Pesticides
USDA's Annual Summary of Pesticides in Food and Water
The food we eat and the water we drink is often contaminated with pesticides. With a system of agriculture that relies heavily on the use of pesticides – herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides – it's not surprising that residues of these chemicals turn up in our food and water. read more...
What's on Our Food?
Pesticides commonly contaminate America's food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes an annual pesticide data report that provides reliable information on pesticide residues in food, with emphasis on items eaten by infants and children. This data helps the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate potential health risks from dietary exposure. read more...
Mixture of Corn Pesticides Harms Frogs
Tyrone Hayes an amphibian biologist at the University of California, jolted the pesticide industry when he demonstrated that tiny amounts of the widely used herbicide atrazine cause tadpoles' sexual development to go awry. Now he and his research team have published another important finding: a mixture of pesticides often used when growing corn in the Midwest causes more problems for frogs, again at stunningly low concentrations. read more...
Autism Linked to Maternal Exposure to Pesticides
A new study on children born in California's Central Valley suggests that autism in those children might be linked to prenatal exposure to two insecticides used on fields near their mothers' homes. read more...
Pregnancy-Related Diabetes Linked to Pesticide Exposure
Diabetes during pregnancy has been linked to pesticide exposure, according to a March 2007 study. read more...
Childhood Lukemia Linked to Insecticide Use
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children. In a recent study, French scientists found that children with acute leukemia were more likely to have been exposed to household pesticides. read more...
Oregon Study Finds Pesticides in River and Drinking Water
A recent U.S. Geological Survey study reported that some pesticides discovered in Oregon's lower Clackamas River have made their way into municipal drinking water. read more...
Brain Cancer Linked to Pesticide Exposure
In the Bordeaux area of France, where vineyards dominate the agricultural landscape, researchers found that workers who were highly exposed to pesticides had an increased risk of brain cancer. Gliomas – one kind of brain tumor – were particularly associated with those who applied pesticides. read more...
Lawn & Garden Pesticides Poison Suburban Streams
Yard and garden insecticides have shown up in suburban streams at levels that can wipe out tiny shrimp-like creatures that live on stream bottoms. The culprits are newly popular pesticide products that contain pyrethroids -- chemicals with "thrin" names like cypermethrin and bifenthrin. read more...
Study Demonstrates Link Between Prenatal Pesticide Exposure and Children’s Health
A study was conducted in a Northern Ecuadorian public school of 87 children aged 6-8. The children with mothers that had worked in floriculture green houses were exposed to pesticides while they were pregnant showed consistent delayed motor speeds and coordination according to test results. read more...
EPA Forced to Review Pesticide Testing on Humans
It sounds like a horror movie, but unfortunately it is all true. Industry thinks it is okay to test pesticides and their toxicity on actual human subjects. Literally, humans were being used as lab rats for the industry to spray these poisons directly on their skin, walking into vapor chambers filled with the pesticides and more. However, the EPA is now taking action to eliminate this terrible practice. read more...
