Pesticides in Biological News

Skip this cocktail party

... animals are exposed to a hazardous cocktail of pesticides such as DDTs and PCBs, as well as emerging ... dozen, a collection of particularly ubiquitous pesticides that were banned in the 1970s because of their ... but benign. The chemicals studied include pesticides like DDT, which has been shown to cause cancer ...

Pitt research finds that low concentrations of pesticides can become toxic mixture

... PITTSBURGH Ten of the world's most popular pesticides can decimate amphibian populations when mixed ... the first illustration of how a large mixture of pesticides can adversely affect the environment. Study ... leopard frog tadpoles to small amounts of the 10 pesticides that are widely used throughout the world. Relyea ...

Pesticide concentrations decreasing

... WI, OCTOBER 20, 2008 -- The widespread use of pesticides across the United States has been in practice for ... Over the years, frequent research has detected pesticides in ground water around the country, including in ... Over the past few decades, the use of some pesticides has been restricted or banned, while ...

NIEHS invests $21.25 million to find environmental causes of Parkinson's disease

... is identifying environmental stressors such as pesticides as risk factors for Parkinson's disease, it is ... high levels of exposure to specific environmental pesticides and Parkinson's disease and will build on this ... approach to identify additional agricultural pesticides that are disrupting similar molecular pathways, ...

Pesticide build-up could lead to poor honey bee health

... State researchers. Add the outside assault to the pesticides already in the waxy structure of the hive, and ... levels of fluvalinate and coumaphos -- pesticides used in the hives to combat varroa mites -- in ... samples. They also found lower levels of 70 other pesticides and metabolites of ...

Pesticides persist in ground water

... of ground water. Once in ground water, pesticides and their degradation products can persist for ... (USGS) investigated the occurrence of selected pesticides and their degradation products in ground water ... that can influence the likelihood with which pesticides and their degradation products are detected in ...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

... habitat for pest enemies Farmers spend millions of dollars each year on pesticides to kill crop-eating insects. But these insects have natural enemies, too, ... are a short-term solution, because pests can build up resistance, and new pesticides are constantly being developed," she says. "Building up predator ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly Presspac -- June 17, 2009

... RELEASE Many floors in U. S. homes have "measurable" levels of pesticides Environmental Science & Technology Insecticides used in and ... IMMEDIATE RELEASE "American Homes Survey: A National Study of Residential pesticides Measured from Floor Wipes" DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE: ....

Monitoring water through a snake's eyes

... pipeline. In the lab, the fiberoptic system detected poisons such as pesticides in amounts well below the World Health Organization safety threshold. ... City a Likely Point of Attack "Toxic materials are readily available as pesticides or herbicides in the agriculture industry, and can be harmful if consumed ...

Gene exchange common among sex-manipulating bacteria

... be possible to use sex-manipulating bacteria as environmentally friendly pesticides against harmful insects. Bacteria belonging to the Wolbachia group are ... manipulation, scientists will be able to lay a foundation for finding new pesticides for insects, based on nature's own principles. ...

Low level herbicide use can damage potato reproduction

... in the United States to determine potential ecological risks from chemical pesticides to nontarget plants requires two tests, both of which use immature plants. ... registration requirements for the protection of nontarget plants from pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). ...

Increase in ethanol production from corn could significantly impact

... on water quality could be to compare the amount of fertilizers and pesticides used on various crops, the committee suggested. For example, corn has the greatest application rates of both fertilizer and pesticides per acre, higher than for soybeans and mixed-species grassland biomass. ...

Inquiring minds want to know about cotton fleahoppers

... numbers or feeding damage should trigger a chemical control What pesticides work best against fleahoppers without damaging beneficial insects A ... control), scouting methods, economic thresholds for treatment, and pesticides and application rates to help keep fleahoppers in check," Parajulee ...

