In the latest in the ongoing saga of the new dicamba-tolerant crops and their herbicides that won’t stay where they are sprayed, a document review investigation by the St-Louis Post Dispatch reveals that Monsanto’s own science played a key role in how the use restrictions were set. EPA had originally proposed a larger, more comprehensive, […]
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We have all seen the signs on the gasoline pumps proudly proclaiming “Contains Ethanol.” The U.S. gas supply includes this biofuel derived from corn due a bill passed in 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard. It mandates that the nation’s gasoline contains a certain portion of corn-based ethanol, courtesy of America’s heartland. At the time, politicians […]
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Part I: A Tipping Point for Organic Apples in the Pacific Northwest? The remarkable growth since 2016 in organic apple production in Washington State has received almost no attention in the media, food industry, and public health communities. I paste in below a recent update from two Washington State University faculty members who follow closely […]
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On February 6, 2018, the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) sent a senior scientist, Dr. Jennifer Sass, to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology during a hearing called “In Defense of Scientific Integrity: Examining the IARC Monograph Programme and Glyphosate Review.” IARC’s “reputation and integrity” have been under […]
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A new opinion piece recounts how a Syngenta-linked PR firm has apparently started a non-profit front-group to challenge Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto. Opposition to the union of these two industry leaders rests in the fear of anti-competitive activity, leading to adverse impacts on farmers in the wake of higher seed prices and limited choices in the genetic […]
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The proposed acquisition of biotech giant Monsanto by Bayer would combine two of the world’s largest producers of pesticides, biotech traits, and both conventional and GE seed. If the deal goes through, German-based Bayer would emerge as the dominant industry leader. The company would exert more influence over the future of food than any national government, or all […]
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The pesticide enforcement news today is surreal. Reuters reports on February 15, 2018 that Amazon is paying a $1.2 million fine, because a third-party vendor offering pesticides on Amazon slipped in some foreign-made products not registered by the U.S. EPA. Clearly illegal, clearly a slip up, which Amazon corrected immediately, and forcefully, as clear in […]
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The debate about whose to blame for the dicamba drift crisis of 2016 and 2017 continues, with a new lawsuit filed in federal court last week taking aim at the Environmental Protection Agency for their approval and regulation of the new dicamba formulations. A recent story in the Wisconsin Gazette describes the suit against the EPA […]
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Thanks to Mark Keating for sharing these sage words on the ODairy listserv. “Many people blame science for our surplus of farm products. They say that science taught us how to grow two blades of grass where one grew before. I think the trouble is that is exactly what science did not teach us. Instead, […]
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Note — The following comments were submitted by Chuck Benbrook to the AMS/USDA today, in response to the Department’s proposal to withdraw the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Rule. I am writing to urge the Department to quickly finalize the OLPP rule, rather than withdraw it. If the USDA continues on its proposed course of […]
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