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Study of Pesticide Mixtures and Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction Further Highlights Regulatory Deficiencies

Thursday, March 13th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, March 13, 2025) Study results published in Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology “suggest that combined [pesticide] exposure may further amplify the toxicity and compromise the intestinal barrier.” The researchers studied the toxic effects of the insecticides abamectin and spirodiclofen, as well as the fungicide fluazinam, individually and in combination. In exposing mice and Caco-2 cells to these pesticides, the results show the disruption of intestinal functions and highlight the need to assess potential synergistic effects of pesticide mixtures as a part of the regulatory review process.  Effects on the intestinal barriers of mice represent a threat to “the first line of defense against the external environment,” the researchers say. The intestinal mucosal epithelial structure plays an important role in preventing harmful substances from entering the intestines and causing damage to cells.  [Caco-2 cells represent a human cell line, derived from a colon cancer patient’s tissue, and mimic the small intestine. These cells are vital in research as a model of the intestinal epithelial barrier.]  “Currently, most studies investigating the effects of pesticide residues on the barrier function of Caco-2 cells concentrate on the exposure to a single residue, while the potential toxic effects arising from the concurrent presence of multiple pesticide […]

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Earthjustice Lawsuit Seeks to Defend Organic Farmers as Federal Funds Are Cut and Programs Eliminated

Wednesday, March 12th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, March 12, 2025) Earthjustice filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging the Department’s alleged illegal purging of datasets, resources, and pertinent information that organic farmers rely on to carry out their operations, according to the complaint filed on February 24, 2025. The deletion of public data compounds the numerous threats facing organic and regenerative organic farmers across the nation. The uncertainty associated with the starting and then stopping of tariffs has led to surges in costs and supply chain challenges. Meanwhile, core organic programs, including the Organic Certification Cost Share Program, Organic Data Initiative, and Organic Certification Trade and Tracking Program, remain unfunded, leaving huge uncertainties for the organic sector moving forward. The administration has canceled the spring meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the Congressionally-mandated board established to guide the setting of standards and materials on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. In theory, organic farmers and public and environmental health advocates align with some of the stated objectives of the Make America Healthy Again Commission (MAHA), established by executive order on February 13, 2025. MAHA’s stated efforts to “drastically lower….chronic disease rates and end…childhood chronic disease” would be […]

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On International Women’s Day, Pesticide Risks to Women’s Health Call for Urgent Transition to Organic

Friday, March 7th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, March 7, 2025) In honor of International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8, 2025, Beyond Pesticides sheds light on the disproportionate risks to women from toxic chemicals that are often unaccounted for and even dismissed throughout pesticide regulatory review and the underlying statutes. In a roundup of Daily News coverage in 2024, as well as the most recent scientific studies in 2025, on the scientific links between pesticide exposure and adverse effects in women, this article highlights the growing inequities in pesticide threats to women’s health.  Women farmers and farmworkers are particularly excluded when assessing pesticide risks. As previously reported by Beyond Pesticides, a study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds that pesticide exposure, especially during puberty, can play a role in ovarian cancer development among female farmers. Although there are many studies that evaluate the risk for cancers among farmers, very few scientific articles cover the risk of ovarian cancer from pesticide exposure.  Additionally, this study suggests the role of hormones in ovarian cancer prognosis and development, highlighting an association with endocrine disruption. Endocrine disruption can lead to numerous health problems in multiple organ systems, including hormone-related cancer development (e.g., thyroid, breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular), reproductive […]

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Elevated Pesticide Hazards from Plastic Contamination Focus of International, State, and Local Action

Monday, March 3rd, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2025) When the United Nations (UN) adjourned the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said, “The world’s commitment to ending plastic pollution is clear and undeniable.” She continued, “Here in Busan [Korea], talks have moved us closer to agreeing on a global legally binding treaty that will protect our health, our environment, and our future from the onslaught of plastic pollution.” In March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly adopted UNEA Resolution 5/14 entitled “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument.”  With the Trump Administration shutting down environmental programs and exiting from collaborative international environmental agreements, the work of the world community has taken on elevated importance, given the urgency of health, biodiversity, and environmental crises; so, too, has the work going on at the state level and in local communities across the United States. The interconnectedness of the pesticide and plastic problems was brought into focus recently with a scientific review of articles showing elevated pesticide hazards linked to plastic contamination. A literature review in Agriculture, covering over 90 scientific […]

