The Clean Water Act, ennacted in 1972, established goals to eliminate high levels of toxic substances in the water by 1985, and to make surface water safe for human recreation by 1983. Three decades later, the Act seems little more than a good intention. While some bodies of water have seen improvements- like the Charles River in Boston or the Hudson in NY, a large number of major rivers, tribuataries, and ...

A report from Reuters on MSNBC is reporting that a recent study out of China found pregnant women exposed to coal smoke and pesticides were up to four times as likely to have babies with serious birth defects than women not exposed. Researchers studied 80 newborn babies and aborted fetuses with brain and spinal cord defects and found their mother's placentas had significantly higher levels of polycyclic aro ...

In Australia, it's rye grass. In Michigan, it's waterhemp. In Georgia, pigweed. Across the country and the globe, farmers are seeing a rise in weeds becoming increasingly resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup. Georgina Gustin, of stl today, is reporting that farmers in Missouri have resorted to hiring itinerant workers to pull the weeds, some with stems four inches wide, becau ...

Within the same week that Monsanto announced it was being investigated by the Securities Exchange Commision, and on the heels of its personnel records being hacked, the biotech giant has recanted a recent complaint against two Pennsylvania farmers. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harold V. Wiser and Steve Wiser were accused by Monsanto of patent violations because they saved genetically-modified s ...

This week, biotech giant and GM-seed producer Monsanto announced it was being investigated by the Securities Exchange Commission. Although not many details of the investigation are available at this time, Rodale is reporting that the investigation is related "to financial incentives Monsanto offered to distributors who carry its glyphosate products and the financial reporting of those incentives." Monsanto ...

A year after the deaths of 4-year old Rebecca Kay Toone and her 15-month old sister, Rachel Anna Toone, commerical pesticide applicators in Utah are facing tougher rules and increased accountability. The Deseret News is reporting that notices have been sent to the more than 1,000 commercial pesticide companies in Utah and some 4,700 commercial and noncommercial pesticide applicators, mandating that consumer ...

The Environmental Protection Agency is reporting that on at least 52 different occasions, the pesticide manufacturer, Or-Cal, sold and distributed its slug and snail bait products with outdated labeling in 2008-2009. Earlier this week, the EPA reached a $54,080 settlement with the Oregon-based company for numerous violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Or-Cal's products, with ...

In the days before pesticides saturated our farm lands, natural methods of pest control had to be used. Predators were often introduced as a way to keep pests under control. The Huffington Post is reporting that California is undertaking this historical method by introducing 15 million wasp eggs to various neighborhoods to purge the light brown apple moth- an invasive species from Australia that feeds on ne ...

A Review by Donna Morin Miller While the Canadian Cancer Society has thus far sent SafeLawns through seven Canadian provinces to speak about the dangers of pesticide exposure and was a major sponsor of Brett Plymale's award-winning film, A Chemical Reaction, you won't see this kind of support from its American counterparts anytime soon. In his latest book, National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Socie ...

Time Magazine is reporting that a Michigan woman has been charged with a misdemeanor offense and faces 93 days in jail for planting a vegetable garden in her front yard. Like many of us, Julie Bass, of Oak Park, enjoys organic vegetables but was looking to save money by planting her own garden. She opted to plant the organized, neatly arranged raised beds in the front yard instead of the back to encourage n ...