:As of 18 October 2021, a PMRA label search indicates that fludioxonil is not nor has it been registered in Canada..
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
Conventional Agriculture Decreases Diversity of Gut Bacteria in Foraging Bats
Conventional Agriculture Decreases Diversity of Gut Bacteria in Foraging Bats
(Beyond Pesticides, September 29, 2021) Bats foraging in chemical-intensive banana plantations have much less gut diversity than bats foraging in organic banana fields and natural forestland, finds research published this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Gut diversity in organic bats was found to be similar to the diversity analyzed in forest bats. The study indicates that it is likely that organic practices are maintaining a “high diversity of commensal microbiota,” while on the other hand, “less diverse gut microbiota in bats foraging in conventional monocultures may suggest that these habitats potentially have negative physiological consequences for the animals (e.g., gut inflammation and metabolic disease), and may act as ecological trap.”
filed under mammals and digestive tract/microbiome
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
Monoculture Agriculture Leads to Poor Soil Health
Monoculture Agriculture Leads to Poor Soil Health
(Beyond Pesticides, October 6, 2021) 'Agricultural soils under monoculture cropping systems are not as healthy as soils with diverse plantings, finds research recently published in the journal Agrosystems, Geosciences and Environment. Soil and soil quality are declining rapidly in the United States and around the world, with recent data indicating that the U.S. Corn Belt has lost 35% of its topsoil.' The research compared a soy,/corn monocultures to perennial grass. 'The study notes these perennial systems have much more microbial diversity, over eight times more mycorrhizal fungi, and higher ratios of fungi to bacteria. The higher ratio of fungi to bacteria is likely indicative of the frequency of plowing in the monoculture systems, which occurred each year after harvest, according to the study. Repeated tillage breaks fungal connections that help stabilize soil, which can lead to worsening soil structure.
Prior studies that utilize the long-term cropping systems studied in the current paper indicated the regular use of 28% urea-ammonium nitrate fertilizer, glyphosate, glufosinate, and atrazine have a strong propensity to harm soil health.'
filed under soils
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
Study Adds to 40 Year Analysis Linking Brain Cancer to Pesticide Exposure
Study Adds to 40 Year Analysis Linking Brain Cancer to Pesticide Exposure
(Beyond Pesticides, September 23, 2021) 'A study by Claremont Graduate University finds exposure to agricultural pesticides increases brain cancer risk up to 20 percent. According to demographic information, white farmers have the highest rate of brain cancer. However, those managing livestock, where insecticides are widely used, have higher rates of brain cancer incidents than those managing crops.'
filed under cancer/ links...
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Fails to Stop Toxic Pesticide Use
IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Fails to Stop Toxic Pesticide Use
(Beyond Pesticides, October 15, 2021) Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a 60-year-old approach to agricultural practice that, when first conceived and implemented, had among its goals a significant reduction of synthetic pesticide use, and the health, environmental, and ecosystemic benefits that would flow from that. However, as a study published earlier in 2021 concluded, IPM has overall been unsuccessful in achieving those goals. The researchers propose to replace IPM with “Agroecological Crop Protection ACP,” the application of agroecology to protecting crops from damage (usually by insects or weeds).
filed unde IPM/effectiveness
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
Commonly Used Neurotoxic Pesticide Exposure Increases ALS Risk to Workers and Residents
Commonly Used Neurotoxic Pesticide Exposure Increases ALS Risk to Workers and Residents
(Beyond Pesticides, September 30, 2021) Individuals working or living in areas with frequent neurotoxic pesticide use experience more amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) incidences than the general population. “We identified pesticides applied to crops in the area of residences associated with risk of ALS in a large healthcare claims network. Both the study results and the confirmation studies validate pesticides have the highest positive association with neurotoxicity. Scientists find and 2,4-D (herbicide), glyphosate (herbicide), carbaryl (insecticide), and chlorpyrifos (insecticide) significantly increase ALS risk among residentially exposed populations.
filed under immune/auto-immune...
- Saturday, October 16, 2021
Weeds Are Now Developing Resistance to Herbicides They’ve Never Been Exposed To
Weeds Are Now Developing Resistance to Herbicides They’ve Never Been Exposed To
(Beyond Pesticides, October 13, 2021) Pesticide use in conventional chemical-intensive farming is so pervasive that weeds are developing resistance to herbicides they have never encountered before. According to research published in Plant and Cell Physiology and New Phytologist, the notoriously difficult-to-control weed waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) is outpacing commercial crops in its ability to detoxify after herbicide exposure. “This is probably the first known example where waterhemp has evolved a detox mechanism that a crop doesn’t have." A observant study published in 2018 laid out the solution clearly: the best method to reduce herbicide resistance in target weeds is to reduce the overall use of herbicides.'.
filed under resistance