Pesticides News and Research

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Increase in human activity threatens natural aquatic ecosystems in Tanzania

An increase in human activity is posing a threat to natural aquatic ecosystems in Tanzania and contributing to environmental damage and ecological changes. Doctoral research carried out by Hezron Emmanuel Nonga shows that agriculture and livestock farming leads to eutrophication in lakes and the proliferation of cyanobacteria which produce microcystins.

29 Dec 2011

New model to analyze health hazards linked with pesticides and toxic chemicals

Approximately 80,000 industrial chemicals are in use and about 700 new chemicals are introduced to commerce each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. To assess human health risks from exposure to harmful substances, James Englehardt, professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Miami, is proposing a new technique that is more efficient than current methods.

22 Dec 2011

Terrorist attacks with chemical weapons are a real possibility: Study

Terrorist attacks with chemical weapons are a real possibility, according to a study that appears in the online open access journal, Journal of Pharmacy Practice, published by SAGE.

12 Dec 2011

Breakfast cereals high in sugars: Report

In a new report by the Environmental Working Group, 84 popular brands of breakfast cereals were reviewed. The report suggested that many of these contain a high amount of sugar.

8 Dec 2011

Radiation can be used to effectively sterilize light brown apple moth

A new study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology shows that radiation can be used to effectively sterilize the light brown apple moth (LBAM), an insect pest found in Australia, New Zealand, California, Hawaii, Sweden, and the British Isles.

1 Dec 2011

PCBs affect growth and bone density in turtles, an 'indicator species'

Manufactured until 1977, and banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, pentachlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are chemicals still commonly found in the environment because they break down slowly.

17 Nov 2011

Researchers get $7.5M grant to combat nerve agents

A $7.5 million award will help researchers harness the body’s own defenses to counteract nerve agents and create new types of antidotes for exposure to pesticides and other poisons.

14 Nov 2011

AB SCIEX acquires mass spectrometry business of Labindia Instruments

AB SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced that it has acquired the mass spectrometry business of Labindia Instruments Pvt. Ltd., a leading life science solutions service provider in India.

14 Nov 2011

Maryland anesthesiologist named 2011 Researcher of the Year

Often on the mind of Gary Fiskum, PhD, are the more than 250,000 people in the U.S. who get resuscitated from cardiac arrest each year, the 6 million living with traumatic brain injuries, and the wounded warriors whose brain whose brains sustain enormous G-forces from roadside bombs in the war zone.

9 Nov 2011

Potential fish enzyme biomarker for environmental toxins

The level of the enzyme carbonyl reductase (CBR) is elevated in the livers of fish that have been exposed to cleaned wastewater. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg can show that CBR has properties that may make it suitable to be used as a biomarker, an early warning signal of environmental toxins. The aim of the project is to achieve better environmental monitoring.

9 Nov 2011

Pesticides, pollutants increase risk of spina bifida and anencephaly in rural China

Pesticides and pollutants are related to an alarming 450 percent increase in the risk of spina bifida and anencephaly in rural China, according to scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Peking University.

20 Oct 2011

Scientists conclude pesticide contamination as a major problem in Europe

Pesticides are a bigger problem than had long been assumed. This is the conclusion of a study in which scientists analysed data on 500 organic substances in the basins of four major European rivers. It was revealed that 38 per cent of these chemicals are present in concentrations which could potentially have an effect on organisms.

14 Oct 2011

Environmental toxicants can pose risk for atherosclerosis

Environmental toxicants such as dioxins, PCBs, and pesticides can pose a risk for cardiovascular disease. For the first time a link has been demonstrated between atherosclerosis and levels of long-lived organic environmental toxicants in the blood.

12 Oct 2011

BPA found in kids’ canned food

The chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) that is suspected to be harmful to babies may be found in several child-friendly canned foods. Breast Cancer Fund researchers tested for bisphenol A (BPA) in six products specifically marketed to children. Included in the list were such popular kid-targeted meals as Campbell’s “Disney Princess" soup with "shaped pasta with chicken in chicken broth” and Annie’s Homegrown certified organic “Cheesy Ravioli.” BPA, which is found in plastics, cash-register receipts, dental sealants and even money, has been linked in animal studies to a host of health ills, including possible cancers and developmental problems and early puberty.

22 Sep 2011

Study investigates links between GWI and veterans' locations during war

Gulf War Illness (GWI)-the chronic health condition that affects about one in four military veterans of the 1991 Gulf War-appears to be the result of several factors, which differed in importance depending upon the locations where veterans served during the war, according to a Baylor University study.

19 Sep 2011

Dr. Oz and apple juice – FDA and experts fume at arsenic false alarm

Television's Dr. Mehmet Oz is being questioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and others for sounding what they say is a false alarm about the dangers of apple juice.

16 Sep 2011

Prostate cancer linked to pesticides: Study

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have found an increased prevalence of prostate cancer among older men exposed to certain pesticides in Central Valley neighborhoods.

31 Aug 2011

Cell's reserve fighting force shrinks with age: Study

When the body fights oxidative damage, it calls up a reservist enzyme that protects cells - but only if those cells are relatively young, a study has found.

31 Aug 2011

Disappearance of mosquitoes from some parts of Africa puzzles researchers

"Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are disappearing in some parts of Africa, ... indicat[ing] controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries," researchers report in a paper published in Malaria Journal, according to BBC News. But the team of Danish and Tanzanian "researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls," and "[t]hey are uncertain if mosquitoes are being eradicated or whether they will return with renewed vigor," the news agency writes.

29 Aug 2011

Malaria mosquito has disappeared from villages without organized control measures

The incidence of malaria in many African countries south of the Sahara is falling rapidly. A Danish-Tanzanian research group has discovered that the mosquito carrying the malaria parasite has practically disappeared from villages without organized mosquito control, and the researchers do not know why.

26 Aug 2011