The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used to release “Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage” reports every two years — but that was almost 20 years ago. Several months ago, after fielding a question from a colleague, I found the most recent iteration of this report, released at the end of 2017 and covering market estimates from 2008 to 2012.
A new study on glyphosate in pregnant women from Indiana confirms that this widely used herbicide ends up in people’s bodies. The findings also suggest that prenatal glyphosate exposure may be linked to shorter pregnancies.
I try to be optimistic, but the past year hasn't been a great one for science.
The "war on science" you hear people talking about? It's real, and we're already seeing its results. Without input from researchers on the leading edge of science, policymakers are less equipped to make informed decisions — and it's easier for industry lobbyists to get their way.
After much public debate, the European Union (EU) recently determined that it will renew glyphosate for another five years —a shorter renewal than it could have been, but not ideal when what we really wanted was a rejection of the license renewal altogether.
With pesticide drift sweeping across the South and Midwest this summer, and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s recent decision to keep the brain-harming pesticide chlorpyrifos on the market, children’s and community health is at the front of our minds here at PAN.
With scrutiny of Monsanto's flagship herbicide RoundUp increasing, the corporation's defense of the product is in high gear. And right now, a recent Reuters article is doing the work on behalf of the biotech giant to discredit a scientist who contributed to the 2015 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) finding that glyphosate — RoundUp's active ingredient — is a "probable carcinogen."
Lately scientific evidence seems to matter a lot less than it used to. It's not that evidence hasn't been ignored by policymakers in the past. But there are some unique things happening under the new administration that seem to directly and fundamentally challenge the value of science. Across the country, scientists are responding by standing up and speaking out.
Monsanto's herbicide glyphosate is once again in the spotlight. Cancer experts will be reviewing the science on glyphosate for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) next week. This week, PAN International released a review of the current science on the herbicide's health and environmental effects.
A new study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that when pregnant mothers live within one kilometer of fields where certain pesticides are used, their children are more likely to have lower IQs.
EPA recently released its assessement of the ecological risks posed by the widely used herbicide atrazine. Agency scientists found that current exposures greatly exceed its "levels of concern" for chronic risk for birds, mammals and fish — by 22, 198, and 62 times, respectively. When it comes to wildlife harms, these new findings on atrazine are pretty damning.
