/oss/taxonomy/term/265/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/macropanic-over-nanoplastics <p>I keep teasing my analytical chemist colleagues that they are responsible for the anxiety that so many people have about chemicals invading their lives. Hardly a day goes by without some report of phthalates, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pesticides, dioxins, bisphenol A, or a host of other mischievous “toxins” being detected in our food and water. That detective work is carried out by analytical chemists who continue to devise better and better means to uncover smaller and smaller amounts of contaminants.</p> Thu, 11 Jan 2024 19:48:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9800 at /oss /oss/article/technology/right-chemistry-evolution-plant-hormones <p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-zicpww4zeci" width="640" height="390" title="Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the evolution of plant hormones" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ziCPWW4zecI?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-zicpww4zeci&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the evolution of plant hormones" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>Video of Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the evolution of plant hormones</iframe> </div> </p> Mon, 01 Apr 2019 18:06:38 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7681 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-environment/clean-ideas-about-dirty-dozen <p>It’s springtime which means it is time for the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to send the media into a frenzy with its annual release of the “dirty dozen” conventionally produced fruits or vegetables that contain the greatest variety of pesticide residues. The implication is that these should be shunned in favour of  their organic versions. </p> Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:55:49 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7024 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-environment/novel-approach-weed-management <p>A novel drone system is currently being tested in Denmark. Don’t worry, it will be targeting weeds not people. The goal is to reduce herbicide use by limiting application to heavily infested areas. These drones are equipped with a special camera that detects wavelengths corresponding to the reflective signatures of specific weeds and crops. For example, thistle can be easily detected because it absorbs more yellow light than the surrounding beet plants.</p> Mon, 22 May 2017 15:55:47 +0000 OSS 2473 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-food-health-news/organic-vs-conventional-emotional-issue <p>Judging by the hate mail directed his way, you would think that Dr. Alan Dangour had suggested banning baby kissing. In fact, all the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine nutritionist did was search the scientific literature for studies comparing the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods. The venomous attacks on his work, and in many instances his character, were triggered by his conclusion, that at least as far as the nutrients he examined were concerned, there was no appreciable difference.</p> Tue, 04 Feb 2014 11:21:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2088 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-food-health-news-toxicity/are-environmental-chemicals-making-us-fat <p>We are getting fatter.  The World Health Organization estimates that a seventh of the world’s population is overweight and about 300 million people can now be classified as obese.  What’s going on?  The answer would appear to be pretty simple.  We are eating more and exercising less.  But that answer may be a tad too simple.  Some researchers maintain that our increased calorie intake and decreased calorie expenditure cannot account for the current “epidemic of obesity.”  We better have a look, they say, not only at the gluttonous amounts of processed foods we consume, but also at the packa</p> Sun, 09 Feb 2014 01:44:30 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2092 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-food-health-news/streptomycin-and-blueberries <p>A story is blazing around the blogosphere about a ten year old girl having an anaphylactic reaction to a blueberry pie. Physicians supposedly traced the reaction to streptomycin used as a pesticide on the blueberries. The account is spreading like wildfire with warnings about how an “antibiotic reside in food may cause severe allergies.” The reference is to a paper in the September issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, a reputable publication. But there is a problem. The September issue is not yet out. So how do we know about the case?</p> Fri, 05 Sep 2014 01:13:32 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2193 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-food-health-news-technology/seeds-hope <p>Why would anyone oppose a technology that dramatically increases crop yields and protects farmers from excessive exposure to pesticides? Because of irrational fears about the technology involved, which is of course genetic modification. A battle is now brewing in India and Bangladesh over the planting of eggplant that has been genetically modified to resist attack by insects. Eggplant is a staple in many dishes in India and Bangladesh but unfortunately the plant is susceptible to attack by the fruit and shoot borer and farmers have to spray to prevent infestation on a regular basis.</p> Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:30:47 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2214 at /oss /oss/article/health-environment/pesticides-organic-produce <p>You’ve heard of a tempest in a teapot. This is a hurricane in a thimble. I’m talking about a study carried out by Canada’s Food Inspection Agency that found pesticide residues in organic produce. Consumers were scandalized. Their expensive organic food tainted with pesticides! The very chemicals they were trying to avoid because, as everyone knows, pesticides cause cancer! Alright now, let’s just take a deep breath here and examine what this finding by CFIA really means. First of all pesticides in the amounts found as residues on produce do not cause cancer.</p> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:22:27 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1673 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/organic-food-and-nutrition <p style="text-align:justify">The battle has been raging back and forth ever since pesticides and synthetic fertilizers were introduced into agriculture. Is organic produce safer and more nutritious than the conventional variety? Curiously, organic really used to be conventional. That was the only kind of farming that was practiced. If you wanted to fertilize your fields, you used sewage or decomposing plant material. If you wanted to control insects, you used toxic, but of course “natural,” compounds of arsenic, mercury or lead.</p> Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:30:01 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1580 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/pesticides-utero <p>Can the decline in rational thinking that we seem to be experiencing these days be due to pesticide exposure while we were in the womb? That may not be as harebrained as it sounds. </p> Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:41:50 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1680 at /oss /oss/article/health-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-20-organic-farming <p>Organic farmers are allowed to use a number of pesticides as long as they come from a natural source. Pyrethrum, an extract of chrysanthemum flowers, has long been used to control insects. The Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. classifies it as a likely human carcinogen. There you go then, a “carcinogen” used on organic produce! Does it matter? Of course not. Just because huge doses of a chemical, be it natural or synthetic, cause cancer in test animals, does not mean that trace amounts in humans do the same. Furthermore, pyrethrum biodegrades quickly and residues are trivial.</p> Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:59:24 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1546 at /oss