An expert panel of toxicologists is calling for an entire class of pesticides to be banned because they threaten the health of both pregnant women and children.
The paper, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, states that exposure to organophosphates (OPs) increases the risk of lower IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children.
A chemical touted as a safer replacement for bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) has similar harmful effects, researchers in the U.K. have discovered.
Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides intended to protect crops from pests by blocking receptors in the insects’ brains, paralyzing and killing them. Even small doses of neonics can cause bees to struggle with navigation, hunting for food, reproduction, and their ability to form new colonies.
About 90% of all lung cancers are caused by cigarette smoking. Smoking kills 7 million people a year, speeds aging, destroys the heart and cardiovascular system, and leads to asthma and COPD. But cigarettes don’t just wreak havoc on the human body; they also wreak havoc on the environment through deforestation, pollution, and littering. [1] [2]
Eggs contaminated with a potentially harmful insecticide were imported from Europe and have been distributed throughout the United Kingdom and other countries, according to England’s Food Standards Agency (FSA). [1]
The number of eggs containing the insecticide fipronil, used in flea and tick products, is thought to be very small, thank goodness, but grocers in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland have had to pull millions of eggs from store shelves as a precaution.
It is believed that fipronil was used on chickens in Belgium.
On May 24, 2017, the House passed a measure reversing an EPA requirement that those spraying pesticides on or near rivers and lakes file for a permit. Opponents are referring to the legislation as the “Poison Our Waters Act.” The bill’s real name is the “Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017.” [1]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delayed a safety rule aimed at ensuring that pesticides (which are linked to human health problems) are safely applied by adult agricultural workers. This, just days after 50 farm workers in California were sickened by pesticide poisoning. [1]
Several U.S. state attorneys general will join the pending federal antitrust investigations into the multi-billion dollar mergers between Bayer and Monsanto, and Dow and DuPont. [1]
The attorneys general will be able to provide data on how the prospective mergers – which are expected to be approved – would affect their jurisdictions and jointly conduct calls to gather information from the companies, their opponents, and supporters of the deals.
Bayer CropScience LP has agreed to pay Massachusetts $75,000 and caved in to the state’s demand that it stop saying that its neonicotinoid pesticides are like “giving a daily vitamin” to plants, when the chemicals have been linked with honeybee colony collapse disorder. [1]
Source: Compound Interest
Scientists have taken note that some pesticides on seed coating and soybean seeds are actually deadly for bees, even harming or killing large populations. Because of this, the Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, has issued an order to limit the use of these particular pesticides, known as neonicotinoids. [1]
Most states in the U.S. are dealing with a major outbreak of “super lice,” according to a new study in the Journal of Medical Entomology. The thought alone is enough to make your skin crawl, but it’s especially troubling because the news comes at a time when children are starting to head back to school. [1]
