Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

(Beyond Pesticides, April 30, 2008) New research shows that socks impregnated with silver nanoparticles to keep them microbe and odor free, release these particles when washed. Once washed down the drain, the silver particles enter the environment where they may pose numerable unknown adverse effects. Researchers from Arizona State University report their findings in a [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 29, 2008) In the wake of provincial laws banning lawn chemicals, the Canadian division of Home Depot announced on April 22, 2008 that it will stop selling traditional pesticides in its stores across Canada by the end of 2008 and will increase its selection of environmentally friendly alternatives. Home Depot Canada is [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 28, 2008) On April 24, a Santa Cruz County, California Court ruled that the light brown apple moth (LBAM) is not an immediate threat and delayed aerial spraying of a pheromone pesticide, CheckMate, in order to complete an environmental impact report. Then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to delay the aerial spraying, [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 25, 2008) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 this week issued a “stop sale, use or removal” order against Scotts Miracle Gro Co. and three affiliates, all of Marysville, Ohio, for illegal, unregistered and misbranded weed and fertilizer products with a cancer causing and endocrine disrupting pesticide ingredient. EPA will also issue [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 24, 2008) An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released yesterday finds that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported that they experienced political interference in their work over the last five years. The report, Interference at EPA: Science and Policies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, by the Union of [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 23, 2008) Ontario is moving to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals by banning the sale and cosmetic use of pesticides. Legislation to be introduced today would make Ontario’s pesticide rules among the toughest in North America. It would also replace a variety of municipal by-laws in place across the province.Studies by public [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 22, 2008) Earth Day, traditionally celebrated by the United Nations on the spring equinox, became a U.S. national holiday proclaimed by Senators Gaylord Nelson and John McConnell on April 22, 1970. It is a time to celebrate our planet, and all the life giving natural resources and beauty that the Earth provides [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 21, 2008) A comprehensive review of 97 published studies comparing the nutritional quality of organic and conventional foods shows that organic plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) contain higher levels of eight of 11 nutrients studied, including significantly greater concentrations of the health-promoting polyphenols and antioxidants. The team of scientists from the University [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 18, 2008) On Wednesday 16 April, 2008 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment its revised risk assessments for three heavy-duty toxic chemical wood preservatives: chromated copper arsenate (CCA), pentachlorophenol (PCP), and creosote. Beyond Pesticides has maintained that the hazards associated with the use, storage and disposal of these [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 17, 2008) In what it calls the most important article it has ever published, Golf Digest in its May 2008 issue (pp 196-232) publishes an article, How Green is Golf?, which asks the hard questions about the environmental impact of golf in a series of in-depth interviews, including a builder, golf course [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 16, 2008) The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is warning that if pheromone spraying in the San Francisco Bay area is postponed this summer, more conventional insecticides could be used in the future to manage a larger-scale light brown apple moth (LBAM) infestation. The related legal brief was released Monday [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 15, 2008) Thanks to the organizing efforts of the local Environmental Action Task Force, the town of Greenwich, CT has banned the use of pesticides on all of its athletic fields. The first application of the year, which was set for April 14, 2008, was cancelled after the Board of Selectmen passed [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 14, 2008) After almost a year and a half of debate on genetically engineered (GE) crops, the Maine Legislature passed a bill last week to protect farmers from genetic trespass. According to Protect Maine Farmers, the bill prevents lawsuits for patent infringement against farmers who unintentionally end up with GE material in [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 11, 2008) The United States House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report last month on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failures that lead to the E.coli outbreak in spinach, which peaked in September 2006. When E.coli was discovered in package spinach, critics of organic agriculture and [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 10, 2008) Common frogs that live in suburban areas are more likely than their rural counterparts to develop reproductive abnormalities, according to David Skelly, PhD, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. This phenomenon becomes a serious concern as the frog’s mating season begins, leaving researchers to [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 9, 2008) You have an opportunity to ask your U.S. Representative to stand up for the protection of health and the environment by joining with his/her colleagues in the U.S. Congress on a letter to stop a pro-pesticide amendment in the Farm Bill, which is still under consideration in a House-Senate Agriculture [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 8, 2008) A team of University of Michigan scientists discover interactions between genes and organophosphate exposure cause some forms of motor neuron disease (MND). The study, which appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, shows the mutations in one key gene (neuropathy target esterase, or NTE) that [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 7, 2008) A coalition of farmworker advocates and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the continued use of four deadly organophosphate pesticides. These pesticides were derived from nerve gas developed during World War II. Some of these pesticides have been detected in California’s rural schoolyards [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 4, 2008) A study called “Long-term persistence of GM oilseed rape in the seedbank,” recently published in the journal Biology Letters, has found a genetically modified (GM) crop to persist in spite of a decade of efforts to remove it from a field. Researchers from Sweden’s Lund University and the Danish Technical [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 3, 2008) Wines on sale in the European Union (EU), including wines made by world famous vineyards, contain residues of a number of pesticides, according to a new report by Pesticide Action Network Europe. The organization tested 40 bottles of wine purchased inside the EU from Australia, Austria, Chile, France, Italy, Germany, [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 2, 2008) A study that analyzed chemical contamination in clothes found that fabrics absorb high concentrations of moth repellents, and retain these concentrations even after prolonged airing. These contaminated fabrics then serve as secondary sources of indoor air pollution once the chemicals are released back into the air.
Moth repellents, which contain naphthalene [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 1, 2008) On March 27, many distinguished environmental health and justice advocates in addition to political leaders gathered in Los Angeles, CA to express their gratitude & praised the efforts of the Los Angeles Unified School District, (2nd largest in the nation) for working cooperatively for a decade with California Safe Schools [...]