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A Month After Trump Doubles Down on Atrazine, WHO Dubs It 'Probably Carcinogenic to Humans'
"It is outrageously irresponsible that we still allow use of this dangerous poison in the United States," said the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health science director.
Nov 21, 2025
Just a month after the Trump administration doubled down on the alleged safety of atrazine, a United Nations agency said on Friday that the pesticide—which is banned by dozens of countries but commonly used on corn, sugarcane, and sorghum in the United States—probably causes cancer.
"It is outrageously irresponsible that we still allow use of this dangerous poison in the United States," said Nathan Donley, the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health science director, in a Friday statement. "This finding is just the latest indictment of the industry-controlled US pesticide oversight process that is failing to protect people and wildlife from chemicals linked to numerous health harms."
Research into and alarm over atrazine have mounted since the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer initially concluded in 1999 that it was not classifiable as carcinogenic to humans. IACR has now announced new findings for atrazine and alachlor, another herbicide widely used on crops, as well as the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin.
Of the three, only atrazine was previously examined by IARC. From October 28 to November 4, a working group of 22 international experts from a dozen countries met in France to evaluate the carcinogenicity of pesticides. They classified vinclozolin as "possibly carcinogenic to humans, and both alachlor and atrazine as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
The latter two decisions were based on a combination of limited evidence for cancer in humans, sufficient evidence for cancer in animals, and strong mechanistic evidence in experimental systems. IARC said that "for atrazine, positive associations have been observed for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is positive for the chromosomal translocation t(14;18)."
A couple of weeks before that IARC meeting, the Trump administration sparked outrage with a US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) draft opinion claiming that atrazine does not pose an extinction risk to a single protected animal or plant.
That draft opinion came as President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were already under fire for the second Make America Healthy Again report. After the first MAHA publication noted concerns regarding pesticides, even naming atrazine, agribusiness lobbyists confronted the administration, and the following document ultimately featured pesticide industry talking points.
The second report's "only mention of pesticides is an Orwellian promise to ensure 'confidence in EPA's robust pesticide review procedures'—procedures courts have repeatedly found unlawful and that frontline communities know cannot be trusted," the Center for Food Safety said after its September release. "Instead, it says that it will speed up pesticide approval and it will 'partner' with the pesticide industry to 'educate' the public about the 'robust review' of EPA's regulation of pesticides to provide the public with 'confidence.'"
Then came the USFWS draft, which Center for Food Safety senior attorney Sylvia Wu said "makes clear that despite the rhetoric of MAHA, there will be no robust review of the dangers of pesticides by the Trump administration... Instead, a toxic poison like atrazine will continue to contaminate our lands and waters, making our children sick for decades to come."
Wu's group has long been critical of atrazine. During the first Trump administration, it was part of a coalition that sued over the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 2020 reapproval of the herbicide. So was the Center for Biological Diversity—which was also angered by the USFWS document, with Donley calling it "an absolute joke."
Donley took aim at the Trump administration again on Friday, after IACR announced its new classification for atrazine.
"Despite its rhetoric to the contrary, there is no better friend of atrazine than the Trump administration," he said. "Hiding behind the rhetoric of MAHA, EPA reapproval of a poison that's likely to keep Americans sick for generations is moving ahead full steam."
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86 Democrats Join GOP in Voting for 'Very, Very Stupid' Resolution Condemning Socialism
"House Minority Leader Jeffries voting with the GOP in favor of this resolution is showing his ultrawealthy donors exactly who he fights for," said one progressive leader. "It’s not the people."
Nov 21, 2025
Dozens of US House Democrats who joined the Republican Party on Friday in backing a resolution that denounced “socialism in all its forms" and opposed "the implementation of socialist policies in the United States" did so despite the fact that the GOP has used the term "socialism" liberally to describe a variety of social welfare programs—making the true meaning of the resolution open to interpretation.
"Socialism" is the word President Donald Trump has used for proposals to ensure the federal government provides healthcare to everyone in the US, and he's among the Republicans who have warned extending Medicare to all Americans would "bankrupt our nation"—despite studies showing that the system would save more than $600 billion per year, and that wealthy countries that ensure all citizens have health coverage have far better health outcomes than the US.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) called the Green New Deal, which would create 3.4 million new green jobs per year, a "socialist scheme."
During the Great Depression, Social Security—now credited with lifting more Americans out of poverty than any other US government program—was denounced by opponents of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "socialism," as was Medicare when it was introduced in 1965.
