The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "pesticides" ...
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Bee Aware
An investigation in the decline of honey bees in recent years due to the use of a pesticide that the EPA has neglected to fully examine and put restrictions on.
Tags: honey bee; pesticide; EPA; neonicotinoids; ccd; colony collapse disorder;
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Children of Bhopal
In 1984, the Union Carbide pesticides factory in Bhopal, India leaked 40 tons of the highly poisonous gas, methyl isocyanate. Fifteen thousand people died, and those who survived have "endured horrific health problems over the past 26 years." Because the factory was never cleaned up, residents (including children) who still live in the impoverished area are subjected to the poison daily.
Tags: India; pesticide; Dow Chemical; cricket; Union Carbide
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Poisoned
“Africa’s lions are in trouble” and the reason why was because they are being poisoned. The lions are found outside protected game reserves, where they mingle with cattle. The lions kill the cattle and eat them; the cattle are a large percent of revenue for the population and puts food on the table. As a solution, cattle herders have begun using pesticides to kill the lions and protect their cattle.
Tags: Kenya; meat; market; Furadan; animals; protection; rights; wildlife; conservationists; creature
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World's Untold Stories: 25 Years After Midnight
25 years ago a documentary series traveled to Bhopal, a city which suffered the world’s worst industrial disaster that same day. This series focuses on Bhopal and what has changed and what hasn’t. Also, it looks at the lives of the survivors and many of them have given up their lives to speak out about the disaster. “Their experiences tell a story of survival, determination and hope-as they work to help the victims, and ensure that the world never forgets what happened there”.
Tags: India; chemicals; Union Carbide plant; pesticide; rights group; residents; town; environment; safety; medical; money; assistance
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Perils of the New Pesticides
An analysis of EPA data by the Center of Public Integrity shows that the number of reported human health problems, including severe reactions, attributed to pyrethrins and pyrethroids increased by about 300 percent over the past decade. These pesticides are marketed as the safe alternative to older pesticides, but researchers, epidemiologists, and doctors are starting to question the safety of these products. The investigation also found that the EPA received 25,000 reports of pet pesticide reactions of every sort -- fatal, major, moderate and minor -- to over-the-counter pyrethroid spot on products.
Tags: Environmental Protection Agency; pesticide; environmental health and safety; pyrethrins; pyrethroids; human reaction to pesticide; pet reaction to pesticide
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The Price of Research
Doing a broader take on the "frog story", the Chronicle investigates the story of corporate influence in conflict with the values of scientific integrity and independent academic research. The "frog story" goes thus : After being hired by a pesticide manufacturer to study the effect of atrazine on frogs, Tyron Hayes - a Univ. of California professor- began to suspect that the company was trying to suppress his findings because they might threaten the re-approval of the product by the Environmental Protection Agency. After Mr. Hayes broke with his research sponsor, Syngenta, other academic scientists who continued to work for the company attacked his work. Allies of the company from the agriculture industry and critics of the environmental regulation also moved to discredit him.
Tags: herbicide
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Clouds of Doubt: Questions about enforcement of Minnesota pesticide laws
This report examined human exposure to pesticides applied by licensed applicators and how those violations of law are investigated by the state Department of Agriculture. The report documented cases where the state agency ignored violations of state and federal law. In other cases violators were simply notified of the violation by the Agriculture Department; no penalties were assessed.
Tags: pesticides; agriculture; radio; broadcast; tape; CD
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Good Intentions, Bad Results
CBS 60 Minutes reports on "the adverse effects of Plan Colombia, the U.S. government's $1.3 billion aid package" intended to stem cocaine trade by fumigating coca fields in Colombia. The story reveals that after the fumigations farmers in Colombia experienced symptoms similar to ones from pesticide poisoning; the sprayed chemicals had not been tested and were a hundred times stronger than the U.S.-approved version; the fumigations killed not only coca plants but also legitimate crops and livestock.
Tags: health; safety; drugs; fever; rashes; EPA; Pesticide Action Network; Putumayo; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Workers unwittingly take home toxins
U.S.A. Today examines workplace hazards affecting people who have never set foot in the places that are poisoning them. "Employees endanger their loved ones when invisible but poisonous substances cling to their belongings," the investigation finds. The report is based on information from a database, which shows that employees in more than 35 states have unwittingly transported toxins away from work sites. Instances of known or possible take-home contamination have occurred in at least 40 industry, the story reveals, and in the past 20 years there have been more than 1,000 probable victims of exposure. The reporter points out that families remain at risk, because the health hazard is overlooked, undocumented and widely ignored.
Tags: employment; hazardous waste; mercury; cancer; lead; contamination; radioactive material; pesticides; public health: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); nuclear energy
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Risk vs. Risk
A Governing investigation finds that "when pollution crops up, governments overreact." Determined to clean up everything, public officials tend to spend more taxpayers money than necessary, the story reveals. Now a growing number of regulators look at the need to re-evaluate this approach by initiating changes in state laws and pollution standards. The methods of re-evaluation include cost-benefit analyses and comparative risk projects involving citizens. To illustrate the issue, the reporter points to the case of Columbus, Ohio, where local government may be forced by the Environmental Protection Agency to spend more than $1 billion in order to comply with national pollution control standards regarding drinking water. In fact, local health officials figured out that the amount of chemicals in the water is so minuscule that only one resident would die every 208 years from drinking Columbus' water.
Tags: atrazine; pesticides; water; farming; Congress; legislature; EPA; natural resources; conservation