In an ongoing saga that some feel impacts the future of the agriculture industry around the world, French beekeepers warned of the potential impacts of a controversial pesticide. Here's the story: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-17/french-beekeepers-warn-of-losses-because-of-new-bayer-pesticide.html The French were the first to associate Colony Collapse Disorder of bees with a group of pesticides m ...

Note: At the conclusion of testimony in favor of the New Hampshire bill to study the potential impact of a ban on certain pesticides, several state representatives contacted SafeLawns for clarification on several points. This is a summary of what we submitted (much of this material has been covered previously in this blog): IN SUPPORT OF HB 1456 TALKING POINTS LAWNS AND SAFETY Many of the pesticide applicat ...

Last week I was asked by New Hampshire Public Television to participate in a live "debate" about the bill that would study the impact of a pesticide ban in that state. The legislator who sponsored the controversial bill HB 1456 is on the show, along with the commissioner of the department of Agriculture, who is most definitely against the bill, and a Cooperative Extension agent who is somewhat on the fence. ...

The American Journal of Epidemiology, which publishes studies on long-term cause-and-effect relationships of disease, recently found that wives of licensed pesticide applicators are up to 40 percent more likely to suffer thyroid disorders. Here is a link to Reuters' coverage of the study: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61B54U20100212 ...

The media in Utah is understandably abuzz in trying to comprehend the tragic deaths of two young sisters from an apparent pesticide poisoning. For me, having just testified in New Hampshire in favor of bill HB 1456 that would study the impact of a pesticide ban, the words of many from the pesticide industry still resonated: they insisted that because their products are approved by the EPA, the pesticides ar ...

The Manchester Union Leader, one of the leading newspapers in New Hampshire, posted this article on its web site today: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Environmentalists+urge+pesticide+study&articleId=9d54df7d-6621-446f-bb7b-78af5ede009c. What's most interesting is the comments from readers — many of whom compare the notion of studying pesticides to taking away their freedom of religion and ...

[caption id="attachment_850" align="alignnone" width="648" caption="Advocates for and against a bill to study a potential pesticide ban lobby for testifying position prior to the start of Thursday's meeting in the New Hampshire legislative chambers."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_851" align="alignnone" width="720" caption="Representative Suzanne Smith introduces bill HB 1456 to her colleagues in the Ne ...

As reported here an elsewhere in the national media (although not loudly enough) two days ago, a 4-year-old girl died of apparent pesticide poisoning after her parents hired a company to rid their lawn of voles. On Tuesday, the girl's 15-month-old sister also passed away. The environmental and health community is aghast that the EPA ever allowed the pesticide in this case — Fumitoxin, or aluminum phosphide ...

The LEAH Collective and numerous other environmental and health organizations in New Hampshire have been working tirelessly in the past few months to pull together two breakneck days in support of bill HB 1456. For anyone wish to be a part of the proceedings, here is a detailed rundown: The New Hampshire Schedule Wednesday, Feb. 10, 3:45 p.m. A Lecture by Paul Tukey “Applying Principles of Precaution to Kee ...

Phosphine, a controversial fumigant pesticide that has become the most common replacement for methyl bromide, may be to blame for the death of a 4-year-old. Her 15-month-old sister is in critical condition. Although toxicology reports won't be in for several weeks, all indications are that the poisonings were caused by phosphine, a commonly used organophosphate compound used in this case to drive away garde ...