(Beyond Pesticides, June 24, 2025) As changes in the executive branch of the federal government upend expectations among environmental stakeholders, the regulation of food safety in the United States is being revealed as a rickety structure built over a century with unpredictable and sometimes contradictory additions, extensions, remodels, and tear-downs. In the short term, clarity is unavailable, but there have been calls for revision and strengthening of regulatory processes—requiring lawmaker and regulator willingness to incorporate the vast body of evidence that pesticides do far more harm than good, and that organic regenerative agriculture is the surest path to human and ecological health. News reports out of Costa Rica in May brought public attention to drafted legislation to ban pesticides in the country that the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined as “extremely or highly hazardous, or those with evidence of causing cancer, genetic mutations, or affecting reproduction, according to the Globally Harmonized System (GHS).” The headline sparked a relook in this Daily News at the current and historical failure of U.S. policy, which allows cancer-causing pesticides in food production and land management, despite the booming success of a cost-effective and productive, certified organic sector for which petrochemical pesticides are not […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 13, 2025) A report highlights the ongoing stress to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from pollutants, particularly pesticides. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the contiguous United States, with tributaries shared among six states and the District of Columbia. It receives runoff from nine major river systems traversing a wide mix of land uses, with significant agricultural and urban areas nearest the Bay and forest along the western boundary. Nearly 13 million people get their drinking water from the watershed. The watershed report by the Maryland Pesticide Education Network focuses primarily on the herbicide atrazine, the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam, and per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFAS). Atrazine needs little introduction, being notorious for disrupting hormones, particularly estrogen, as demonstrated by the pioneering work of Tyrone Hayes and more recent research analyzed by Beyond Pesticides here, here and here. In male fish, it can trigger production of egg proteins, especially vitellogenin, and development of eggs in their testicles. These are manifestations of intersex, in which an organism shows forms of sexual differentiation of both sexes. The Chesapeake watershed report notes that atrazine and metolachlor (also an estrogen/androgen disruptor and suspected human carcinogen) occur together frequently in the Chesapeake […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 6, 2025) Published in Environmental Pollution, a study of commercial dry pet products finds dietary pesticide residues in dog and cat food, “highlighting the urgent need for improved regulatory frameworks to address the presence of non-approved pesticides in pet food.” Additionally, the researchers point out: “Current regulatory frameworks primarily assess the toxicity of individual pesticide compounds, yet real-world exposure involves complex mixtures that may lead to additive or synergistic effects. The presence of multiple residues in a single sample suggests that companion animals may be subjected to combined toxicological burdens that are not yet fully understood.” (See studies here, here, and here.) The researchers assess pesticide contamination, and their associated toxicological risks, in 83 total food products for dogs (43) and cats (40). Of the foods tested, the researchers found a total of 51 pesticides, many of which are banned in the European Union (EU), including 47% fungicides and 37% insecticides. “Pesticide residues in pet food pose potential risks to animal health, yet their occurrence and dietary exposure in companion animals remain largely unexplored,” the authors state. They continue: “To our knowledge, this is one of the first comprehensive investigations assessing both pesticide prevalence and potential dietary […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 30, 2025) The Making America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission report, Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment, published on May 23, drew criticism from the pesticide industry and agribusiness allies for pointing to independent science that identifies a range of pesticide-induced health hazards.* The Commission, chaired by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is composed of the heads of numerous agencies of the federal government and the White House, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to the Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller. The MAHA Commission was established by Executive Order 14212 on February 13, 2025. Despite extensive citations to the science on pesticide hazards, the report includes a section on “Crop Protection Tools,” in which there is a repetition of chemical industry talking points that pesticide residues in food comply with existing tolerances, thus implying that pesticides in food are safe. (See USDA Pesticide Data Program Continues to Mislead the Public on Pesticide Residue Exposure.) However, overall the report’s introduction sets a tone that seeks to catalogue […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 16, 2025) A Chinese study reports for the first time an association between gestational anemia (GA), pesticide exposure, and the potentially protective effects of gut microbes. While the report is a preprint and has not yet been peer reviewed, it establishes important connections eminently worthy of deeper investigation and suggests that the balance of gut microbes may be a highly effective way to reduce or prevent GA. This is a prospective study of women enrolled in 2017 and 2018 in the Mother and Child Microbiome Cohort, ongoing at a Nanjing hospital. The 731 women were over 18, without diabetes or gestational hypertension (which can affect gestational anemia). The researchers collected blood samples to analyze red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), and levels of pesticides. They analyzed stool samples for gut bacteria composition. GA is extremely common. Pregnancy increases maternal blood volume by up