Spraying chemicals on crops has proven costly and counter-productive, according to new research.
China’s government says it plans to tackle smog, but has also moved to shut down criticism on the issue in the wake of a popular online documentary.
EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL
Under the Dome, a hugely popular online documentary about China’s smog crisis, could be as influential as 1962’s US pesticide exposé Silent Spring - but only if Chinese officials allow debate to flourish.
Australia’s reputation for strict farming standards helped its beef industry weather the BSE crisis.
Malcolm Paterson/CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series…
After the pesticides we spray, who will be left flying?
John Severns
The UK government is prepared to accept funding for studies on the risks of pesticides to bees and other pollinators from the manufacturers of the chemicals in question. Not surprisingly, this raises uncomfortable…
Pesticides - where do they end up?
Deigo Azubel/EPA
A recent study by the organisation Moms Across America claims to have found a pesticide at harmful levels in human breast milk and urine. Moms Across America is an organisation concerned with the use of…
A finch, doing its own dirty laundry with pesticides.
Sarah A. Knutie
Darwin’s finches, a group of 14 species found only in the Galapagos Islands, are perhaps most well known as one of the inspirations for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. A classic…
Eating an organic diet for a week can significantly reduce pesticide levels.
Daniel Parks/Flickr
Eating an organic diet for a week can cause pesticide levels to drop by almost 90% in adults, research from RMIT University has found. The study, led by Dr Liza Oates found particpants’ urinary dialkylphosphates…
Perhaps I was naive, but when I discovered the extent of the chemical soup applied to typical fields I was astonished. As part of our ongoing investigations into the impact of pesticides on bees, we looked…
More than A$17 billion worth of crops grown in Australia annually is attributed to agricultural pesticides. That’s a staggering 68% of the A$26 billion industry, according to a recent Deloitte report commissioned…
I’m just a sprayer, the pest manager does the thinking.
ricephotos
To most people pest management brings up images of rats, cockroaches and chemical spraying. Poisoning vermin and insect is only one minor, albeit important, aspect of pest management. Few people know about…
The EU banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides for two years in April, after a sustained campaign by beekeepers, green groups and environmental organisations across Europe. These groups are convinced…
Tobacco damages more than just human health – it has now been linked to deformed insects and pesticide pollution, according…
Pesticide levels considered ‘environmentally protective’ are still having a catastrophic effect on insect invertebrates like dragonflies, the study showed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21644167@N04/3755575059
Pesticide levels considered environmentally friendly in Europe and Australia are, in fact, having a devastating effect on invertebrate insect biodiversity in nearby creeks and streams, a new study has…
Honeybees aren’t the only species pollinating plants in Australia; we have little idea how pesticides are affecting native pollinators.
Howard Rawson
News that the European Union (EU) has restricted the use of neonicotinoid insecticides was welcomed by scientists, farmers, beekeepers and politicians around the world. But the limitations of the restriction…
Many Australian crops rely on pollination by bees: we should think about following the EU’s lead on banning pesticides that affect them.
djfrantic/Flickr
The European Union has just banned three pesticides thought to affect the learning behaviour of bees. The two-year ban, which takes effect in December, is in response to a dramatic drop in bee numbers…
Organic food may come with less pesticides but there’s little evidence it’s better for you, say researchers from Stanford University. In a study published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, Dena Bravata…