Japanese beetle may help fight hemlock-killing insect

... in hemlock trees until their needles desiccate. Mass application of pesticides would not be effective, said Scott Salom, professor of entomology in the ... Unlike the gypsy moth, which lives in tree canopies, you cannot spray pesticides over a forest in an aerial flight to kill the hemlock woolly adelgid, ...

Inquiring minds want to know about cotton fleahoppers

... numbers or feeding damage should trigger a chemical control What pesticides work best against fleahoppers without damaging beneficial insects A ... control), scouting methods, economic thresholds for treatment, and pesticides and application rates to help keep fleahoppers in check," Parajulee ...

EPA grant to University of Chicago for research on food allergy triggers

... of Chicago to investigate how allergic reactions to food are initiated. The research is expected to lead to improved methods to assess whether pesticides produced in genetically engineered plants can trigger food allergies, which impact more than 11 million Americans each year. The study is funded ...

New study ranks 'hotspots' of human impact on coastal areas

... surveyed four key land-based drivers of ecological change: nutrient input from agriculture in urban settings organic pollutants derived from pesticides inorganic pollutants from urban runoff direct impact of human populations on coastal marine habitats. Halpern explained that a large ...

Investing wisely to save the Great Barrier Reef

... CSIRO science is being used to improve land management practices on farmland to help reduce run-off of sediments, nutrients and pesticides on to the Great Barrier Reef. A decision support process facilitated and designed by CSIRO, Australian Government Reef Rescue team and the Bureau ...

Virus-resistant grapevines

... to test the method on actual grapevines and then to carry out field tests." The scientists' long-term goal is to curb the use of pesticides. "Certain pesticides are necessary to fight GFLV infections," Schillberg explains. But they often only have a limited effect. They are also harmful to the environment and ...

Rice University researchers ask if biofuels will lead to a 'drink or drive'

... out that fuel crops require large quantities of water and that water pollution is exacerbated by agricultural drainage containing fertilizers, pesticides and sediment. "These potential drawbacks," which the authors labeled the "water footprint," must be "balanced by biofuels' significant potential to ...

Simulating pharmaceutical and personal care product transport

... do not account for non-equilibrium sorption in soil macropores. The model MACRO is one of the models used in environmental risk assessments for pesticides and may have potential as an environmental risk assessment tool for PPCPs. A group of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural ...

IVCC and Syngenta start project for novel insecticidal active ingredient for malaria control

... industry places them in an ideal position to develop new active ingredients for public health applications but the small market for public health pesticides simply could not support the high research and development costs of such a project. "The role of the IVCC is to unlock the talent and enthusiasm ...

Agent Orange exposure increases veterans' risk of aggressive recurrence of prostate cancer

... of health problems, including prostate cancer, although the exact mechanism is unclear. Dioxin, its known carcinogen, also is found in herbicides and pesticides used by U.S. farmers, forestry and chemical plant workers who studies have shown to have an increased cancer risk. Scientists suspect dioxin ...

Field stations foster serendipitous discoveries in environmental, biological sciences

... of the precipitous decline of bald eagles at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary set the stage for Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, changing U.S. policy on use of pesticides like DDT. ...

Smithsonian scientist warns that palm oil development may threaten Amazon

... an industry-led initiative to improve its environmental performance. These include using natural pest control and composting in place of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers whenever possible, implementing no-burn policies and creating catchment ponds to reduce water pollution," said Butler. "The Brazilian ...

Ultra-fine coatings on sediment grains influence nitrate and sulfate storage in soil

... quality. Continuing research includes characterizing stream sediments, determining relations between sediment mineralogy and the concentration of pesticides stored on the sediments, and laboratory experiments evaluating storage mechanisms. ...

Toxicology program features wide range of human health and environment topical sessions

... hypoxia, and environmental chemicals. Food Allergy: Basic Mechanisms and Applications to Identifying Risks Associated with Plant Incorporated pesticides and Other Genetically Modified Crops Food allergy is a relatively new concern for toxicologists as a result of the incorporation of novel ...

