pesticides


USDA/Flickr

At the Trump USDA, the “D” Stands for “Dow”

, senior analyst, Food and Environment

August 3, 2018 11:41 AM EDT

Everywhere you look in the Trump administration, there’s the Dow Chemical Company. Or rather, DowDuPont, as the company has been known since a 2017 corporate merger. The influence of this multinational chemical and agribusiness conglomerate is being felt in regulatory decisions involving Dow’s products, and the administration has pulled multiple Dow executives and lobbyists through the revolving door into high-level government positions.

The latest example of the latter? Meet Scott Hutchins, the career Dow exec and pesticide booster nominated last month to oversee science at the USDA.

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Photo: Richard Leeming/CC BY-SA 2.0, Flickr

Disregarding Science, Trump Administration Trades Kids’ Brains for Dow Profit

, senior analyst, Food and Environment

March 30, 2017 5:38 PM EDT

UPDATE (April 20, 2017): Apparently the Dow Chemical Company is not content with a win. As I wrote below last month, the EPA under Scott Pruitt made an about-face, opting to override his own agency’s science on the damaging effects of chlorpyrifos on children’s developing brains and continuing to allow Dow to market the pesticide to farmers.

Now, according to news reports, lawyers representing Dow and two manufacturers of related insecticides have sent letters to Pruitt, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke urging them to “to set aside” the results of an extensive EPA assessment of these chemicals’ effects on endangered wildlife. Read more >

Richard Leeming/Flickr
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Mr. Pruitt has denied a long-standing petition by public interest groups to restrict the use of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos, a chemical whose health impacts include long-term, irreversible effects on children’s brain development. Photo: Wikimedia

EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Ignores the Science on Pesticides, Puts Children at Risk

, director, Center for Science & Democracy

March 30, 2017 2:54 PM EDT

Yesterday, Mr. Pruitt denied a long-standing petition by public interest groups to restrict the use of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos, a chemical whose health impacts include long-term, irreversible effects on children’s brain development Read more >

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Blind Faith vs. Insight: Employing Media Literacy to Reject Policies that Harm Human Health

Melinda Hemmelgarn, Registered Dietitian
, , UCS

May 6, 2014 2:38 PM EDT

As a dietitian who attempts to connect the dots between food, health and agriculture, my first job is to help my audiences think ecologically—to understand ripple effects—or how one influences others. Read more >

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More Herbicide, or More Innovative, Sustainable Farming?

, former senior scientist, Food and Environment

May 1, 2014 2:38 PM EDT

As another growing season begins, production agriculture is confronted with important choices. Among them is whether the farming community and policy makers will heed the clear warnings from herbicide-resistant weeds that industrial monoculture farming methods are not sustainable. Read more >

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