NOTE: Here is an update on this story, posted at 4 p.m.: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/as-wildlife-federation-defends-its-greed-scotts-continues-to-assault-our-sensibilities/ The attempted whitewashing by the chemical companies has been rampant lately. First TruGreen ChemLawn tried to buy public opinion by sending millions of dollars to Earth Day. Then Scotts Miracle Gro did buy out Major ...

A four-person team led by Gilles-Eric Séralini, professor of molecular biology at the University of Caen in France, recently revealed yet another study that links the weed killer known as Roundup to infertility — this time in males. The report, titled Toxicol in Vitro, revealed that exposures of as low as one part per million of Roundup had the effect of reducing testosterone levels in male rats by more tha ...

Will you help? It's been five years since SafeLawns blew the whistle on the fact that a group of pesticides was responsible for the sudden die-off of bees known as colony collapse disorder. We were threatened with lawsuits and endured a smear campaign, but ultimately our bee story has been picked up by thousands of other media outlets. It's been a year since America's top bee scientist finally agreed with u ...

We received this personal note recently. We receive dozens of notes weekly that arrive like little pep pills to carry us through the days, but this one reached out and grabbed us even more than usual — maybe because it reminded us of a poem we have cited here before by Drew Dellinger titled Hieroglyphic Stairway. The poem's classic last line . . . "what did you do once you knew?" . . . is evoked at the end ...

With 44 co-sponsors in the New Jersey legislature hopes are high for the passage of the Childs Safe Playing Fields law: http://montclair.patch.com/articles/no-more-exposure-to-lawn-pesticides-for-children-at-school ...

Beyond Pesticides announed that the 30th annual National Pesticide Forum will be held at Yale University in New Haven, Ct., on March 30-31, 2012. Titled "Healthy Communities: Green solutions for safe environments," the forum will be co-sponsored by numerous organizations including Environment & Human Health Inc., and The Watershed Alliance at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. ...

A legislative committee in New Jersey has approved legislation that would allow the state to join New York and Connecticut with laws that would protect schoolchildren from pesticide exposures. If approved by the entire legislature, the law would ban products like Roundup and weed 'n feed from school grounds. Here's the story: http://njtoday.net/2011/12/15/bill-to-protect-school-children-from-pesticide-expos ...

Lips quivered on ashen faces. Hair stood on forearms. Heads shook and, in some cases, tears formed. The forum, at the Acres USA conference in Columbus, Ohio, last Friday, lasted two and a half hours. For 150 minutes, Dr. Don Huber dispassionately laid out fact after fact, more research than was possible to digest, with almost surgical precision that led to the same unavoidable conclusion: "Roundup is the mo ...

Long-time chemical industry shill Jim Jones has been named acting head of the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), which has the responsibility for regulation of pesticides. He replaces Steve Owens, the current OCSPP director, who announced he will leave the position at year end. Jones, who has been at the EPA for 30 years, has steadfastly defended the agency against assertions ...

As reported here last month, the world's six largest manufacturers of pesticides are being put on trial for their crimes against humanity. And while the proceedings are largely symbolic, they are providing a valuable forum for folks impacted by the toxicity: http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-11-30-pesticide-on-trial ...