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Children Exposed to Pesticides Experience “Cellular Distress” and Chronic/Acute Diseases, Study Finds

Friday, February 28th, 2025

(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 AtĂłnoma 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 […]

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Glyphosate Weed Killer Contaminates Stem Cells, Is Linked to Blood Cancers and DNA Damage, Study Finds

Thursday, February 27th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 27, 2025) In analyzing current scientific literature and data on glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), a research article in Environmental Sciences Europe finds that glyphosate (GLY) persists in bones before reentering the bloodstream. The mechanisms in which GLY interacts with important cells for development, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and breaks and rearranges DNA offer a possible explanation for the heightened risk of cancer, specifically blood cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), myeloma, and leukemia. “Existing data on GLY/GBH metabolism and genotoxicity provide critical insights into how exposures may be contributing to blood cancers,” according to the study’s author, Charles Benbrook, PhD. Dr. Benbrook continues: “A significant portion of GLY reaching blood moves quickly into bone marrow and then bone, where it can bioaccumulate and persist… Data reviewed herein suggest that a portion of the GLY excreted by most people on a daily basis can be traced to the shedding of calcium-GLY complexes in bone back into the blood supply.” This allows for near-constant contact between glyphosate molecules and hematopoietic stem cells, which are immature cells that can develop into any type of blood cell. Mutations in hematopoietic stem cells can cause blood cancers to emerge. Those at disproportionate risk […]

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Historic Coexistence of Organic Agriculture and Nature Interrupted by Forced Farm Closures at Point Reyes National Seashore

Wednesday, February 26th, 2025

*** Beyond Pesticides has recently received an insulting broadside from an environmental group; click here to read the original email and a response from the organization that includes a deep history of Beyond Pesticides’ commitment to ecological and organic farming practices in local food systems that are just.  (Beyond Pesticides, February 26, 2025) The National Park Service (NPS) recently announced a settlement agreement regarding the management of northern California’s Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) that will result in the closure of 12 out of 14 historic dairy and cattle ranches, including those organically managed, within the park. This decision comes after nearly a decade of legal disputes and negotiations between environmental groups, ranchers, and the NPS, ending 170 years of family ranching, displacing multi-generational farmers—at least 90 farmworker families—and abandoning 77 historic ranch buildings. Critics lambast the agreement as devastating local organic agriculture and food production in West Marin County, which is essential for creating long-term climate solutions. Over the decades since PRNS’ inception, local and national environmental groups have litigated against ranchers and the National Park Service, including demanding range expansion for the native tule elk, which were reintroduced to the park by NPS in the 1970s. However, the […]

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Microplastics Interact with Pesticides, Exacerbating Environmental Health Threats, Studies Find

Tuesday, February 25th, 2025

(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 […]

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Signs that U.S. Is Abandoning Action To Protect Biodiversity

Friday, February 21st, 2025

(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 […]

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State Bill Supports Organic Transition as Trump Administration Ignores Mounting Crises

Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 18, 2025) With petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers linked to the climate crisis and extraordinary threats to health and biodiversity, recent actions by the Trump administration are highlighting the critical importance of local and state action to mitigate the hazards. On this point, the headline of a National Public Radio article published last week says, ”Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow.” Previously, President Trump as a candidate called climate change a “hoax” and has targeted “‘every one’ of President Biden’s policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels,” according to The New York Times. The Guardian reported last October after Hurricane Helene, “As the hurricane continued to ravage the region over the weekend, the former president dismissed global warming in a Saturday speech, and the following day referred to the climate crisis as “one of the great scams of all time.” When considering the historic Palisade fires that began in January in southern California, according to The Guardian, John Abatzoglou, a climatologist at the University of California, Merced, said, “Climate change is adding fuel to the fire and it is absolutely outpacing our ability to adapt in certain areas.” With the apparent absence of federal programs to […]

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California Weakly Defines Regenerative, Misses Chance for Meaningful Progress

