The UN Committee on World Food Security in Rome has today launched a new report examining the impact of chemical intensive, industrial food system on human health. GEORGINA DOWNS responds.
… to pesticides, including Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) 2 3 4 - chemicals that interfere with hormonal systems … points out that exposure to such harmful chemicals in existing food systems poses one …
An ordinary arable field in Sussex is sprayed with pesticides 22 times over a single growing season. Dave Goulson wonders how the bees can survive this toxic onslaught - and exactly who benefits.
… molluscicides and fertilisers - 22 different chemicals in total. Most may have little … that includes the year’s final application of chemicals, any feeding bee will be … that amplifies the toxicity of all these chemicals. The 22 chemicals applied to a …
Organic farming produces more nutritious food than chemical agriculture, writes Colin Todhunter, while sustaining soils and building organic matter. And we know this from real, peer-reviewed scientific studies - unlike the pseudo-science touted at us by the self-interested advocates of industrial agribusiness.
… which has entailed soaking crops with petrochemicals. Coinciding with these changes has … if a blocked EU paper on hormone-mimicking chemicals had been acted upon. Christina … birth defects due to pesticide exposure. Chemicals are so prevalently used that they …
America's shale gas boom threatens families, pets, and food, writes Allison Wilson. Fresh from her reading of 'The Real Costs of Fracking', she finds a host of adverse health impacts on those living near fracking sites, the toxic pollution of the food chain, and a wall of corporate and official secrecy.
… (Bamberger and Oswald 2012). Many fracking chemicals are known carcinogens, endocrine … possible exposure routes to fracking chemicals. They published this data and have … These tactics include secrecy about fracking chemicals, which hinders effective medical …
The US looks set to approve GM crops that resist the 'Agent Orange' pesticide 2,4-D as well as glyphosate, writes Helena Paul. If it does, the toxic chemical - created in WW2 to destroy enemy food supplies - will soon end up in animal feeds, and the food we eat.
… as the center for research and testing of chemicals for biological warfare with special emphasis on crop destroying chemicals." This research, authorised by the … The spraying of millions of gallons of toxic chemicals, often from the air, forces weeds to …
As scientific evidence grows of the many ways in which glyphosate - pipe-cleaner, herbicide and antibiotic - damages the environment and health, governments and regulators turn a blind eye, writes Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji, and the EU has even raised allowable residue levels. It's time for us all to put bans in place wherever we can!
… glyphosate the most commonly detected of all chemicals. All of glyphosate's chemical … for a complete ban on aerial spraying of agrochemicals plus a ban of its use within a … either alone or in combination with other chemicals is responsible for neural tube …
Industrial agriculture and industrial food processing have combined to produce something extraordinary, writes Julian Rose: 'KRISS the unrecognisable croissant'. Just don't make the mistake of confusing it with food. Devoid of nutrition, laced with hydrogenated oil and a long list of artificial ingredients, if you care about your own health and that of our planet - give KRISS a miss!
… crops grow - not a fertile soil. And it uses chemicals to try to destroy the diseases that … due to the lack of crop rotations. Lots of chemicals. They go under the headings: … 'kill' should not go unnoticed. All these agrichemicals have military origins, stemming from …
WHO's official recognition of the health damage caused by glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, is having ramifications around the world, writes Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji. National governments are moving to restrict the chemical, campaigns to ban it are intensifying, and now 'Roundup Ready' GMO crops are coming under the regulatory spotlight.
… being a switch to alternative, less toxic chemicals (see [24] Roundup Listed Carcinogen … Public Prosecutor Wants to Ban Monsanto's Chemicals. Naturalsociety.com, accessed 20th … azils-public-prosecutor-wants-to-ban-monsantos-chemicals/#ixzz3agRIRGWh 14. 30,000 doctors …
For the women farmers of Tamil Nadu life has long been a struggle, Sheelu Francis told Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau, all the more so following the advent of 'Green Revolution' industrial agriculture. So now women's collectives are organising to restore traditional foods and farming methods, resulting in lower costs, higher yields, improved nutrition, and a rekindling of native Tamil culture.
… rice, especially with hybrid seeds and chemicals. Rice paddies use lots of water, so … hurt the health of the people. Not only the chemicals, but now the people rely on polished … seeds], it is hard to get it back. If you use chemicals, you can revive your soil, your …
The widely used herbicide glyphosate has been judged 'safe', write Pete Farrer & Marianne Falck. But by the time it's used, it's in a 'formulation' with toxic surfactants, which escape EU regulation despite their known dangers. Germany alone has forbidden the use of the most dangerous surfactant - but is keeping its evidence secret.
… to work efficiently, it needs additional chemicals called 'surfactants'. A shocking … can be synergistic with glyphosate. When chemicals are synergistic, the combined effect of two chemicals is much greater than the sum of the …
Almost all our food is grown in soil, writes Peter Melchett. Yet we are treating it like dirt: spraying it with toxic chemicals, depleting vital nutrients, and releasing its carbon to add to climate change. With World Soils Day coming up tomorrow, let's change our ways - and renew our commitment to organic food and farming.
… treating it like dirt: spraying it with toxic chemicals, depleting vital nutrients, and … years ago, farmers have been spraying toxic chemicals on their soils. At the time, … system, yet we now know that agricultural chemicals come at a painful price to the …
Farming should not only sustain people with healthy food, writes Jigmi Y. Thinley. If humans are to survive on Earth, it must also revitalise nature and sustain vital planetary systems, instead of poisoning and over-exploiting them. And to do that farming must be organic.
