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 ...

After a week away from the office and this blog, the longest such stretch without a post since we launched it two and a half years ago, there's just so much to catch up with. From lawn pesticide poisonings where innocent children are harmed daily, to the perpetrators like Scotts Miracle Gro suffering a 7 percent loss of business in the United States this year, you miss a lot when you take your eye off the l ...

As reported here last month, a group of Illinois residents successfully fought a plan to spray local playing fields for weeds. To show they're serious, those same folks are offering to pull the weeds by hand to satisfying the aesthetic expectations of the community at large: http://highlandpark.suntimes.com/news/8526419-418/park-board-rounds-up-volunteers-to-weed-fields.html. ...

[caption id="attachment_4501" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="Students from an Ohio middle school were evacuated earlier this month when chemical weed killers were applied to nearby fields. Ironically, the children were evacuated to a site near the sprayed fields that made at least 47 children ill (GANNETT PHOTO). "][/caption] When I arrived home today after another whirlwind week on the road, the in ...

[caption id="attachment_4350" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="Theo Ormrod Davis, 15, won a prestigious photography honor in England for this photo of a dandelion. "][/caption] MY DAUGHTER, AIMEE, WILL PROUDLY TELL YOU THAT SHE'S four and three-quarters now, and not just four and a half. Upon this momentous birthday occasion my wife decided it was time to move beyond the picture books with our nightly ...

U.S. GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO IGNORE PESTICIDE PROOF We've been at this now for more than five years. As one of the first organizations in North America to go public with the notion that a class of pesticides made from synthetic nicotine were responsible for the sudden bee death known as colony collapse disorder, we were threatened legally, verbally and, yes, even physically. These days it's widely accepted ...

[caption id="attachment_4335" align="alignleft" width="563" caption="Kathryn Gilje helped lead the efforts against methyl iodide in California."][/caption] By Kathryn Gilje I was born 20 miles from the Canadian border, as the crow flies. Childhood runs for a 'mack' and regular trips to the border were common. But this week, my Canadian journey was quite different: to Ottawa, seat of the Canadian government, ...

[caption id="attachment_4302" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Safe? This applicator is wearing rubber gloves and boots, but no respirator. "][/caption] Three major scientific groups concerned with the control of insects and disease are expressing their collective concern that the federal government is turning its back to pesticide safety education. Whereas approximately $2 million was appropriated th ...

A friend of ours, a film producer in Hollywood, sent us this link from Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a modern-day Rachel Carson: http://www.livingdownstream.com/essays/canadian_bylaws ...

[caption id="attachment_4262" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="The 1967 Masters golf tournament, won by Gay Brewer, right, was the first time the Augusta National Country Club appeared in full color on television."][/caption] Did you know the lawn chemical industry can be traced to the second weekend of April of 1967? That's the weekend the "Augusta Syndrome" was born, causing grown men across the U.S ...