Posted April 9, 2021
Details have emerged showing that Syngenta dragged its feet for decades in curbing deaths related to paraquat poisoning. Help us pass legislation banning this and other dangerous pesticides. Action Alert! Internal company documents that have come to light due to litigation concerning paraquat’s link to Parkinson’s disease detail decades of resistance to making a safer version of paraquat, a potent herbicide that is one of the most widely used weedkillers in the United States, that has killed tens of thousands of people around the world since hitting the market in the 1960s. Read more.
Get Informed on Issues Related to Chemicals
Pregnant and Poisoned
Posted April 8, 2021
Researchers have found 55 new chemicals in people’s bodies, adding to existing concerns about the connection between chemicals and chronic disease. Action Alert! The chemicals were discovered in a study of pregnant women and their newborns. Of the 55 chemicals never before detected in people’s bodies, 37 were substances researchers had little or no information on; two were PFAS (“forever chemicals”); ten were phthalates; two were chemicals used in cosmetics; and one was a pesticide ingredient. Read more.
Dicamba Kills Plants in Neighboring Fields
Posted March 26, 2021
What used to be called “The Green Revolution” has, over the past 50 years, radically improved crop yields and lowered farmers’ costs by marrying seeds and herbicides. Agri-industrial giants like Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and BASF genetically engineered seeds that could survive herbicides like glyphosate that killed all the weeds around them. Read more.
Study Finds Glyphosate in More Than Half of All Sampled Florida Manatees
Posted March 26, 2021
A scientific study published this week concludes that Florida manatees are chronically exposed to glyphosate because of application of the pesticide to sugarcane and aquatic weeds. The study found glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and the world’s most-used pesticide, in the plasma of 55.8% of the Florida manatees sampled. The concentration of glyphosate in plasma has increased from 2009 to 2019. Read more.
Bayer has Decided not to Pursue an Appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the first Roundup Cancer Verdict Against Monsanto
Posted March 26, 2021
Bayer AG won’t seek U.S. Supreme Court review of the first verdict finding its Roundup herbicide caused cancer.
The company said Tuesday that the decision not to pursue a further appeal of the verdict won by a school groundskeeper after a state appeals court reduced it to $20.5 million was made after “careful and extensive consideration,” and reflects a legal strategy to end the state court case and instead focus on the second Roundup verdict, in federal court. Read more.
3 Million Masks a Minute: The Next Plastic Problem?
Posted March 19, 2021
The high demand for face masks since the coronavirus pandemic began has resulted in the production of billions of disposable masks — with no way to properly dispose of them. Masks are littering cities, clogging sewage channels and turning up in bodies of water, prompting researchers to warn of the potential for masks to become the next “plastic problem.” Read more.
No More Babies?
Posted March 6, 2021
Experts warn we are facing a fertility crisis caused in large part by endocrine disrupting chemicals. Action Alert! The fertility crisis affects both men and women. Research has shown that sperm counts for men have fallen 59% from 1973 to 2011; girls are experiencing early puberty; adult women face declining egg quality and more miscarriages. The common thread between these problems appears to be exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals that are ubiquitous in the modern world, and if something isn’t done soon, it is not an exaggeration to say that we are imperiling the future of the human race. Read more.
Male Infertility Threatening ‘Future of Human Race,’ Says Author of New Book
Posted March 6, 2021
Scientists are witnessing an alarming trend: Men’s sperm counts are down, testosterone levels have plunged and erectile dysfunction is increasing. Male infertility is on the rise — and exposure to synthetic chemicals known as phthalates could be to blame, according to fertility scientist Shanna Swan, Ph.D., author of the new book, “Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race.” Read more.
Gates Foundation’s plans to Remake Food Systems will Hurt the Climate
Posted March 6, 2021
In his new book on how to avoid a climate disaster, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates discusses his plans to model African food systems upon India’s “green revolution,” in which a plant scientist increased crop yields and saved a billion lives, according to Gates. The obstacle to implementing a similar overhaul in Africa, he asserts, is that most farmers in poor countries don’t have the financial means to buy fertilizers. “If we can help poor farmers raise their crop yields, they’ll earn more money and have more to eat, and millions of people in some of the world’s poorest countries will be able to get more food and the nutrients they need,” Gates concludes. Read more.
Bayer Posts 10.5 Billion Euro loss after Roundup Legal Woes
Posted March 6, 2021
Bayer announced on Thursday steep losses for the year 2020 as it struggled to recover from a string of US lawsuits claiming its weedkiller causes cancer. The German chemical and pharmaceutical giant said in a statement that it posted an annual net loss of €10.5 billion ($12.8 billion), compared with a profit of just over €4 billion for 2019. Read more.
