Activists Declare The Science Settled – Neonicotinoids Are Killing Bees
Want to scare people about a pesticide? Compare it to DDT. 40+ years after it was banned in a bit of scientization of politics, people have still heard of it. DDT may be the only pesticide many people have ever heard of. Environmental groups love to invoke it for that reason.But if you are a fan of science, when you see a DDT comparison, you know evidence has left the building. DDT, when misapplied, was bad, just like every other compound, including water, can be bad. There was nothing exceptional about it other than the fact that it could have saved millions of kids from malaria if activists were forced to do studies before issuing press releases. But once you get a Joni Mitchell song written about your product, someone in Congress is going to take action.
Are Pesticides Linked To Autism? Here Are 3 Big Concerns About A New Paper
If you haven't yet read that mothers who lived near farms have more kids with autism, you will. The reason, it is said, is because farms use pesticides. You're not off the hook, organic farmers. The results are from California and there are lots and lots of organic pesticides in use in the study area.Is There A Future For Particle Physics In America?
The United States of America hasn't been interested in building big new physics collaborations, such as the Large Hadron Collider, in the last 20 years, since the Clinton administration canceled the Superconducting Super Collider. The James Webb Space Telescope overruns and President Obama canceling NASA's Constellation program confirm why America has a crisis of confidence about building big and there is a belief that maybe we should stick to small experiments like cute robots on Mars.Feeding The World Of 2050
If the world will have 9 billion people or more by 2050, we'll probably be okay.The scare stories of food riots and mass famine once promoted by 1960s Doomsday Prophet Paul Ehrlich are today only promoted by, well, Paul Ehrlich. Even organic farmers say they can feed the world now.
In the last 30 years, America has led the world in science and nowhere has that been more evident than in food. American farmers have successfully dematerialized in a world of materialism - they grow more food on less land using fewer pesticides than ever thought possible. And the future looks even brighter.
Vegetarian Water – For The Truly Ethical
Did you know that when you drink water, you are not really being vegetarian?I didn't either. It turns out that when you drink water, it could have microbes and other small stuff - well, I knew that part. What I did not know is that viruses and bacteria and such were considered animals to vegetarians. So even if you purify water by boiling it and killing the germs, you are still drinking dead animals.
What to do for truly ethical water drinkers? Now you have the solution, the Prestige Lifestraw.
No One Is Really Shocked That Ben & Jerry’s Is Anti-Science: It’s A Surprise Unilever Is
There's no politics in ice cream but if there were, you can bet Ben & Jerry's would be the official ice cream of Mother Jones and Union of Concerned Scientists and other Democrats everywhere.It's over-priced, it has all the correct social positions for the coasts, and it engages in the sort of naturalistic fallacies and logical flip-flops that anti-science progressives love.
Like: ice cream is not healthy if it has GMOs.
Well, it's junk food. It's inherently unhealthy yet they have said with a straight face they want their customers to believe they made it healthier by not having syrup made from a corn that had a genetic modification to allow it to be grown with fewer toxic chemicals.
Why Environmentalists Are Suing The Federal Government – Wind Turbine Eagle Deaths
It's no secret that politicians have always favored corporations that are involved in their pet causes - and it's no secret that wind turbines are killing endangered birds and forcing a giant migration of more.What is less well known is that if you are a wind energy corporation, not only have you been stuffed with government subsidies for the last five years, you are not going to be prosecuted no how many eagles you kill. Unless you are also a fossil fuel company, like Duke Energy, they got prosecuted. Otherwise, you pay a token fine and that is that.
Egg Labels Are Scrambled Logic
A new survey shows egg carton labels are confusing organic consumers. They don't really know the difference between "pasture-raised" eggs and the “free-range” and “cage-free” kind but a pasture-raised company is banking on the fact that if people do know, they will spend more on their eggs.Almost anything can be free-range, for example. If a chicken can poke their head through a hole, well, that's free range. And cage free can still be jammed in tighter than a United Airlines cross-country flight, it just can't be in a cage.
Organic Lobbyists Petition To Prevent USDA From Having Organic Food Oversight
Since 1990 organic food has been allowed to exist independently of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the one federal agency responsible for food safety and quality. Sure, organic food still gets recalls, lots of them - using feces as fertilizer and having customers who think food doesn't need to be washed will do that - but the definition of 'organic' is not determined by the USDA.Those dozens and dozens of synthetic additives allowed on the organic food National List? That is because of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which was created by Congress in 1990. The reason there is no quality assurance for organic food and no surprise spot testing to make sure organic farming is actually organic ? Also thanks to the NOSB.
Vitamin Enriched GMO Banana Entering Human Trials
A genetically modified banana, boosted to have higher levels of alpha and beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, has the best backer imaginable - The Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation.It also has a big obstacle: it is really easy to scare people who don't understand the promise of biology, and fear and doubt are the specialties of anti-science groups who have consistently sought to undermine progress in food. But this is needed. The East African cooking banana is a staple with low levels of pro-vitamin A and iron. An improved version means not having to change farmers or culture. Like its vitamin-enriched counterpart, Golden Rice, the banana is a slightly different color. But it's what can't be seen that has the real value.