to 50 percent, which produces obvious challenges to the mother. There is a strong gradient between the developing and developed countries: According to the World Health Organization, 35.5 percent of pregnant women globally had anemia in 2023. In Mali, 62.1 percent suffered from it. In the United States, about ten percent did. The […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 15, 2025) The United Nations’ Conference of Parties (COP) for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), originally adopted by 128 countries in 2001, voted to move the highly neurotoxic organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, linked to brain damage in children, to Annex A (Elimination) with exemptions on a range of crops, control for ticks for cattle, and wood preservation, according to the POPs Review Committee. The exemptions drew criticism from groups seeking to eliminate chlorpyrifos without exemptions, as had been originally proposed. In the world of pesticide restrictions, this POPs classification marks a step forward in the international regulation of chlorpyrifos, as the U.S. sits on the sidelines. The long effort to ban this one hazardous pesticide, as important as the action is, serves as a reminder of the limitations of a whack-a-mole approach to chemical regulation of the thousands of toxic products poisoning people and the planet, filled with compromises to public health and the environment—while alternative practices and materials are available to meet productivity, profitability, and quality of life goals. According to Down to Earth, the 18 specific crop and use exemptions include the following: Barley (termites), Cabbage (diamondback moth), Cacao (cacao-mosquitoes and cacao pod […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 23, 2025) Recent reviews of scientific literature, in both Chemosphere and Reports in Public Health, associate Parkinson’s disease (PD), the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease globally, with pesticide exposure. “Given the pervasive nature of pesticide residues in everyday food consumption and inadequate monitoring of their long-term toxicological impacts, the role of pesticide exposure as a modifiable risk factor for neurological disorders, including PD, warrants urgent attention,” the researchers state in the article in Chemosphere. In describing the history of Parkinson’s and previous research, the authors in Reports in Public Health note that while PD etiology is not fully understood, it is a multifactorial disease. “Hereditary factors are present in approximately 10% of diagnosed cases of Parkinson’s disease, presenting early onset; while the other 90% of cases are categorized as idiopathic or sporadic Parkinson’s disease, occurring in older individuals and may be associated with exposure to environmental agents,” the researchers say. This disease, first described by English physician James Parkinson, M.D. in 1817, involves neurochemical changes that present as “the appearance of cardinal motor symptoms, such as bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability, and rest tremor, which are essential for the clinical diagnosis of the disease,” the researchers note. The […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 22, 2025) While it has been widely found that farmworkers bear the brunt of agricultural pesticide exposures in fields and outbuildings, the outdoor use of chemicals contaminating living spaces is documented in an increasing number of studies. Two recent studies add to earlier findings that raise exposure and health concerns. A large European study of house dust contaminants, published in Science of the Total Environment, finds more than 1,200 anthropogenic compounds, including numerous organophosphates, the phthalate DEHP, PCBs, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. And, a recent Argentine study, “Pesticide contamination in indoor home dust: A pilot study of non-occupational exposure in Argentina,” examines contaminant levels in household dust in villages and towns distributed throughout the Pampas region, where soybeans, corn, sunflowers, and livestock, especially cattle, are raised. The study participants were not agricultural workers, but teachers, government workers, librarians, retirees, college students, doctors, lawyers, artists, and business people. The Argentine study reinforces what has been previously reported, which emphasizes findings that there is no doubt that pesticide residues accumulate in homes adjacent to agricultural fields and pastures. For example, in 2023, Beyond Pesticides reported on a study of 598 California homes near agricultural areas sampled for carpet […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 8, 2025) A comprehensive literature review in Environment & Health analyzes evidence from human biomonitoring, epidemiological studies, and toxicological studies that link adverse effects on women’s reproductive health, specifically impacting the ovary, to pesticide exposure. In examining the scientific literature, consisting of over 200 studies performed in the last 25 years, the authors find pesticide exposure threatens women’s health through ovarian dysfunction. “Epidemiological studies have shown that pesticide exposures are associated with early/delayed menarche [first occurrence of menstruation], menstrual cycle disorders, early menopause, long time to pregnancy, polycystic ovary syndrome, primary ovarian insufficiency, infertility, and implantation failure in women,” the researchers state. They continue, “Both in vivo [in animals] and in vitro [in cells] studies have shown that exposure to pesticides disrupts the estrous cycle, reduces the follicle pool, alters hormone levels, and impairs oocyte [egg] maturation.” These reproductive implications are noted with many different classes of pesticides, such as insecticides, including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organophosphates (OPs), pyrethroids, and neonicotinoids, as well as herbicides and fungicides. The authors, however, comment on present research gaps: “Much of the available epidemiological evidence focuses on legacy insecticides, such as OCPs, and a subset of insecticides that are still in use […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 28, 2025) The Rhine Valley in southwestern Germany is renowned for the agricultural bounty it has provided for centuries. Today, the area is home to dense wine, vegetable, fruit, and cereal cultivation. However, a study shows that current regulation of pesticides, even in the relatively progressive European Union, is inadequate to protect humans and all the other organisms that produce the environment necessary for human life and civilization.  