Thursday, February 13th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 13, 2025) After months of deliberations and a public comment period, the California State Board of Food and Agriculture (SBFA) on January 10, 2025, formalized a definition of “regenerative agriculture” that is being widely criticized as undermining the transition of agriculture to certified organic practices that eliminate petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. The call for the urgent and widespread adoption of organic land management is advanced by those who see organic practices—with its focus on soil health management, a national list of allowed and prohibited substances, an enforcement system, and a prohibition on genetically engineered seeds and plants, synthetic fertility and biosolids—as the only way to effectively address the current health, biodiversity, and climate crises. Nonetheless, the Board’s recommendation, accepted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), loosely defines regenerative agriculture as “an integrated approach to farming and ranching rooted in principles of soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resiliency.” The  15-member SBFA advisory board, appointed by the governor, unanimously finalized a recommendation formally defining “regenerative agriculture,” concluding two years’ worth of workgroups and stakeholder engagement. The proposal, addressed to Secretary Karen Ross, fulfills a Board project outlined in California’s Ag Vision for the Next Decade. It […]

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Beyond Pesticides Calls for Public Comment To Stop Prohibitions on State Pesticide Hazard Warnings

Monday, February 10th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 10, 2025) With the shutting down of key federal government programs, Beyond Pesticides is urging the public to speak out, especially on issues that preserve state and local authority to protect public health and safety in the absence of adequate federal standards. In this context, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a petition with a proposed policy that would, if adopted, prohibit states from issuing warnings of pesticide hazards, like cancer, on product labels. EPA is taking public comment through February 20, 2025, on the petition, filed by the Republican attorneys general (AGs) of 11* states.  The petition asks EPA to prohibit “any state labeling requirements inconsistent with EPA findings and conclusions from its human health risk assessment on human health effects, such as a pesticide’s likelihood to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.” [*The 11 states filing the petition include: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.] According to Beyond Pesticides: “The only conclusion that can be derived from this petition is that the AGs do not care if the people, including farmers, of their states are harmed by pesticides, and they should not be able […]

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Revealing “Dirty Weed”: Pesticides in Cannabis Raises Health Concerns, as Advocates Advance Organic Solution

Thursday, February 6th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 6, 2025) Months after publishing a June 2024 study regarding concentrations of pesticides discovered in legal (and illegal) cannabis products in California, the Los Angeles Times has released a follow-up exposĂ© highlighting extensive pesticide contamination, including from “hidden” pesticides that regulators have not monitored. The authors conclude that in California’s legal weed market, over half of available smoking products are found to contain hidden chemicals—toxic pesticides present in products but not regulated or monitored by state authorities. Since 2015, Beyond Pesticides has laid out health, safety, and environmental concerns related to the contamination of cannabis by pesticides (and fertilizers) alongside an imperative need to mandate an organic systems approach to cannabis production. Yet ten years later, it appears nationally that California state regulators are alone in moving forward in 2021 with state organic cannabis certification. There are other marketplace-based cannabis certification labels that require comparable organic certification practices (see Beyond Pesticides reporting here and here). For more information, please see past Pesticides and You reporting here and here. The Los Angeles Times analyzed the results from state licensed laboratory testing of more than 370 legal cannabis products, representing 86 brands. In addition to the 66 chemicals required […]

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Neonic Insecticide Impairs/Kills Beetle Listed as Threatened and Important to Ecosystem Health, But Not Protected

Wednesday, February 5th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2025) A study in PLOS One finds acute and chronic impacts of nontarget toxicity on the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, with neonicotinoid insecticide exposure. In assessing environmentally relevant concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid with N. americanus, the researchers note both mortality and behavioral effects that leave the species at high risk of predation. These effects mean the American burying beetle “may be at greater risk to insecticide exposure than previously thought and vulnerable to episodic, low-dose neonicotinoid exposure,” the authors say. This data sheds important light on a species that has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as threatened. Burying beetles provide important ecosystem services within the environment such as “burying carrion, increasing available nutrients in soil, and expediting carrion decomposition, while acting as a food source for secondary consumers,” the researchers state. (See more on ecosystem services and beneficial insects here, here, and here.) The N. americanus species are habitat generalists and can be found in grasslands, wet meadows, and forested areas that neighbor agricultural lands and introduce the beetles to pesticide drift and soil residues. While acute and chronic effects vary in duration and severity, pesticide exposure resulting […]

