Insecticides

Crucial Report: Experts Call for a Ban on Organophosphate Pesticides

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.

Neonics Pesticide Replacement Found to be Equally Dangerous to Bees

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.

Tobacco Doesn’t Just Kill Smokers; It Kills the Environment

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]

Investigation Brews over Insecticide-Tainted Eggs Distributed Throughout U.K.

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.

U.S. States Join Gov. Probe of Bayer-Monsanto, Dow-DuPont Mergers

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.