The study goal was to determine how far—and which—pesticides traveled beyond the croplands of vegetables, fruit orchards, and cereals, as well forested lands, into nontarget areas that should serve as refugia for plants, animals, and invertebrates not considered pests. Based at the Landau Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, the researchers used innovative methods to measure the types, concentrations, and distribution of pesticides. They took samples from three landscape categories—vegetation, topsoil, and surface water—at 78 sites distributed along six transects, each reaching from the valley floor to the tops of the mountains on either side. Samples were taken from grasses, shrub leaves, and topsoils along each transect, together with water samples from rivers, small streams, ponds, and puddles. They tested for 93 current-use pesticides (CUPs). There […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2025) A study in GeoHealth of pediatric cancers in Nebraska links exposure to agricultural mixtures with the occurrence of these diseases. The authors find statistically significant positive associations between pesticide usage rates and children with cancer, specifically brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers and leukemia. “Our study is the first to estimate the effect of an agrichemical mixture on the pediatric cancer rate in Nebraska,” the study authors share. “One significant advantage of our study is that we identified the pesticide consistently applied over 22 years in Nebraska counties and then estimated the overall mixture effect of these pesticides on pediatric cancer.” The elevated effect of pesticide mixtures, a reality that is not evaluated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide registration program, was reported in Oecologia (2008), documenting harm to amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals is within limits considered acceptable. (See additional coverage here.) There is a wide body of science highlighting the disproportionate risk of adverse health effects in children with pesticide exposure. Their small size and developing organ systems, propensity to crawl and play near the ground, tendency for frequent hand-to-mouth motion, and greater intake of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 28, 2025) It is well established that children are more vulnerable than adults to environmental insults such as pesticides, from conception onward. Children living in agricultural areas are exposed differently from those in urban areas. A study of rural children by researchers at Mexico’s Universidad Atónoma de Nayarit compared two communities located less than a quarter of a mile from agricultural fields with one control community located more than a mile away. The study shows that children in the field-adjacent towns are clearly exposed to pesticides and are experiencing cellular distress as a result. The state of Nayarit is on the west coast of Mexico near Mazatlan. Rural children encounter aerial application, spray drift, and erosion. If their parents are agricultural workers and especially if they apply pesticides, they bring home residues on their clothes. Residential storage of pesticides and small children’s propensity to play in the dirt and put things in their mouths exacerbate their exposure. Urban children get hit by pesticides in their homes, schools, and parks. The researchers took blood and urine samples from 431 children aged six to 12 and collected questionnaires as to pesticide exposures from the parents or guardians. They assayed the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 25, 2025) A literature review of over 90 scientific articles in Agriculture documents microplastics’ (MPs) increase in the bioavailability, persistence, and toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture. The interactions between MPs and pesticides enhance the threat of pesticide exposure to nontarget organisms, perpetuates the cycle of toxic chemical use, and decreases soil health that is vital for productivity. “The increasing presence of MPs in agricultural ecosystems has raised concerns about their impact on pesticide bioavailability, efficacy, and environmental behavior,” says study author Kuok Ho Daniel Tang, PhD, a global professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. He continues, “These synthetic particles interact with pesticides through adsorption and desorption processes, altering their distribution, persistence, toxicity, and uptake by plants and other organisms.” Microplastics in the Environment As Beyond Pesticides has previously reported, microplastics are ubiquitous and threaten not only human health but all wildlife in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The universal distribution of plastics means that they cannot be avoided. Humans and other organisms take up plastics in the form of microparticles and nanoparticles by inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact every day. Microplastics are about the width of a human hair; nanoplastics […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 21, 2025) The prospects for rational environmental policies in the U.S., including commitments to biodiversity and public health protections, are in disarray as the Trump administration sweeps through the federal government without any evaluation of program importance or effectiveness. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the destruction is likely to derail or reverse reasonable decisions to ban or restrict numerous toxic chemicals and to bury concern for ecosystem-wide harms. On biodiversity, President Trump has killed a major report, the National Nature Assessment, that had been due for completion on February 11. The assessment is part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces the national climate assessment, but it was created by an executive order issued under President Biden rather than by Congress. More than 150 experts, including federal employees and volunteers from academia, nonprofits, and businesses, reviewed the state of the nation’s lands, water, and wildlife. The assessment is a U.S.