New Announcements

In Midwest, Flutters May Be Far Fewer
NEW YORK TIMES, July, 2011 - As recently as a decade ago, farms in the Midwest were commonly marred — at least as a farmer would view it — by unruly patches of milkweed amid the neat rows of emerging corn or soybeans. Not anymore. Fields are now planted with genetically modified corn and soybeans resistant to the herbicide Roundup, allowing farmers to spray the chemical to eradicate weeds, including milkweed. And while that sounds like good news for the farmers, a growing number of scientists fear it is imperiling the monarch butterfly, whose spectacular migrations make it one of the most beloved of insects — “the Bambi of the insect world,” as an entomologist once put it. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, and their larvae eat it. While the evidence is still preliminary and disputed, experts like Chip Taylor say the growing use of genetically modified crops is threatening the orange-and-black butterfly by depriving it of habitat...more.

Missouri Studies Show Atrazine's Potential Harm
COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE, May 30, 2010 - Atrazine is one of the oldest herbicides on the market. It's also still one of the most popular and can be found almost anywhere corn, sorghum or sugar cane are grown. More than 76 million pounds of the chemical are sprayed on U.S. farmland each year, making it second in volume only to Roundup...more.

New study finds link between pesticide exposure and ADHD
A new study out this month has linked Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) with organophosphate pesticide exposure. Organophosphates are a commonly used pesticide in many agricultural crops, with 73 million pounds being applied in 2008 alone. The US Pesticide Residue Program Report showed that the organophosphate pesticide malathion showed up in 28% of commercially-produced blueberries, 24% of strawberries and 19% of celery in 2008.

This new study, carried out by Dr. Maryse Bouchard of the University of Montreal and her colleagues at Harvard, sampled 1139 children, 119 of which met the criteria to be diagnosed with ADHD. The researchers found that elevated concentrations of dialkyl phosphate metabolites in urine, which are markers of organophosphate exposure, are correlated with increased occurrence of ADHD.

These results give us a chance to revisit another related study that came several years ago. In 2006, Chensheng Lu of Emory University and his colleagues at the University of Washington and the Center for Disease Control, found that levels of malathion in children's urine rapidly began to decrease after the children were put on all organic diets.

Bouchard, M.F., D.C. Bellinger, R.O. White and M.G. Weisskopf. 2010. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides. Pediatrics. Published online May 17, 2010 (10.1542/peds.2009-3058).

Lu, C., K. Toepel, R. Irish, R.A. Fenske, D. B. Barr and R. Bravo. 2006. Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children's Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorus Pesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(2): 260-263.

CALL FOR PAPERS In Spring 2010, Springer will publish, in collaboration with the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research, a new peer-reviewed journal: Organic Agriculture: Journal of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research. Papers must be submitted online. For more information email the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) at info@isofar.org or download a brochure.

Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-97) 87 pp, May 2010
This comprehensive overview of local food systems from the USDA explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems...more.