Summer tends to make me happy. I love taking a swim, enjoying baseball, and not putting on socks for four months. But if there is one point about summer that bugs me, it’s … definitely, bugs. Not only are mosquito bites itchy as well as painful, they are also hazardous. Going outside, particularly to a wooded place, without any insect repellent is not an option. But insect repellents, as you can see, are not eco-friendly nor particularly healthy for you. Many are created using DEET, which is highly effective in warding off pesky pests but not something you would like swimming around inside your bloodstream, which is exactly where it ends up after you spray it on your skin. Thankfully, for those who wish to safeguard their health by avoiding both bug bites and chemical-based insect repellents, there are all kinds of do-it-yourself formulas for natural bug repellents.

When the particular weed killer Roundup was launched in the 1970s, it proved it could eliminate almost any plant while still being safer than a number of other herbicides, plus it allowed farmers to quit harsher chemicals and reduce tilling that can promote erosion The situation is the worst in the South, in which a number of farmers now walk fields using hoes, killing weeds in a way their great-grandfathers were very happy leave behind.

St. Louis-based Monsanto maintains the resistance is frequently overstated, noting that a lot of weeds present no indication of defense. “We think that glyphosate will continue to be an important tool inside the farmers’ arsenal,” Monsanto spokesperson John Combest stated. The corporation has started paying cotton farmers $12 an acre to cover the price of other herbicides to work with along with Roundup to enhance its usefulness. The trend has confirmed some food safety groups’ notion that biotechnology won’t lessen the use of chemicals over time.