Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “United States Department of Agriculture”
[Editor’s note: Evidence has been mounting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been silencing its own bee scientists who have raised the alarm about the deadly impact that pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids, have on bees. Last month, for example, the Washington Post reported[3] the story of Jonathan Lindgren, a USDA bee scientist, who filed a whistleblower suit alleging that he was disciplined …
“We must… build our own local food systems that create new rural-urban links, based on truly agroecological food production… We cannot allow Agroecology to be a tool of the industrial food production model: we see it as the essential alternative to that model, and as the means of transforming how we produce and consume food into something better for humanity …
Many, if not most, of our regulatory agencies have a long history of protecting industry interests over public and environmental health. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come under increasing scrutiny following mounting charges of harassment and censorship. In the first week of November 2015, Jonathan Lundgren, who spent the last 11 years working as an entomologist …
A large portion of the seafood consumed in North America is farmed. But the food those fish eat increasingly includes more crop-based ingredients, like corn, soy, and wheat. Until recently, this manufactured feed was typically composed of high levels of fishmeal and fish oil derived from wild fish—but it has become unsustainable to catch more wild fish to feed growing …
Low levels of pesticides can impact the foraging behaviour of bumblebees on wildflowers, changing their floral preferences and hindering their ability to learn the skills needed to extract nectar and pollen, according to a study co-authored by a University of Guelph professor. The study, published March 14 in Functional Ecology, is the first to explore how pesticides may impact the ability …
This week thousands of Americans took time out of their busy days to call their Senators to demand that they vote against the DARK Act, a bill sponsored by Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, which would prevent consumers from knowing if the food they eat and feed their families contains genetically engineered (GMO) ingredients. Their support for GMO labeling was echoed …
Glyphosate, the most common active ingredient in herbicides world-wide, has been linked to various health problems, from gluten intolerance [1] to autism [2], and most recently cancer [3]. It is well-known that herbicides with glyphosate are sprayed on genetically modified crops that have been engineered to withstand the herbicide without killing the plant. Those wishing to avoid ingesting glyphosate were told to just avoid GMO foods. However, …
Americans are more likely than Europeans to be exposed to Monsanto’s glyphosate weed killer. That’s in large part because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations to determine allowable levels of glyphosate use are much more lax than the European Union’s. And American growers spray a lot of glyphosate. According to a new paper in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe, Americans have sprayed more than …
* A USDA hotline is blowing up with complaints from government scientists about censorship of science, begging the question: Who does the USDA work for? Consumers and farmers — or Monsanto? Last weekend’s Washington Post featured a front-page article about the mounting allegations of scientific censorship at the USDA, often to appease politically powerful agricultural companies like Monsanto. You heard …
DURHAM, N.C. — Forests nationwide are feeling the heat from increasing drought and climate change, according to a new study by scientists from 14 research institutions. “Over the last two decades, warming temperatures and variable precipitation have increased the severity of forest droughts across much of the continental United States,” said James S. Clark, lead author of the study and …