-specific version of a recent global report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), covered here by Beyond Pesticides. The IPBES details the many steps that can be taken at every level of the problem to preserve the ecosystem services […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 14, 2025) Women with occupational pesticide exposure have elevated rates of breast cancer, according to a study in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology. Based on an analysis of clinicopathological data from 188 affected women, the study authors demonstrate “that occupational exposure to pesticides modifies the clinical presentation of disease in breast cancer patients, depending on their age at disease onset, affecting cytokine production, especially in those exhibiting early age at diagnosis.”   “Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant neoplasm affecting women worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in this population,” the researchers report. They continue: “Aging is the primary risk factor associated with breast cancer development and mortality, resulting in a cumulative lifetime risk of 1 in 8 women developing the disease. Disease onset significantly impacts patient prognosis. While most cases are of late onset and occur in women over 50 years of age, early-onset BC is prevalent in certain populations and is associated with a poor prognosis and aggressive tumor behavior.”  Data was collected and analyzed from May 2015 to December 2022, with the study population in Brazil spanning “27 municipalities in the southwest of Paraná, a region characterized by extensive pesticide use, predominantly […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 13, 2025) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is officially taking comments on whether to issue new restrictions on the herbicide atrazine’s use. Beyond Pesticides is telling the agency that it is time to recognize the biodiversity destruction that atrazine is causing and the viability of alternative organic management practices. The group has released an action and is asking the public to join this campaign to ban atrazine. As a yardstick for what is possible under existing federal pesticide law (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act), EPA on August 7, 2024 announced that it was taking emergency action to ban the weed killer Dacthal (or DCPA–dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate), leaving many people asking, “Why Dacthal and not other very hazardous pesticides?” The weed killer atrazine (in the triazine chemical family) poses similar elevated hazards to people and the environment, has proven to be impossible to contain, and has viable alternatives. Therefore, we need to challenge EPA to apply the same standard that removed Dacthal from the market to the long list of pesticides that are contributing to a health crisis, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency.  In its current proposal, EPA is choosing to downplay atrazine’s risk to ecosystems, allow more contamination with […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 9, 2025) In a Frontiers in Public Health review article, researchers report on the wide body of science connecting adverse effects to female reproductive system, such as infertility, with exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The authors call these effects a significant concern for public health, as there has been growing evidence of EDCs with risk factors for decreased fertility.   Infertility “affects a substantial proportion of the world’s population with approximately one in six people affected,” the researchers note. They continue: “Over the last 70 years, global fertility has been constantly in decline due to behavioral and societal changes… [E]merging evidence has shown that infertility incidence is linked to exposure to environmental factors such as tobacco, alcohol, and a wide range of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) including pesticides (chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane [DDT] and methoxychlor), phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), dioxins, and bisphenols.”  In this review, over 100 studies are summarized to showcase the link between EDC exposure and reproductive effects in women, including infertility and related diseases such as endometriosis, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), and endocrine axis dysregulation. The studies included investigating the “mechanisms by which EDCs cause ovarian aging, folliculogenesis, decrease of oocyte quality, ovulation disorders, development and receptivity […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 18, 2024) A bombshell investigation conducted by Canada’s National Observer finds that Bayer, which acquired the Monsanto chemical company in 2018, colluded with environmental and public health regulators in Canada to obstruct a proposed neonicotinoid insecticide ban originally introduced in 2018. Advocates were stunned back in 2021 when Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)—the Canadian counterpart to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—reversed its decision to phase out imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam by 2023. The weaponization of scientific institutions and regulatory processes is commonplace in the U.S. context, with U.S. Right to Know publishing a report earlier this year on the corrupting impact of pesticide manufacturers at the Entomological Society of America 2023 annual meeting. (See Daily News here.) There are numerous Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports signaling EPA corruption and failures, including persisting industry influence in the cancer risk assessment process, inadequate leadership in addressing community harms of a former creosote-treated wood preservative plant turned Superfund site in Pensacola, Florida, and failure to protect the public from endocrine-disrupting chemicals, to name several examples. In a recent press release, the David Suzuki Foundation, alongside numerous medical, legal, and civil society organizations, is calling on Health Canada […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 13, 2024) In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the registration applications of BASF Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals Crop & Life Solutions, Inc. for the use of different formulations of the L-isomer of glufosinate (also known as “L-glufosinate” and “glufosinate-P”) as new active herbicidal ingredients. This decision marks