Thank you 700 times, and pesticide Tweets…
Posted by Gavin on March 02, 2010 in Global issues
If you didn’t know it already, we use Twitter, and we now have more than 700 followers - for this we would like to say a big thank you to all.
If you don’t use Twitter, you might not be aware of how useful it can be as a resource for information and good ideas. Here’s a collection of pesticide information from tweets from us, and tweets we’ve re-tweeted from the past few days. Enjoy!
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Via @cropprotection
News of the EU’s ‘REAL Fake’ competition to raise awareness of the dangers and problems associated with counterfeit and fake products - recognised as a great opportunity for EU agricultural schools to explore counterfeit pesticide issues.
Read more: http://bit.ly/an1svn
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Via @pdjmoo
Germany: New sensing technology from bats and insects helps farmers reduce fertilizer and pesticide use - impressive.
Read more: http://ow.ly/1bQ0D
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Via @ThePhoenixSun
An article exploring the health implications of pesticide drift, and the problems of regulating drift.
Read more: http://bit.ly/9xFbmx
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Via @pesticideinfo
Food organisations form working groups to tackle impact of pesticides legislation - a response to the UK consultation for the Sustainable Use Directive.
Read more: http://bit.ly/9F4Zqk
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Via @pesticideinfo
Food Scare Over Toxic Cowpeas Spreads in China - reporting on the detection of harmful chemical residues on Chinese produce.
Read more: http://bit.ly/cZUcmO
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Via @TheAngryindian & @GMWatch
Is WWF the only international green group to be picketed by its peers? An article describing critism of WWF for their involvement in spy production in Latin America.
Read more: http://bit.ly/c2wXPF
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Via @cropprotection
Pesticide red tape may prove ‘a blight on potato sector’. UK concern over the potential impact of new pesticide legislation on potato yeilds.
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Via @pesticideinfo
Colony Collapse Disorder: the real crisis ahead, ‘agricultural collapse disorder…’. A view that bee Colony Collapse Disorder is infact casued by the nature of bee farming.
Read more: http://bit.ly/bzGcJg
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Via @canadaguy
Children in Latin American countries found exposed to DDT - a legacy of anit-malaria pesticide use.
Read more: http://www.enn.com/health/article/41028
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Via @pesticideinfo
Tomatoes that taste like Holland, farming with scorpions, & at least one goodreason why you should not taste pesticides. Actually the previous post on this blog - when you’re done here, why not have a read.
Read more: http://bit.ly/aDuR1Y
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Via @HealthandEnv
NGO facing legal challenge after apparently discovering unacceptable pesticide levels in wine.
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Via @scgardeningnews
Cultural controls are best, but if you must spray, use less toxic insecticides. Some basic advice on home and garden pesticide use.
Read more: http://bit.ly/LpNYO
Some of our followers…
RSS
Comments(0)France 24: viewpoints on pesticides and related topics
Posted by Phil on August 14, 2009 in Environment, Food & health
The international news channel France 24 recently features two insightful debates in its program ‘Face-off’.
The first one, entitled ‘Organic Food: not so wholesome?’, picks up on an ongoing furore around the now famous Food Standards Agency (FSA) report on organic (see our last two posts). The debate includes some interesting comments by Olivier Andrault from the Consumer Association UFC-Que Choisir and Diego Garcia from L’Agence Bio. Read the rest of this entry »
Follow the debate on the FSA organic report
Posted by Phil on August 07, 2009 in Environment, Food & health, Global issues
The debate around organic has boiled up over the week after the release of the FSA’s study (see our last post below.) Here are some articles published this week on the topic. Do feel free to comment or recommend other news and articles.
Press
- Argument is about capitalism, not food (The Guardian)
- It’s wrong to believe that nature is always best (The Guardian)
- Organic food debate boils over (The Independent)
- BBC snubs organic food as it teaches us how to eat well (The Daily Express)
- Les défenseurs du bio rapellent son role écologique (Le Monde)
- Misleading claims on the credentials of food marketed as organic (The Daily Telegraph)
- Organics sector hits back in nutrition row (Freshinfo)
- Organic food contains toxic natural pesticides (The Times)
Blogs
- UK FSA’s organic study confusing and inconclusive? (The Green Room blog)
- Slate: Organic vs. Conventional? Too Complex… (Organic Nation)
- Organic food has no health or nutrition benefits, FSA study finds (VitalRead)
- Study Finds Organic Foods Not More Nutritous (Pays to Live Green)
- Nature’s Path CEO Responds to Organic Food Study Results (DailyBlender)
- Is There a Change Afoot in How Organics Are Marketed? (GreenBiz)
UK Food Standards Agency: organic not healthier. Reactions from the press and blogosphere.
Posted by Phil on August 03, 2009 in Food & health
An independent review published by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) concludes that there are no differences in nutrition content or other health benefits between food produced using organic methods and that grown using scientific agriculture (read the FSA’s new release here). It will come as no surprise to anyone that the report has sparked a heated debate in the press and the blogosphere! Please find below a small selection of press articles and blog posts from across the divide discussing the report. Do feel free to comment or to recommend further articles by clicking on the tab above.
