The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an alternative definition of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that excludes new herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and says they pose no threat to human health.

A former EPA chemist recounts agency reluctance to respond to risks seen with pesticides.

The Republican candidate for governor has ties to the Koch family, one of the country’s most powerful pro-industry forces.

Synthetic pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers are contributing not only to human health risks but also to climate change, according to pediatrician Lee Evslin.

The New Lede managing editor Brian Bienkowski spoke with Keith Schneider, a senior editor and chief correspondent at Circle of Blue, about how severe water contamination from crop and livestock production and rising high rates of cancer have become key election year issues in Iowa.

Iowan cancer survivors, farmers, elected officials, and community activists are sharing how they have reduced carcinogen exposure and what changes they hope will lower the state's high cancer rates.

Et si une simple tasse de thé contribuait à vieillir en meilleure santé ? Selon une nouvelle revue scientifique, cette boisson pourrait aider à protéger le cœur, le cerveau et même les muscles. À condition toutefois de choisir le bon type de thé et d'éviter certains produits qui pourraient en...

In the mountain villages of Guatemala’s Western Highlands, farmers are combining ancient Maya knowledge with modern sustainable farming techniques to protect their crops from pests and disease. Smallholders are creating homemade biopesticides using plants with strong smells and flavors to deter pests on their family plots. This is helping to cut back on the use of increasingly expensive agrochemicals, many of which have been labeled as dangerous to human health and linked to soil degradation. About 60 Guatemalan communities in the Western Highland departments of Sololá and Huehuetenango, as well as Chiquimula in the east, are working to revive these traditional techniques with support from the international development organization World Neighbors. Their focus is to restore and strengthen traditional knowledge, combining it with agroecological practices that help families produce surplus food they can sell to boost household incomes. “Traditional farming techniques are becoming popular because they are simple practices to apply, use local resources, and have proven to be effective,” Dayani Roche, a program associate at World Neighbors, told Mongabay via email. Rather than a single ancient recipe, farmers are using “a living combination of ancestral knowledge, local experimentation and more recent agroecological practices,” he said, which are “safer for families, soil, water and biodiversity than many chemical alternatives.” The Maya civilization, which once stretched across modern-day Central America, had a rich history of farming dating back to 2000 B.C.E. Its most celebrated agriculture system is the milpa, a form of intercropping that involves a mix of maize, beans and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Une nouvelle étude française menée auprès de plus de 30 000 personnes suggère qu’un simple changement dans vos habitudes alimentaires pourrait être associé à une réduction significative du risque de cancer du sein après la ménopause. Voici ce que les chercheurs ont découvert.

Common beans use a leaf receptor to turn caterpillar spit into a wasp-attracting scent.

New research suggests a widely used herbicide may have subtle but significant effects on honeybees. Growing flowering plants for pollinator gardens, farms, and home landscapes often requires herbicides to control weeds. Honeybees are naturally drawn to these areas and are essential for pollination. But researchers wanted to know what happens when bees are exposed to [...]