pesticides

16 Stories

Want to Save Babies? Protect Bats
In Bat Die-Off, Human
Infants Also Paid the Price
NEW STUDY
Sep 7, 2024 8:00 AM CDT

In Bat Die-Off, Human Infants Also Paid the Price

New research shows that when bats died of fungal disease, infants also died, possibly due to pesticide

(Newser) - When a deadly fungal disease from Europe spread to bats in the United States, killing off colonies of the creatures, one scientist wanted to see what such a bat die-off would mean in other ways. What the University of Chicago's Eyal Frank found: that in counties where infected bats...

Widow of Late LL Bean Chief Says Her Trees Were Poisoned

Lisa Gorman accuses Missouri couple of tainting oaks in Maine for better view at their summer home

(Newser) - Suspicious deaths in an idyllic seaside community and detective work that points to poison sound like themes from a classic murder mystery. But the victims in this Maine whodunnit were trees that stood in the way of a wealthy family's oceanfront view of Camden Harbor, allegedly felled by well-heeled...

Consumer Reports Warns of Pesticides on Grocery Produce

It found worrisome levels in 20% of US produce

(Newser) - Roughly 20% of the fruits and vegetables in your local grocery store may pose a "significant" health risk because of pesticides, according to a Consumer Reports analysis. Its report is based on USDA routine pesticide testing of nearly 30,000 samples of fresh, frozen, organic, and canned produce collected...

This 'Dirty Dozen' Are the Most Contaminated

Strawberries top Environmental Working Group list on which fruits, veggies contain the most pesticides

(Newser) - If you aim to eat as cleanly as possible to preserve that temple you call your body, you may want to cross-check what you're buying with the new list of contaminated produce items from the Environmental Working Group. The EWG ranked the pesticide levels of the fruits and veggies...

Unusual Sight in European Cities: Throngs of Tractors

Farmers protest EU environmental regulations, claiming the rules put food production at risk

(Newser) - The rice used in Spanish paella, the country's national dish, is at risk of disappearing, growers warn, amid widespread protests against European Union environmental regulations, including the banning of a fungicide. Tricyclazole was used to fight fungus appearing on bomba rice grown in Spain's wetlands for 40 years,...

Bed Bug Fumigation Killed Couple at Resort

Room next door had been sprayed with pesticide

(Newser) - The coroner's verdict is in on the cause of death for a British couple vacationing at a luxury resort in Egypt in 2018. John and Susan Cooper died of carbon monoxide poisoning, CNN reports, in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The room next to theirs, which was connected...

The 'Dirty Dozen:' Most Contaminated Fruits, Veggies

But there's better news with the 'Clean 15'

(Newser) - Mama (and the US government) always said to eat your fruits and veggies, but nowhere in that conventional wisdom was there anything about getting your daily allotment of pesticides. Yet, as CNN reports, that's exactly what some of us are inadvertently doing. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group rounds up...

A Controversial Pesticide Is Banned From Food Crops

EPA prohibits use of chlorpyrifos, overruling the Trump administration

(Newser) - A long-running battle over a controversial pesticide is over—the EPA has banned the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops, reports NPR . The insecticide has been used for decades on crops, particularly soybeans, fruit trees, nut trees, broccoli, and cauliflower, per the AP . However, studies have linked it to neurological...

Popular Flea Collar Linked to Pet Deaths, Human Injuries

EPA says Seresto flea and tick collars remain safe enough for sale

(Newser) - Hundreds of pet deaths and thousands of injuries to pets and humans have been linked to one of the most popular flea and tick collars in the US, according to documents from the EPA. However, there has been no warning about the Seresto collar made by Bayer and sold by...

Dingo Poisoning Has Unintended Effect
Dingo Poisoning Has
Unintended Effect
new study
Aug 6, 2020 2:25 PM CDT

Dingo Poisoning Has Unintended Effect

The animals are getting bigger, say Australian researchers

(Newser) - Australian researchers have made an odd discovery: Dingoes are getting bigger—but only in areas where long-term poison campaigns against them have been in place. It seems the bait traps have the unintended consequence of making the surviving animals larger, reports Science Daily . "The most likely theory is that...

Fireflies May Soon Go Dark Due to a Big Triple Threat

Researchers warn of possible extinction due to habitat loss, artificial light, and pesticides

(Newser) - There’s a "quiet apocalypse" happening among insect populations around the world, and fireflies may soon be the next to see their lights dimmed for good. New research out of Tufts University published in the journal BioScience warns that the world’s 2,000 or so species of the...

See Which Veggies Are Most Dangerous

Kale is right up there when it comes to pesticide residue

(Newser) - Kale lovers, it's time to start washing. The Environmental Working Group has released its annual "Dirty Dozen List" of produce harboring the most pesticide residues, and lo and behold kale comes in third, Time reports. According to testing by the USDA and the FDA—on which the EWG...

'Huge Victory:' Court Orders EPA to Ban Popular Pesticide

Scott Pruitt overruled his agency's own scientists in allowing use of chlorpyrifos

(Newser) - A federal appeals court says the Trump administration endangered public health by keeping the top-selling pesticide chlorpyrifos on the market despite extensive scientific evidence that even tiny levels of exposure can harm babies' brains. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to...

Researchers Sound Alarm on Dropping Male Sperm Counts

There's been a 52% drop in sperm counts over the last 40 years

(Newser) - The Western man's sperm count just isn't what it used to be. In what the Washington Post calls the largest and most comprehensive look into the matter, an international team of researchers reports in the journal Human Reproductive Update that after analyzing 185 previous studies involving 42,000...

Pesticide Maker's Letter to Trump Administration: 'Set Aside' Studies

Companies say risk assessments are flawed

(Newser) - Dow Chemical is pushing the Trump administration to scrap the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species. Lawyers representing Dow and two other makers of organophosphates sent letters last week to the heads...

EPA Chief Rejects Obama Proposal to Ban Pesticide

Agency's researchers had concluded chlorpyrifos posed a health risk

(Newser) - EPA chief Scott Pruitt has decided not to ban a common pesticide, bucking the agency's own research that the compound posed a health risk to children and farm workers, the New York Times reports. Chlorpyrifos, or Lorsban, has been used for five decades on dozens of crops including broccoli...

16 Stories