Press
Organic food is not healthier, says FSA (The Guardian)
Don’t write off organic food (The Daily Telegraph)
Organic food ‘no healthier than conventional’ (The Independent)
Organic has no health benefits (BBC)
Les bénéfices du «bio» en question (Le Figaro)
Il biologico? Fa bene solo a chi lo produce (La Stampa)
Blogs
Organic Versus Conventional Food: UK Report Flawed (Huffington Post)
News Report: Organic food no healthier, but is that all that matters… (Daily Cup of Yoga)
Organic Isn’t Healthier, But People Will Keep Buying (Humblement)
Organic Food Trash? Or Just Trashing Organic Food? (Unbossed)
Organic Versus Conventional Food: UK Report Flawed (Civil Eats)
Will you still shop organic after the publication of the FSA findings? (Ooffoo)
Joanna Blythman: Please Read the Data Appendices About Organic Food Before Conjuring ‘Cancerous Conspiracies’: Part 1 (Holford Watch)
Organic no better says FSA (Grow organic food)
Recent articles on pesticides and related topics
Posted by Phil on July 27, 2009 in Environment, European Regulation, Farming, Food & health, Global issues
Please find below some recent articles on pesticides and related topics. Do feel free to recommend more articles by selecting “Recommend a page or site” above or access a more comprehensive list of articles by using the Delicious cloud in the right-hand colmumn.
- The Three A’s of Food Security (Sciencebase blog)
- Differing patterns in food price falls (BBC)
- French village goes organic one day a week (3News)
- EU survey reveals poor state of biodiversity (Euractiv)
- EU farm subsidies ‘inconsistent’ with global food security (Euractiv)
- Sweden introduces climate labelling for food (Euractiv)
- World food prices: Whatever happened to the food crisis? (The Economist)
- Agriculture Demand Outpacing Honeybee Increase, Researchers Say (Bloomberg)
- EFSA publishes report on pesticide residues in food (Food Production Daily)
- Forum on the Future of Agriculture goes on the road… (Blogactiv)
Latest study concludes that food prices will increase with revision of pesticides legislation
Posted by Helen Dunnett on October 21, 2008 in European Regulation, Food & health
Last week we attended a press briefing in Brussels for the launch of a new impact study that looks at the possible price increases on agricultural markets in Europe if current revisions of the regulation governing pesticides (Directive 91/414) are approved. The study was produced by EuroCARE BONN, the European Centre for Agricultural, Regional and Environmental Policy Research, and was commissioned by ECPA (disclaimer: sponsor of Pesticide Information). At the event, I had an opportunity to speak to two of the panelists:
- Séan Rickard, Senior Lecturer in Business Economics from the Cranfield University School of Management, who wrote What price protection? An Economic Assessment of the Impact of Proposed Restrictions. He gave me his views on the derogation which gives a 5-year exemption on irreplaceable crop protection products and on food availability more broadly.
- Dr. Marcel Adenauer from EuroCARE Bonn and the University of Bonn, who headed the panel. Marcel talked about the possible effects on the price of fruit (the EuroCare report focuses on wheat and potatoes), the effects of price increases on the European economy as a whole, and the prospect of Europe giving up its primacy in food production.
For background information on this legislation visit EurActiv.
Fruit and vegetable sector criticize European Commission for failing to look at the wider impact of the pesticide proposals
Posted by Helen Dunnett on October 08, 2008 in European Regulation, Food & health
Representatives from Europe’s fresh and processed fruit and vegetable sector voiced their concern last week about the ongoing revisions to the pesticide legislation.
They argue that if the pesticide legislation goes through based on the European Parliament’s amendments adopted during first reading of this Directive last year, it will remove many plant protection solutions (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) currently available to protect European fruit and vegetable crops. They highlight carrots, onions, broccoli and cauliflower being potentially the hardest hit, going on to add that they believe it is likely that farmers will decide not to grow certain crops in future due to the lack of any effective plant production products to protect their crops from disease and attack which ensure a reasonable crop at harvest.
The sector can also foresee an increase in the cost of fruit and vegetables which they believe will “have a knock-on effect on fruit and vegetable consumption” at a time when the Commission itself has set nutrition and obesity as one of the key priorities in the EU public health policy as seen in their White Paper A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues.
Pesticide cutbacks could hit food prices
Posted by Wyn Grant on September 22, 2008 in Environment, European Regulation, Farming
Substantial increases in household food prices could result if the European Parliament succeeds in pushing through its version of proposals to cut the availability of pesticides for use in agriculture. This is the key finding of a new report on the impact of the EU’s proposed pesticides legislation carried out by economist Sean Rickard of the Cranfield School of Management.
Under the European Parliament’s most restrictive scenario, which would remove 85 per cent of current pestcides from the market, EU cereals output could drop by about 100m tonnes, leading to an effective doubling in grain prices. A £100/t increase in wheat prices, according to Mr Rickard’s calculations, would translate into an extra 9p on a loaf of bread, 3p on a litre of milk and a 40p increase in the price of pork. Potato prices would also double. Mr Rickard suggested that it could easily put another 10 per cent on the rate of food inflation. Read the rest of this entry »