Pesticide Potpourri

• In a story that has reached around the world, researchers at the USDA’s Center for Medical and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, FL have been screening new compounds as potential repellents for biting insects.  They have examined over 30 compounds in the family of N-acylpiperidines.  Seven have been tested on clothed human volunteers and skin testing will begin this summer.  (International Herald-Tribune, 5/28/08). 
•  According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy food that has been genetically modified and 87 percent of consumers would like genetically-modified ingredients to be labeled.  (CBS Evening News, 5/11/08). 

•  BASF has stated that drought-tolerant corn seeds it is developing with Monsanto will reach farmers in 2012 for planting the next year.  The president of BASF plant science was cited as saying that the plants, which began field trials this year, will limit yield reduction that can be as much as 30 percent in the U.S. and Europe, and that the companies are developing genetic improvements that will have a market value of more than $2 billion by 2020.  The market for genetically modified crops may jump tenfold, to $50 billion by 2025, as a growing global population consumes higher-protein foods that require more grains from limited land.  (STLtoday.com, 5/14/08). 

•  A 34-year-old Japanese farmer who committed suicide by drinking chloropicrin regurgitated the pesticide at a hospital before he died.  The fumigant caused 54 doctors, nurses and patients to develop breathing problems and eye sores.  The doctors were not wearing protective gear and were unprepared because the paramedics who brought the farmer to the hospital had not identified the pesticide, said a local police official.  The incident came amid a string of suicides in Japan by people mixing household chemicals to create lethal fumes.  Many bystanders in recent months have been sickened by fumes that escaped into adjoining rooms, apartments or homes.  (International Herald-Tribune, 5/22/08).

•  French legislators were cited as passing a bill on genetically modified crops in mid-May, after blocking the same text by a single vote the week earlier in what has been an embarrassment for President Nicolas Sarkozy.  The bill, which will regulate the cultivation of GM crops in France, passed by 289 to 221.  At one point, clerks had to intervene to stop deputies coming to blows. Pro-technology members see the bill as too restrictive and opponents call it overly lax.  (Reuters, 5/20/08).