Login
Courts Banned This Herbicide Twice. The EPA Wants to Bring It Back.
Anchorage Daily News reported:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday its proposed decision to reregister dicamba, a herbicide widely used on soybean and cotton farms that has been banned twice by federal courts. The EPA originally approved dicamba’s use on genetically engineered soybeans and cotton in 2016.
Environmental groups sued the EPA over dicamba in 2020 because of its potential drift away from the intended target, especially during warmer temperatures, and harm neighboring crops, nearby ecosystems and rural communities.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against the EPA and said the agency “understated the amount of dicamba damage.” The court determined that dicamba “caused substantial and undisputed damage” that tore the “social fabric of the farming communities.”
After the court vacated the herbicide’s registration, the EPA re-registered it months later, and was again challenged by environmental groups. A second federal court vacated that registration in 2024 and prohibited the sale of the herbicide.
‘The Stuff of Nightmares’: Philly Nonprofit Sues EPA Over Deadly Chemical Used at Refineries
A deadly chemical used at a refinery south of Philadelphia and dozens of others across the country poses an “unreasonable risk” to human health and the environment, according to a group of environmental nonprofits.
The Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, California-based Communities for a Better Environment and the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the federal government earlier this month, urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to put new regulations in place to keep communities safer from dangerous hydrogen fluoride. “Honestly, this chemical … is the stuff of nightmares,” said Annie Fox, a staff attorney at the Clean Air Council.
Hydrogen fluoride is used as a catalyst in the blending process to make cleaner-burning high-octane gasoline at roughly 40 refineries across the country, according to the lawsuit. It’s also used to manufacture refrigerants, herbicides and pharmaceuticals.
The chemical can travel for miles when it’s released and can be deadly when inhaled or splashed on the skin at high levels. It can cause deep burns and affect major internal organs. Some refineries use sulfuric acid — which can still cause burns but does not pose as great a risk to surrounding communities, according to the federal Chemical Safety Board — for the same purpose.
Air Pollution Linked to Dementia Risk, Study Finds
Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution, including car exhaust emissions, can be linked to an increased risk of dementia, according to a large-scale study.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit and University of Cambridge researchers said there was an “urgent need” for interventions to combat air pollution.
They analysed 51 studies and data from more than 29 million people to discover links between dementia and three types of air pollutant.
They said it was possible for pollutants to reach the brain directly or through the bloodstream, to cause widespread inflammation similar to that seen in lung and heart diseases.
Pesticides in the Fields Deprive Millions of Farmers of Sleep — This Is Not a Metaphor
Recent studies show a clear link between the use of farmers around the world pesticides on the fields and serious sleep disorders. How note Chemistry World journalists, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, farmers spraying pesticides from morning to evening suffer from from insomnia at night. With one of these farmers, Sudhakar Tasgave, the journalists talked to him personally.
According to 55-year-old Tasgawe, he is unable to sleep more than 4 hours a night. He has been using all available chemicals for more than 20 years and has noticed an alarming pattern. After a day of constant spraying, the farmer can’t sleep at night.
After Tasgawe shared his concerns with other farmers, they found similar signs. In Yadrav’s village, insomnia has long been a common occurrence. Research, conducted in 2025 in Thailand, with the participation of 27 thousand farmers, demonstrated that lasting impact pesticides is clearly linked to sleep disorders.
‘Not Going Anywhere’: Mosquitoes Thrive in Las Vegas, Gain Pesticide Immunity
Not all insects can survive Las Vegas’ harsh summer heat, but an increasing number of mosquitoes are thriving in the Las Vegas Valley — and building immunity to pesticides.
Pesticides can reduce insect populations, but in areas around golf courses in Summerlin and Henderson, efforts to eradicate mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus are proving ineffective, according to Trishan Wickramasinghe with UNLV’s Parasitology & Vector Biology Laboratory.
While his latest research is not complete, he said he’s run several tests that show some species often survive pesticides, even at concentrations 100 times greater than the standard use.
A new generation can quickly evolve to develop immunity to pesticides that should kill them, said Louisa Messenger, assistant professor at UNLV’s School of Public Health. Wickramasinghe added that these pesticide-immune mosquitoes are commonly found at water hazards on golf courses or water installations in Summerlin and Henderson, where pesticide use is more frequent and stagnant water is abundant.