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Study Demonstrates Health Benefits of Organic Diet Over That Consumed with Toxic Pesticides

Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, February 4, 2025) Adopting a fully organic diet can reduce pesticide levels in urine within just two weeks “by an average of 98.6%” and facilitate faster DNA damage repair relative to a diet of food grown with chemical-intensive practices, according to findings from a randomized clinical trial published in Nutrire. The authors explain that their finding “is likely due to two main factors: the presence of compounds characteristic of [an organic] diet, which may have high levels of antioxidants that can protect DNA and also induce DNA repair [], and the absence or decrease in the incidence of pesticides in this type of diet, which are recognized for their genotoxic effects and have the ability to affect the genetic repair system of organisms [].” Public health professionals and affected families continue to sound the alarm on the unprecedented rates of chronic illnesses, many linked to pesticide exposure, as well as the urgency in developing solutions that acknowledge the connection to policies governing agriculture, nutrition policies, and public health. Background and Methodology The purpose of this study is to identify any relationships in health effects of chemical-intensive versus organic diets in a two week-period. More specifically, the authors say […]

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Study Shows Biofertilizer Enhances Plant Growth and Resilience, But Not Adequately Regulated

Wednesday, January 29th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2025) A team of researchers recently discovered the benefits of using natural biofertilizers and biostimulants in the production of tomatoes, the results of a two-year study featured in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. When the researchers added a biofertilizer consisting of fungi and bacteria, and/or a biostimulant made of algae, the tomato plants grew bigger, faster, and produced significantly more (and sweeter) fruit than plants that received neither treatment. This research, published in August 2024, adds to a growing body of evidence that non-synthetic, natural fertilizer alternatives can support a global transition away from the toxic chemical treadmill of modern commercial farming.  [A note about the definition of plant biostimulants. They are substances or microorganisms that enhance natural plant processes, improving resource efficiency, stress tolerance, and overall growth without directly providing nutrients or controlling pests. There is ongoing confusion regarding a lack of a set definition, as some biostimulants overlap in function with fertilizers or biocontrol agents. The definition of biofertilizers—also referred to as inoculants, bioinoculants, or bioformulations—are products containing beneficial microorganisms in active or inactive forms. These microorganisms, applied singly or in combination, colonize the rhizosphere or plant tissues to enhance […]

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Viability of Hemp as a PFAS Remediation Tool Moves Forward, as Contamination Spreads

Thursday, January 23rd, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 23, 2025) According to reporting by Bangor Daily News, “Starting in 2025, the Mi’kmaq Nation, [Upland Grassroots], [University of Virginia], the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District will use a four-year, $1.6 million EPA grant to continue hemp planting at [the former] Loring [Air Force Base] and testing potential ways to extract PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] from harvested hemp.” This grant will support an existing initiative led by members of the Mi’kmaq Nation to remediate this contaminated Superfund-designated land purchased from the U.S. government in 2009 based on interviews of the Nation’s Vice Chief Richard Silliboy.   PFAS, colloquially known as “forever chemicals,” persist in various petrochemical-based pesticides, chemicals, and other consumer products. Beyond Pesticides, in coordination with national coalitions and local communities, continues to act against the proliferation of PFAS and PFAS-contaminated products through grassroots organizing and litigation. The use and associated public and environmental exposure to PFAS as pesticide active ingredients in pesticide products and a wide range of consumer products (including containers holding pesticides targeting mosquitoes and sewage sludge fertilizers) represent a grave threat as a result of their use in homes, emergency rooms, health care facilities, […]

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Report Highlights Rising Incidence of Cancer in Younger Women and Disparities by Race and Ethnicity

Tuesday, January 21st, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 21, 2025) When the American Cancer Society (ACS) published its annual report last week, it pointed to a rising incidence of cancer in younger women and highlighted disparities by race and ethnicity that are especially timely with the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In its report, “Cancer Mortality Continues to Drop Despite Rising Incidence in Women; Rates of New Diagnoses Under 65 Higher in Women Than Men,” ACS writes: “Disparities in cancer occurrence and outcomes are often the result of socioeconomic deprivation as a consequence of structural racism, which limits opportunities for education and other mechanisms of upward mobility. For example, the historical practice of mortgage lending discrimination known as redlining is associated with later stage cancer diagnosis, lower likelihood of receiving recommended treatment, and higher cancer mortality. Inequalities in wealth lead to differences in the prevalence of risk factor exposures as well as access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. Even beyond higher prevalence of common risk factors like smoking and obesity, exposure to carcinogenic air emissions is up to 50% higher among people experiencing poverty, regardless of race or ethnicity. In 2022, 25% of AIAN [American Indian and Alaska Native] people lived below the federal […]