one of the first times that EPA has employed its new Herbicide  Strategy Framework to determine the level of mitigation necessary to protect listed species and critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Glufosinate is an organophosphate, with known neurotoxic, reproductive/developmental effects, toxic to aquatic life, and mobile in soils (see Beyond Pesticides Gateway). Scientists have found that formulated glufosinate is generally more toxic to aquatic and terrestrial animals than the technical grade active ingredient. Manufacturers are introducing newer glufosinate products as alternatives for glyphosate-based herbicides, like Bayer/Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ and dicamba. The Center for Biological Diversity notes in comments submitted to EPA on this decision, “L-glufosinate has the potential to be used on tens of millions acres of land every year given the crops EPA has proposed to register it on. The scale of potential use is far above most new active ingredients.” This first significant application […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 22, 2024) With numerous campaigns at the state and federal level to ban the weed killer paraquat and nearly 6,000 individual lawsuits alleging exposure to it causes Parkinson’s disease (PD), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and six Senators on October 31 called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the chemical. Citing that “[f]armworkers and rural residents are disproportionately exposed to paraquat,” the Senators’ letter to EPA stating that, “Paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, thyroid cancer, and other health harms such as kidney, liver, and respiratory damage, and reproductive harm, including neurodevelopmental impact on developing fetuses [and] [i]n rural areas, exposure to paraquat and other pesticides during pregnancy can increase the risk of leukemia.” Most of the 6,000 cases against paraquat’s manufacturer, Syngenta, have been consolidated into Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. In April, the MDL judge ousted the plaintiffs’ expert witness regarding causality, which resulted in the first five cases ready for trial being tossed out. The defendant sells paraquat globally and is doing everything it can, according to investigative news reports, to discredit any link between paraquat and Parkinson’s, including the use […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 8-11, 2024) On Veterans Day 2024 we honor those who have served the country and allies. In the 117th (2021-2022) U.S. Congress, legislators enacted The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (PACT Act). Since the law passed just over two years ago, there has been just under 1.3 million total approved claims marking a roughly 75% approval rate for PACT Act related claims, according to Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) accounting of progress between August 10, 2022, and October 12, 2024 through its dedicated bimonthly VA PACT Act Performance Dashboard. The legacy of toxic burn pits (open air areas where the military has burned toxic waste) and other avenues for toxic exposure in military bases oversees, as well as within the United States in Hawai’i (See coverage on asbestos exposure continuously impacting veterans, as reported on by Honolulu Civil Beat) and Puerto Rico (See peer-reviewed literature review here on toxic heavy metals in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health), among other areas, comes at a time when the country assesses the ongoing impacts of a history that has been characterized by critics as colonial or imperialist. […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 4, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week opened a public comment period on the regulation of endocrine-disrupting pesticides, a proposal that lays out a drawn-out 10-year process that is narrow in evaluating the underlying mechanism that causes endocrine disruption. The proposal, published in the Federal Register as a partial settlement agreement and consent decree, responds to a lawsuit filed by farmworker and health groups challenging the agency’s failure to test and regulate endocrine-disrupting pesticides. Earlier in the year, after over 25 years of delay following the 1996 Congressional mandate to determine whether pesticides disrupt the endocrine system of humans and other organisms, EPA issued a proposal for modifying its approach to the implementation of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP).  The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences explains endocrine disruptors this way: “Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or human-made chemicals that may mimic, block, or interfere with the body’s hormones, which are part of the endocrine system. These chemicals are associated with a wide array of health issues. . . Endocrine glands, distributed throughout the body, produce the hormones that act as signaling molecules after release into the circulatory system. The human body is […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 31, 2024) Approximately four in ten private wells in the state of Wisconsin contain toxic pesticides and pesticide metabolites, according to findings released earlier this year from a 2023 survey, entitled Wisconsin Agricultural Chemicals in Wisconsin Groundwater, conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) in partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). An analysis of the survey findings from Wisconsin Public Radio determined that “more than half of 29 pesticide compounds detected are unregulated in groundwater.” Pesticides detected in this study include toxic herbicides atrazine, dacthal, metolachlor, and alachlor, commonly used by chemical-intensive corn and soybean growers throughout the United States, but they are particularly concentrated for use in Corn Belt states such as Wisconsin. Various neonicotinoid insecticides were also detected. Pesticide leaching into both surface water and groundwater continues to impose adverse health and environmental impacts on communities across the nation, leading to advocates pushing for organic land management principles and practices to avoid the continuous use of toxic pesticides. Methods and Findings “Of the 29 compounds detected, [Carla] Romano [groundwater specialist at DATCP] said 13 have established groundwater standards,” based on an interview conducted by […]