Pesticide

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer will discard the name Monsanto when it takes over the controversial U.S. seeds and pesticides producer this week, the group said on June 4.

The Bulgarian Embassy is among the 13 which have received letters with white powder. According to local sources, the substance is an insect venom, including the pesticide fipronil used in agriculture and veterinary medicine.

Such letters were sent to the Embassies of US, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, France, Romania, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, etc.

Traces of toxic pesticides for bees have been found in 75 % of the honey produced around the world, according to research findings cited by Associated Press and the France press.

Greece’s Ministry of Rural Development and Food announced on Friday (4 August) that the customs office seized more than 700 kilos of illegal pesticides originating from Turkey.

As we’ve written before, the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis mellifera population that one bad winter could leave fields fallow.

PLANTS THAT GROW WITHOUT THE SUN?

In an old 69,000 square-foot factory in Newark, New Jersey, leafy greens and herbs are being grown with absolutely zero soil, pesticides, or sunlight. And it uses only 5% of the water that is used in conventional outdoor farms.

Twenty-five percent of the vegetables and fruits we eat contain pesticides ? in other words, chemical residue, at a level much higher than acceptable, Akdeniz University has said. In a study the university has been conducting for three years, it was found that the rate of contaminated vegetables and fruit were increasing every year.

Sofia Zoo will reopen for visitors on Friday, said the Sofia Municipality press office. 

The test results of the herbivorous animals who died mysteriously in the end of last week and earlier this week, showed that they were poisoned by pesticides in the fodder. 

The poisoned fodder has been replaced and the herbivorous animals are under constant observation.

Another of Turkey’s best preserved natural areas is at increasing ecological risk, as the largest lake in the Aegean region, the Bafa Lake, has turned green and started to release toxic foam, with experts sounding the alarm bells.

BELGRADE - The floods that have hit Serbia have a devastating effect on the environment, but major environmental accidents in the form of industrial pollution have been avoided, Environmental Protection Agency Director Filip Radovic said on Wednesday.