… of crops and farmers alike on synthetic chemicals to make farming unsustainable. Much … and undermined due to the myth that without chemicals, neither soil nor crop can support … farmers away from such excessively dangerous chemicals and practices, we will kill the very …
A scientific study that identified serious health impacts on rats fed on 'Roundup ready' GMO maize has been republished following its controversial retraction under strong commercial pressure. Now regulators must respond and review GMO and agro-chemical licenses, and licensing procedures.
… is becoming increasingly apparent that these chemicals have patterns of non-linear … the entire process for licensing agricultural chemicals is required to ensure that in future … only "the tiniest fraction of agricultural chemicals" have been studied for health …
The Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology appears to have violated scientific standards by withdrawing a study which found that rats fed on a Monsanto GM corn were more likely to develop cancer than controls. William Engdahl investigates.
Scientific journal retracts study exposing GM cancer risk F. William Engdahl | 5th December 2013 News GMOs Food Health lab-rats.png The Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology appears to have …
Agroecology is key to retaking control over food, farming and land from the 'monstrous machine' of agribusiness, biotech, big finance and 'free trade', writes Colin Todhunter, as it represents a truly viable alternative to agriculture for corporate profit. But such are the powers ranged against the world's small farmers that it must be supported by a broad-based, global people's movement.
… denutrified, unhealthy and poisoned with chemicals and diets are becoming less diverse. … Inevitably, the farmers resorted to use more chemicals and soil degradation and erosion set … to 'pests and diseases', leading to yet more chemicals being poured. But the attacked …
Soils are naturally alive with complex 'food webs' of micro-organisms that sustain plants with moisture and nutrients, making them good to eat. But once the biota have been blitzed with agro-chemicals under industrial farming regimes, it's our health that suffers. One more reason to grow, and eat, organic!
… once the biota have been blitzed with agro-chemicals under industrial farming regimes, … that allow it to stabilize plants, convert chemicals, and perform other vital functions … through the widespread and reckless use of chemicals - herbicides, pesticides and …
With the Wall Street Journal warning that the GMO crop boom may be over in the face of superweeds, higher seed prices, falling yields and farmer antipathy, writes Pat Thomas, the Monsanto-Bayer merger is a sign of weakness as both companies struggle to deliver growth and profits to match shareholder expectations. We had better be ready to press home our advantage!
… in crop protection, seeds and certain petrochemicals. Depending on the outcome of the … world. Today it has a diverse portfolio of chemicals, plastics, performance products, oil and gas as well as agro- chemicals and GM crops. Dow Dow is the largest …
The EU's food and farming safety regulator is trying to create a 'back door' system to licence the use of herbicides that have been banned for their toxic impacts on people and wildlife - under a clearly inapplicable 'plant health' exemption.
EFSA creates 'plant health' loophole for banned weedkillers Oliver Tickell | 8th September 2016 News Pesticides Health Law Farming EU Food poppies-cut.jpg The EU's food and farming safety regulator …
More than a 100 pesticides are licenced for spraying on the humble lettuce. As well as posing a threat to consumers, workers harvesting the crop can face contamination and poisoning
… it. The problem is that reliance on agrochemicals, and pesticides in particular, is … to potentially harmful risks from these toxic chemicals that are designed to kill. In the UK … we eat. Toxic threats A great number of these chemicals are potentially toxic to humans, …
Heathcote Williams remembers India's great campaigner Professor Nanjunda's whose direct actions against Monsanto, KFC, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and the WTO inspired a nation and created an unstoppable movement of 10 million ...
… their seedless plants With their attendant chemicals exhaust India's fields. They deplete … despairing farmers, were drinking their chemicals - Thousands were using them to … in chlorine and bleach; Against addictive chemicals making food sweet. "Stop genetic …
Soon UK farmers will begin to spray their fields of wheat, barley, oats and peas with weed killer to make crops easier to harvest, writes Natasha Collins-Daniel. But the chemicals - including glyphosate, a probable carcinogen - can end up in our bread and other food. Let's put a stop to it now!
… writes Natasha Collins-Daniel. But the chemicals - including glyphosate, a probable … or mixture like Roundup that includes other chemicals to do things like make the weed …
Vandana Shiva reminds us that the very future of food security in India (and indeed worldwide) lies in protecting and promoting the country's small farmers.
… country chooses the small farms.” More toxic chemicals and fossil fuels used The future of … fossil fuels for farm machinery, and toxic chemicals for the caring work of farmers. Food … family farmers are displaced and replaced by chemicals and machines, the more false …
Bayer's $66 billion takeover of Monsanto represents another big click on the ratchet of corporate power over farming and food, writes Colin Todhunter. With the 'big six' of global agribusiness now set to turn into the 'even bigger three', farmers and consumers are facing more GMOs and pesticides, less choice, and deeper price gouging. Agroecology has never looked more attractive.
… commercial seeds and pesticides. Bayer's crop chemicals business is the world's second … company) sells 17% of the world's total agrochemicals and also has a comparatively small … globe's largest seller of both seeds and agrochemicals. The deal marks a trend towards …
Antibiotics used to protect them from bacterial illnesses ravaging hives are making them die from commonly used pesticides, some of which are used to ward-off bee-killing parasites. Matthew Thompson reports.
… hasn't worried about the effects of in-hive chemicals - bee-keepers are hugely concerned … we try to minimise them." "There are chemicals that have been cleared for use on … and what this study is showing is that those chemicals make bees more susceptible to …