December 5, 2012, 12:05 AM
About two months after the state’s environmental agency ordered a major pet products retailer to immediately cease selling unregistered pesticide products, many of those products remain on the retailer’s shelves and website. “It’s illegal to sell a product that makes...
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March 23, 2012, 12:05 AM
When Arysta LifeScience abruptly pulled methyl iodide off the market this week, it cited the “economic viability” of the controversial fumigant, which is used to sterilize soil before crops are planted. But at a hearing in an Oakland courtroom Wednesday, another factor emerged...
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January 13, 2012, 12:05 AM
The lawsuit over California's approval of a controversial pesticide might hinge on a seemingly straightforward question: Did regulators ever ask themselves what would happen if they didn't approve methyl iodide? In an Oakland courtroom yesterday, Alameda County Superior Court...
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December 14, 2011, 12:05 AM
A year after environmentalists lost a regulatory battle to keep the controversial pesticide methyl iodide off the California market, they appear to be winning the ground war against the chemical. Only six California growers have used methyl iodide – marketed as MIDAS – to zap soil-...
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September 7, 2011, 12:05 AM
In some of California’s top strawberry-growing counties, levels of banned methyl bromide remain nearly as high as they were a decade ago, despite a mandated phaseout, according to an analysis by New America Media. The fumigant was supposed to have been phased out completely by 2005,...
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August 30, 2011, 12:05 AM
California’s former top pesticide regulatory official dismissed safety guidelines suggested by her own staff scientists on the grounds that they were "excessive" and too onerous for the pesticide manufacturer, recently released internal documents show. In response, the...
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June 14, 2011, 12:05 AM
Hopefully, you’re a fan of onions, corn and pineapple – and not so sweet on apples, celery and strawberries. That’s because the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, released its annual Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. ...
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May 9, 2011, 12:05 AM
Researchers from UC Davis determined that California babies conceived in March had a significantly higher rate of autism, perhaps adding to a body of research that links spring and summer pesticide exposure to birth defects. The report, which was published in the journal Epidemiology, found...
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March 22, 2011, 12:05 AM
Last Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened a 30-day public comment period on the controversial strawberry pesticide methyl iodide. The move comes in response to a year-old request from the environmental law group Earthjustice, along with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Both...
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December 2, 2010, 5:48 AM
Over objections from its own scientific advisers, the Schwarzenegger administration yesterday issued its final approval of a highly toxic pesticide that conventional strawberry growers say is critical to their $2 billion industry. Speaking in a conference call to reporters, Mary-Ann Warmerdam...
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September 23, 2010, 12:05 AM
The state’s food and agriculture department announced the winners of a $17.2 million federal grant designed to promote specialty crops, including vegetables, fruits and nuts, in the state. Among the 63 winners were Sunsweet Growers Inc., which received $450,000 to develop a high-fiber...
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August 20, 2010, 12:05 AM
The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a request from Ohio authorities that would allow exterminators to use small amounts of a toxic chemical to kill bedbugs in their clients’ homes. The chemical, propoxur, can kill insecticide-resistant bedbugs. But the EPA has banned the...
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