A “homemade” herbicide recipe is floating around the web : salt, vinegar and dish soap. Many of you have probably seen it posted to Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest, or on your favorite home gardening site. Is it efficient, safe and cheap? That is the question Control Freaks, a Weed Science blog which is linked to USDA, answers to in…
In Canada, General Mills, owner of the Honey Nut Cheerios trademark, has decided to put away their bee-mascot from packaging for some weeks. This way, they aim to make their customers be aware of the massive bee death. They offer free wildflowers seeds to every Canadian to bring back the bees. Have a look to #bringbackthebees (in English) or…
In November 2015, EFSA finalised the re-assessment of glyphosate, well-known active substance of Monsanto’s Roundup and other herbicides. Read EFSA press release, and detailed explanations on its risk assessment. The report concludes that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans and proposes a new safety measure that will tighten the control of glyphosate residues in food….
In this article, Andrew R. Kniss, University of Wyoming (USA), Associate Professor, Weed Biology & Ecology, “introduces when bilanaphos enters the plant, about half of the molecule is quickly chopped off, leaving behind a smaller molecule – phosphinothricin”, which is an herbicide. So…
Two cards picked up on the Internet: – One video which is a sign for an agriculture looking to the future: 1 tracteur + 1 drone + 1 ha de neige. – A Christmas « meme » from David Zaruk, specialist in science and risk communication: Happy Holidays from the ForumPhyto staff. Best wishes for 2016
CropLife International put on the Internet some pages based on the work of Andrew Maynard, who directs the Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health (USA). Read « Meet the Risk and Hazard Guru » Watch 5 videos of graphical explanations, including the funny “Risk Song”. At last,more concrete for ForumPhyto readers, CropLife also…
That is the title of an article (in English) by David Zaruk, on his blog The Risk-Monger D Zaruk starts with an historic fact “During the Great Plague of London (1665-66), the authorities were convinced that the outbreak of bubonic plague was being spread by cats. As cats had then been looked upon by religious leaders as symbols of evil and…
« The next time you dab wasabi on your sushi or spread mustard on your hot dog, take a moment to thank a caterpillar » : That’s how begins this article (in English) by NPR, a public radio in the USA It’s based on a scientific article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where “a group of scientists…