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Reflections on Martin Luther King Day, Prioritizing Environmental Justice Given Disproportionate Existential Threats

Friday, January 17th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 17-20, 2025) Martin Luther King Day recognizes the achievements of a remarkable civil rights leader while asking the nation to assess what more the country must do to ensure equality and environmental justice, as well as protection for those who suffer disproportionately from toxic chemical exposure. Advocates and disproportionately affected communities acknowledge the historic nature of the Biden Administration’s commitment to elevating environmental justice in the decision-making of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, according to Willy Blackmore, writer for Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (“the oldest Black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota and one of the longest-standing, family-owned newspapers in the country”), “[T]he more systemic change that [Administrator] Regan’s EPA tried to bring about was stonewalled by legal challenges that threatened to undermine the agency’s strongest tool for righting environmental injustices.” Black communities across the nation face disproportionate impacts to petrochemical infrastructure and toxic chemicals, including pesticides and fertilizers. A 2021 study published in BMC Public Health found that biomarkers for 12 dangerous pesticides tracked over the past 20 years were found in the blood and urine of Black participants at average levels up to five times those in White participants. A University of Michigan study found […]

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Multitude of Studies Find Epigenetic Effects from PFAS and Other Endocrine Disrupting Pesticides

Thursday, January 16th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 16, 2025) In Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, researchers highlight a multitude of studies on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and endocrine disrupting pesticides (EDPs) showing epigenetic effects from exposure. These EDCs imitate the action of endocrine hormones and lead to gene damage and multigenerational adverse effects to health. “These chemicals can interfere with the normal functioning of target tissues by altering their response to hormonal signals, thereby affecting various physiological processes including reproduction, development, the nervous system, the immune system, and even the process of carcinogenesis [causing cancer],” according to the authors from Hebei Agricultural University and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.   In causing epigenetic modifications, the authors describe that EDCs can create changes “at the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (nDNA and mtDNA) or RNA levels, without changing the underlying DNA sequence. These alterations modify the structure or conformation of DNA, influencing gene expression and, consequently, cellular function.” They continue, “The mechanisms of epigenetics include changes in DNA methylation, chromatin modifications and the involvement of certain noncoding RNAs.” In reviewing over 80 studies on EDCs, predominantly fluorinated compounds such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the researchers provide a summary of linkages between pesticide exposure and the […]

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Public Urged To Tell EPA That It Is Time To Stop Killing Biodiversity with the Weed Killer Atrazine

Monday, January 13th, 2025

(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 […]

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Initiative in the European Union Embraces Organic as a Climate Solution, as Fires Accelerate in the U.S.

Friday, January 10th, 2025

(Beyond Pesticides, January 10, 2025) [Beyond Pesticides grieves for those tragically harmed by the Los Angeles fires.] As the new year begins with the bleak and devastating reminder brought on by the Los Angeles fires, the nation and world are reminded once again that dramatic land management changes are necessary to address the erratic weather conditions contributing to the force and effect of the fires and the length of the fire season. This is only the most recent reminder, as Beyond Pesticides and many organizations call for an urgent end to land management practices and inputs that rely on the production and use of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers, which contribute to the global climate crisis. Often incorrectly referred to as natural disasters, environmental disasters, including fires, floods, and severe weather events, are brought on or exacerbated by widespread reliance on disruptive chemicals, which played a role in a delayed start to the southern California rainy season, hurricane-force winds, and low humidity levels—all elevated by climate change. As organic is increasingly understood to be a climate solution, OrganicClimateNet last year launched an aggressive effort to build the base of organic farmers in the European Union (EU).   As the climate crisis […]

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Multiple Studies Link Adverse Effects on Female Reproductive Health with Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Exposure

Thursday, January 9th, 2025

(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 […]

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