Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
This landmark study published in Lancer finds that toxic air, water, soils and workplaces kill at least 9 millon people and cost trillions of dollars every year. Pollution kills more people in India than anywhere else in the world revealed the study. Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease …
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Arkansas on Thursday moved just one step away from barring sprayings next summer of an herbicide linked to widespread U.S. crop damage, setting the stage for a potential legal showdown between the state and chemical maker Monsanto Co. The Arkansas State Plant Board advanced a proposal prohibiting …
The assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government. The lack of any limit on the total amount of pesticides used and the virtual absence of monitoring of …
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has been used extensively to control malaria, typhus, body lice and bubonic plague worldwide, until countries began restricting its use in the 1970s. Its use in malaria control continues in some countries according to recommendation by the World Health Organization. Individuals exposed to elevated levels of DDT and …
Involvement of agrochemicals have been suggested in the development of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu). The association between CKDu and blood level of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in CKDu patients has been examined in the present study. Original Source
High exposure to pesticides as a result of living near farmers’ fields appears to increase the risk of giving birth to a baby with “abnormalities” by about 9 per cent, according to new research. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, compared 500,000 birth records for people born in …
A highly toxic weedkiller not authorised for use in the EU is being exported to developing countries from a UK factory. Paraquat, a pesticide so lethal that a single sip can be fatal, has caused thousands of accidental deaths and suicides globally, and was outlawed by EU states in 2007. …
Bumblebee queens are a common sight on a spring day, their large furry bodies flying industriously from flower to flower. At this point they will have just awoken from a long hibernation – the much smaller worker bees die off each year, leaving the new queens to survive winter alone. …
Organophosphate pesticide (OP) exposure to the US population is dominated by dietary intake. The magnitude of exposure from diet depends partly upon personal decisions such as which foods to eat and whether to choose organic food. Most studies of OP exposure rely on urinary biomarkers, which are limited by short …
Six state prosecutors are seeking to join a lawsuit to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos from use on U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables, according to court papers filed on Thursday. Democratic attorneys general for New York, Maryland, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia …
Researchers found a 24 per cent reduction in bee populations at test sites in Hungary was linked to use of neonicotinoids, but also some 'positive' effects of its use in Germany A major £2.7m study into a controversial type of nicotine-based pesticide has found it can cause harm to bees, …
This overview assembles existing evidence on the ways in which tobacco affects human well-being from an environmental perspective – i.e. the indirect social and economic damage caused by the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and waste generated by tobacco products. It uses a life cycle analysis to track tobacco use across …
Use of a common pesticide in spring could have an impact on wild bumblebees by interfering with their life cycle, a UK study suggests. The team, who looked at wild bumblebees caught in the English countryside, say the insecticide, thiamethoxam, reduces egg development in queen bees. They say this is …
Agricultural productivity depends on several factors. These include the availability and quality of agricultural inputs such as land, water, seeds and fertilizers, access to agricultural credit and crop insurance, assurance of remunerative prices for agricultural produce, and storage and marketing infrastructure, among others. This report provides an overview of the …
A combination of indoor spraying and use of insecticide-treated bed nets has slashed cases of malaria, but now researchers are reporting widespread resistance of mosquitoes to the chemicals used to kill them. Agricultural pesticides appear to be playing a role in fostering this resistance. Original Source
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, pursuant to Council resolutions 6/2, 31/10 and 32/8. The report was written in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally …
New review from Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development highlights hazards and uncertainties of GM crops. The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) has published an important new book: “Transgenic crops hazards and uncertainties: More than 750 studies disregarded by the GMOs regulatory bodies”. It examines research showing hazards to human …
This paper outlines PAN Asia Pacific’s concern about the impact of hazardous pesticides on children, and the need for greatly improved global governance of pesticides post 2020, to protect the rights of children and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030.
Honey bees are highly valued for their pollination services in agricultural settings, and recent declines in managed populations have caused concern. Colony losses following a major pollination event in the United States, almond pollination, have been characterized by brood mortality with specific symptoms, followed by eventual colony loss weeks later. …