Select roses survive with minimal care

... estimate of flowering percentage, plant vigor and overall plant performance were rated for 116 varieties of roses from Spring 2000 through 2002. No pesticides or fertilizers were used to grow the roses. Four plants represented each variety, and only varieties with three or four plants surviving the ...

10 new amphibian species discovered in Colombia

... porous, absorbent skin, they often provide early warnings of environmental degradation caused by acid rain, or contamination from heavy metals and pesticides that can also harm people. Amphibians help control the spread of many diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, because they eat the insects that ...

Study links water pollution with declining male fertility

... hormone, testosterone, reducing male fertility. Some of these are contained in medicines, including cancer treatments, pharmaceutical treatments, and pesticides used in agriculture. The research suggests that when they get into the water system, these chemicals may play a pivotal role in causing feminising ...

Study shows California's autism increase not due to better counting, diagnosis

... a subsequent pregnancy, to search for early markers that predict autism in the younger sibling. "We're looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and infectious agents on neurodevelopment," Hertz-Picciotto said. "If we're going to stop the rise in autism in California, we need to keep these ...

13 UCR faculty members recognized by American Association for the Advancement of Science

... "For distinguished contributions to the field of soil and environmental chemistry, particularly for understanding environmental fate and risks of pesticides and for efforts in resource protection." J. Daniel Hare, a professor of entomology: "For distinguished contributions to the fields of ecology and ...

Household exposure to toxic chemicals lurks unrecognized, researchers find

... pollutants in air, dust and urine samples from 120 Cape Cod households. The study found about 20 target chemicals per home on average, including pesticides and compounds from plastics, cleaners, furniture, cosmetics, and other products. Nearly all participants in the HES chose to learn their personal ...

Pollution at home lurks unrecognized, instead attributed to large-scale environmental disasters

... pollutants in air, dust and urine samples from 120 Cape Cod households. The study found about 20 target chemicals per home on average, including pesticides and compounds from plastics, cleaners, furniture, cosmetics and other products. Nearly all participants in the HES chose to learn their personal ...

Farming and chemical warfare: A day in the life of an ant?

... of growing material, protection from the environment, and protection from disease-causing pests. So what do the bacteria get out of producing pesticides for the ants? "For starters, they get food. Many species of fungus-growing ants have evolved special crypts on their bodies where the bacteria live ...

Almond pest management team to receive major award at ESA meeting

... of biological, cultural and reduced risk alternatives. The guide outlines monitoring techniques and economic thresholds for using reduced-risk pesticides and specifies when to use broad-spectrum insecticides. The team "developed an excellent research and extension team to develop and deliver IPM to ...

Making flies sick reveals new role for growth factors in immunity

... detail. "The problem with the traditional approaches to studying immunity is that we keep our flies in a pretty clean lab they see few, if any, pesticides or parasites or anything they would need to defend themselves from," says Newfeld. Getting flies sick wasn't trouble free, Frandsen says. At ...

Shade trees can protect coffee crops

... on it--more vulnerable to higher temperatures and changes in precipitation. In an effort to boost production, growers have increased their use of pesticides and relied less on shade trees, but the evidence suggests that these trends make the crop more susceptible to weather events. The benefits of shade ...

Green coffee-growing practices buffer climate-change impacts

... canopy. Shade-grown farms boost biodiversity by providing a haven for birds and other animals. They also require far less synthetic fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides than sun-coffee plantations. In the October edition of the journal BioScience , three U-M researchers say shade-growing also ...

Plants in forest emit aspirin chemical to deal with stress; discovery may help agriculture

... action much sooner, such as applying pesticides. The earlier you detect that something's going on, the more you can benefit in terms of using fewer pesticides and managing crops better." The discovery also can help scientists resolve a central mystery about VOCs. For years, atmospheric chemists have ...