Tag: pesticides

The Dirty Truth Behind the “Dirty Dozen”

By: Abi Saeed

Pesticide residues and risk assessments have been a major topic of interest and inquiry for me for over a decade, and something that I wanted to write about on the Blog for quite some time. Over the past couple of months, I have had several inquiries from people regarding the “Dirty Dozen” list, so I thought this was the perfect time to organize the evidence-based data on this topic. To see a prior post on this topic, you should also check out Jeff Gillman’s post on the Dirty Dozen from 2010 and a follow up post from 2011.… Continue reading this article “The Dirty Truth Behind the “Dirty Dozen””

Dear big box store: please make up your mind.

Report from the Center for Food Safety, April, 2015:

bigboxneonics

My photo from July, 2015:

spectracide

Yes,  sometimes folks want or need to kill bees, wasps, etc. But given the current hullabaloo, this particular sales display was too ironic for words.

 

Read and follow label directions…

Every extension specialist or educator that mentions any kind of pesticide in a talk or article always includes the disclaimer ‘Read and follow all label directions.” However that caveat ranks somewhere between “Your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device” and “Do not remove tag under penalty of law” as the most ignored phrase in the English language. While we can probably rationalize ignoring the last two (If a jetliner ditches in the middle of the Atlantic is a seat cushion really going to save you? … Continue reading this article “Read and follow label directions…”

Bordeaux Mix

One of my favorite stories about pesticides is the story of Bordeaux mix.  It’s a story of France in the 1800s (so it must be pretty romantic, right?) and how they were suffering from a shortage of grapes.  Don’t feel sorry for them — it was really their own doing.  Over the course of the 19th century grape vines were brought from the United States to test their merits against European grapes.  It was quickly discovered that, for the most part, American grapes were not the equal of European grapes for winemaking. … Continue reading this article “Bordeaux Mix”

Bee studies, blogs, and biases

My original posting last Wednesday (“Ignorance and the so-called “bogus” bee study“) has generated some vigorous discussion, which is exactly what I hoped it would do. At some point, one of our readers posted the link on the original blog site, where it generated the following response:

“The issue on CCD and these studies that point to “causes” other than pesticides comes down to a question: What came first? The pesticides or the problem.… Continue reading this article “Bee studies, blogs, and biases”

Dirty Dozen?

Nobody in their right mind considers pesticides safe.  They are, after all, poisons which we have created to kill things, be those things plants, insects, fungi, rats, or whatever.  The idea that we could have foods with no pesticides on them is attractive.  Now I’ve got to admit that, as a general rule, I don’t think that the levels at which most pesticides are found on foods is concerning.  Our methods of detecting poisons are just too sensitive today and so we end up saying that a poison is “present” on a tomato or whatever even if it’s there at a harmless parts-per-trillion level. … Continue reading this article “Dirty Dozen?”

Do Organophosphates cause ADHD?

Ever since Monday’s post I’ve been preoccupied thinking about that article which was mentioned in the comments section by Daniel http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/17/pesticides.adhd/index.html?iref=allsearch . This article basically summarized a study that seemed to show that ADHD in children was related to exposure to organophosphate insecticides.

Articles like this appear all of the time in mainstream media and they scare the bejezus out of us because, after reading them, we end up thinking “Holy crap! We’re killing ourselves and ruining our society with these insane chemicals!”… Continue reading this article “Do Organophosphates cause ADHD?”

Dandelions and clover

It was fun to read all of your comments last week about your opinions on lawn care.  To follow up on it I’m going to talk a little bit about why I’m not fond of companies which apply herbicides multiple times throughout the year.  But first I think I’ll mention why I apply herbicides at all — aesthetics.  That’s it — the whole reason. Could I go the no-lawn route?  Yes, but I like having a yard to run in. … Continue reading this article “Dandelions and clover”

Thieves purr

Today I found a cool website – it’s an anagram generator (http://wordsmith.org/anagram/).  The title of today’s post is the first of the 553 anagrams generated from the word SUPERthrive.

I’ve been getting free samples of SUPERthrive for a long, long time.   For those of you living on a remote desert island, SUPERthrive is a product invented and sold by “Dr. John A. A. Thomson (in 27 different title Who’s Who Directories),” according to one of the promotional flyers. … Continue reading this article “Thieves purr”

Disappointment

Yesterday evening I took my older daughter to dance class while my wife stayed home.  While she was entertaining our younger daughter, the TruGreen guy came to the door to tell us that we had weeds in the yard (Damn, I had no idea!).  He went on to tell my wife that we really needed to use his company to get rid of them.  I was so disappointed that I missed him because I wanted to know all about what he had planned for our yard. … Continue reading this article “Disappointment”