Two years ago in 2017, scientists with the USGS and the University of Iowa first reported that neonicotinoid insecticides were “persistent” in drinking water samples collected at the University’s Iowa City campus during a seven week period after the corn planting season (May-July). The reason why was no mystery — at least 80% of the GMO […]
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A team of epidemiologists studied the impact of occupational exposures to organic solvents, metals, and pesticides among 7,404 Hispanic/Latino workers in four major urban areas, and reported a surprisingly high Odds Ratio of 2.18 (confidence interval of 1.34 to 3.55) for some form of cardiovascular disease, or CVD. For atrial fibrillation (a-fib), one of the […]
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A research team led by scientists with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California have applied the latest gene sequencing and mapping technology to take a closer look at the unintended consequences of the method most commonly used to create genetically engineered plants, including today’s herbicide-resistant varieties of corn, soybeans, sugarbeets, and cotton, as […]
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Two new publications were released in the last week that contribute much new food for thought in the global discussion around the sustainability of the Earth’s food systems. First off, on January 16th the Lancet published a special feature called “Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems.” As Reuters reports, […]
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My analysis comparing the evaluation of glyphosate, and glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) genotoxicity by two key agencies — the U.S. EPA and IARC — was published January 15, 2019 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe. The full text of the open-access paper “How did the US EPA and IARC reach diametrically opposed conclusions on the […]
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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization with over 30 member countries that was founded in 1961, has released a new report on antibiotic resistance. In “Stemming the Superbug Tide: Just a Few Dollars More,” OECD reports that “superbug” infections are expected to cause 2.4 million deaths in Europe, North America, […]
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There is a new epidemiology paper in JAMA Internal Medicine by a team of French government scientists that reports a 25% decrease in overall cancer risk from relatively high levels of organic food consumption, compared to little or no consumption, among a large cohort (just under 69,000 individuals, with 1,340 incident cancer cases four years post study […]
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The results are in on one of the first, large-scale studies on organic food consumption and cancer risks and they are significant and encouraging. It is widely recognized we need to do much more in preventing cancer, as opposed to treating it, and this study suggests that organic food may be an important piece of […]
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First, the back story. Over the years, the USDA has almost always sided with pesticide manufacturers and farmers, in opposition to EPA efforts to curtail or end the use of high-risk pesticides. The arguments advanced by the USDA are always basically the same: There are no viable alternatives to this pesticide. Consumers will face food […]
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Two mayors from Maine wrote a blog piece this week in The Hill as part of a nation-wide effort to block a proposed provision in the new Farm Bill. The House and Senate passed different versions of the bill, and members of both houses (and parties) are working together in a conference committee to develop a […]
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