The biotech industry has long claimed that genetically-engineered foods would reduce the need for pesticides and increase food production necessary to feed an ever-growing population. Scientist Charles Benbrook, a pesticide policy expert and weed resistance specialist, argues against these claims. In an interview with Earthjustice, Benbrook refers to reports presented by The Organic Center, showing that her ...

In a quiet, eastside suburb of Seattle, a revolution is taking place. Residents of Sammamish are turning their yards into havens of native plantings, limited patches of lawn, and organic gardens. In the Pacific Northwest, where rainfall averages several feet a year, storm water runoff is a major concern. Pesticides and other chemicals in the run-off threaten marine life in streams and lakes. For Gail Twelve ...

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 ...

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 ...

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52 different occasions, the pesticide manufacturer, Or-Cal, sold and distributed its slug and snail bait products with outdated labeling in 2008-2009.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 ...

[caption id="attachment_3963" align="alignleft" width="526" caption="These folks had one sprinkler head aimed at their grass, but another one to apparently refresh the sidewalk and roadway."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3965" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Water from mis-aimed sprinklers more than 100 yards away creates a constant stream into the storm drain in front of my home nearly every mo ...

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 ...

By Alan Cohen On the afternoon of June 8, 2011, I witnessed a worker finish a liquid application on a lawn on Fessenden Street (very close to a tributary of Rock Creek) in Gaithersburg, Md. I asked him if that made sense because of the approaching storms. He said the liquid would be dry before the rain, and it would not wash into the Creek, and the Bay. I had a different opinion, and asked him for his super ...

Moments ago the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador announced it would ban all cosmetic applications of pesticides, including those for killing lawn weeds, beginning in 2012. That brings the number of Canadian provinces with similar bans to seven, with British Columbia expected to join the list soon. Here is a link to a local newspaper that pledged to have additional updates on this news througho ...