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#toxins — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #toxins, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Is pesticide spray on food leading to movement disorders?
    Precautionary principle - ban paraquat

    "Paraquat and the related herbicide diquat are fast-acting weedkillers that farming groups say are essential for controlling resistant weeds."

    "Multiple epidemiological studies from different groups of scientists have shown that people exposed to paraquat have around a three times greater risk [of developing Parkinson's disease]."

    'The chemicals have been under review by the APVMA since 1997 and they are banned in the EU, the UK and China due to their toxicity.'

    "There are now multiple epidemiological studies or real-world exposure studies that have suggested that paraquat increases the risk of Parkinson's disease by around threefold...Like Australia, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to allow restricted use of the pesticide despite ongoing health concerns." >>
    abc.net.au/news/2026-06-08/neu

    Visualising the “blanket of agricultural toxins” from space
    This Yellow Glyphosate Map Reveals Where Farmers in the Netherlands Spray the Controversial Herbicide >>
    europeanpressprize.com/article
    #food #pesticides #glyphosate #Roundup #paraquat #weedkillers #SprayDrift #volatilisation #neurotoxicity #MovementDisorders #toxins #harm #farm #workers #residents #councils #LoggingIndustry #science #APVMA #regulation #Australia #SoilDegradation #water

  2. #Algal #Toxins emerge as a new concern in #Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea

    Locals who depend on the sea for food and culture are trying to understand the risks to traditional foods and wildlife populations in a region undergoing myriad changes

    by Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon, May 31, 2026 via #ICTNews

    Excerpt: "For countless generations, people of the #BeringStrait region have relied on the food they harvest from the sea without worrying about #HarmfulAlgalBlooms [#HABs] that threaten seafood eaters in warmer and more southern latitudes.

    "Now, as the Northern Bering Sea undergoes cascading effects of a warming climate, algal risks pose a new challenge.

    "The change has been dramatic.

    "And it has prompted a change in the way #Nome youth grow up learning about collecting food from the waters around their home. In early April, Nome high school students traveled to Bethel with their science teacher, where they presented their research at the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference held by Alaska Sea Grant.

    "Algal toxins were present, at very low but detectable levels, in fish they eat.

    "Sophomore Audrey Bruner-Alvanna was among the group of student researchers. She said young people are concerned about algal blooms, which proliferate in warmer conditions, and their potential effects on wild food resources.

    " 'Because, you know, as the climate changes, as the world gets warmer and stuff, there’s going to be more of these toxins and stuff during summer,' she said. 'I feel like a lot of people that I’ve talked to have been wondering about how our subsistence is going to change in the future based on all of that.'

    "The student research came about after one of the nation’s densest and biggest concentrations of toxin-producing Alexandrium algae ever documented burst forth in the waters of the Bering Strait region in 2022.

    "Until the appearance of the 'massive bloom, the most toxic bloom, the longest-persisting bloom in the U.S.,' local people barely knew what harmful algal blooms or #Alexandrium are, said Emma Pate, president of the Nome Eskimo Community, the local tribal government.

    " 'So we had to figure things out and learn really fast,' Pate said during an October 'Strait Science' presentation hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Nome campus."

    Read more:
    ictnews.org/news/algal-toxins-

    #ClimateChange #ToxicAlgae #UniversityOfAlaska #TraditionalFoodSources #NativeAlaskans #WarmingOceans #AlexandriumAlgae

  3. "... Poor pesticide spraying practices in the Nambucca Valley and Coffs Harbour regions...Chemical banned by European Union still used in Australia."

    When you drive from Nambucca Valley to the Coffs Harbour regions you can see giant white plastic nets enclosing blueberries, raspberries and blackberries plantations. There are toxic chemicals on some berries, the water and the area.

    "Banned chemical thiometon detected in berries sold at supermarkets."

    "Blueberry farming has boomed in NSW, including in the Nambucca Valley, as minimal red tape is required to set up. Blueberry farms can be started without formal registration or oversight, making it hard for authorities to track pesticide use. Since January 2022, the EPA has prosecuted 21 pesticide-related incidents across a range of crops in local courts across NSW... The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced a review into the use of dimethoate on blueberries, raspberries and blackberries."
    >>
    abc.net.au/news/2025-09-07/pes
    #food #regulation #toxins #pesticide #water #BerryIndustry #EPA #APVMA #governance #fruits #blueberries #NSW #plantations #MidNorthCoast #nambucca #CoffsHarbour #pollution #sprayDrift #dimethoate #thiometon #neurotoxins

  4. Imported pests and broad-spectrum pesticide regulation

    "A “wildly toxic” chemical used to combat fire ants and the varroa mite in Australia is banned in Europe and harmful to humans – and it is poisoning waterways and killing native fauna, experts warn."

    "Australia is “a basket case” in that the chemical regulator answers to the department of agriculture, rather than to the department of health, as in Japan, the US and Europe, said Landos."

    "NSW MP Emma Hurst of the Animal Justice party said: “It is time for Australia to catch up to the rest of the world and ban fipronil.”"
    >>
    theguardian.com/australia-news
    #pests #pesticide #regulation #fipronil #OneHealth #APVMA #neonicotinoids #floodplains #toxins #ecosystem #pollution #wildlife #biosecurity #trade

  5. How do pesticides get into oysters?
    Walking along estuaries in NSW, one finds that most oysters have been 'harvested' by very hungry people. And no, not by oystercatchers.

    "Pesticide residue from farms and towns is ending up in fresh oysters. Most of the herbicides, insecticides and fungicides we found are used routinely by farmers, land managers and council workers."

    "Four pesticides – atrazine, diuron, hexazinone and metolachlor – were found in concentrations above safe environmental limits for fresh and marine water.
    The sheer number of different pesticides we found in oysters was perhaps the biggest concern for lovers of oysters. Five of these – pebulate, vernolate, fosetyl Al, benomyl and prothiofos – have residue limits set at zero for meat."
    >>
    theconversation.com/pesticide-
    #oysters #seafood #food #rivers #RichmondRiver #PesticideHub #NSW #pesticides #mangroves #sugarcane #runoff #TheGreatBarrierReef #water #ocean #coast #wildlife #oystercatcher #toxins #OneHealth

  6. A cocktail of toxins is poisoning our fields. Its effect on humans? Nobody can tell us

    theguardian.com/commentisfree/

    Many of the chemicals being spread as sewage sludge are untested or can’t be assessed. That’s why I’m suing for answers, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

    #agriculture #toxins #malfeasance #profitmotive

  7. What do Keanu Reeves and #NaturalProducts produced by bacteria🦠have in common?
    They're both deadly to their enemies. That's why #LeibnizHKI researchers named the #toxins they discovered keanumycins. They could be used as #fungicides:
    leibniz-hki.de/en/press-releas
    @unijena @dfg_public @Hertweck_Lab

    Direct link to the article: doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c11107

    The research was also highlighted as a News & Views article in @Nature t.co/9ibj8XuwFb

    #scicomm #antimycotics #research #fungalresistance