Republicans and their wealthy donors have warned that New York City's Democratic mayor-elect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, will wreak havoc on the city with his plans for fare-free buses and a network of city-owned grocery stores, with the president calling him a "100% Communist lunatic." Fare-free public transit already exists in about 100 thriving cities around the world, including a growing number in the US, and more than a million Americans already benefit from publicly owned grocery stores where prices are 25-30% lower than at private stores—which also continue to run.
Friday's resolution, introduced by Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), states its opposition to "socialist ideologues" including Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong Un as well as the "collectivistic system of socialism in all of its forms."
After the US House vote on Friday, former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner said that considering how "the GOP calls every social safety net measure 'socialism,' votes like this matter in a policy context."
They also say a lot, said Turner, about the Democratic leaders—like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.)—who voted for the resolution.
"House Minority Leader Jeffries voting with the GOP in favor of this resolution is showing his ultrawealthy donors exactly who he fights for," said Turner. "It’s not the people."
Jeffries waited until the final days of the New York City mayoral campaign to endorse Mamdani, despite the fact that the candidate had won Jeffries' district in the June primary and captured national attention for his relentless focus on making the city more affordable for New Yorkers.
Drop Site News was among those that noted the House voted as Mamdani was en route to Washington, DC to meet with Trump for the first time. The support for the resolution among top Democrats who have refused to embrace the popular young politician's meteoric rise was viewed by some as a statement regarding Mamdani's visit to the White House—during which Trump gave the mayor-elect a comparatively warm welcome.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said those who supported the "pointless" resolution "feel threatened by democratic socialists like myself who are unbought and willing to take on the billionaire class."
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) called the debate over socialism on the House floor "so very, very stupid."
"A bunch of people with taxpayer-funded salaries, doing a job that is impossible to outsource to the private sector, are condemning the evils of socialism," said Casten. "Either they are stupid, or that they think you are."
"We have a mixed economy," he added. "We benefit from free markets and competition in lots of sectors, and also have a judicial system, border security, national defense, economic security for seniors and those who can't work that is socially funded. That's a good thing! Condemning one half of that equation has no more logic—and is no more deserving of finite House floor time—than condemning defensive linemen because they never score touchdowns."
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67 Children Have Been Killed in Gaza Since 'Ceasefire' Began, as Israel Committed Hundreds of Violations
“This is during an agreed ceasefire," a UNICEF spokesperson said. "The pattern is staggering."
Nov 21, 2025
Eight children have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past two days. They are among 67 children who have been killed since last month's agreement for a "ceasefire" in Gaza was signed, according to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund.
“Yesterday morning, a baby girl was reportedly killed in Khan Younis by an airstrike, while the day before, seven children were killed in Gaza City and the south,” said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires on Friday.
The seven children were among dozens of Palestinians who were killed or injured by an Israeli quadcopter attack in Gaza City on Wednesday, according to Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“At around 11:00 am, we heard gunfire from quadcopters,” said Zaher, an MSF nurse working at a mobile clinic in Gaza City. “Shortly after, we received two casualties. The first was a woman with a leg injury. A little later, a 9-year-old girl arrived with an injury on her face caused by gunfire from the quadcopters.”
Last month, Israel signed an agreement with Hamas that required both parties to cease hostilities with one another. But since the deal went into effect on October 11, Israel has carried out attacks in Gaza on 35 of the last 42 days.
The Gaza Media Office alleges that Israel has committed nearly 400 ceasefire violations in just over a month—which have included airstrikes, shellings, and direct shootings of civilians, as well as frequent incursions by Israel past the agreed-upon yellow withdrawal lines. At least 312 Palestinians have been killed and 760 injured.
“This is during an agreed ceasefire," Pires emphasized to reporters. "The pattern is staggering,”
Shortly after Pires' announcement, Israel launched a new ground invasion across the yellow line on Friday afternoon, which has reportedly left another displaced person dead near Khan Younis and thousands more people in North Gaza neighborhoods fleeing for their lives.
After two years of genocidal warfare, over 20,000 Palestinian children are confirmed to have been killed, while another 3,000 to 4,000 have lost either one or both of their limbs.
“As we have repeated many times, these are not statistics: Each was a child with a family, a dream, a life–suddenly cut short by continued violence," Pires said.
Gaza's health infrastructure lies in disrepair following two years of relentless bombing, which left nearly all of its hospitals and clinics either partially or fully destroyed.
As another stipulation of the ceasefire deal, Israel was required to lift its blockade on humanitarian aid entering the strip, which had left the people of Gaza on the brink of starvation and unable to perform basic medical care.
But in retaliation for what Israel alleged was a failure by Hamas to return the remains of some hostages abducted by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, Israel cut off the largest port of entry for humanitarian aid, the Rafah Crossing, which remains closed.
After several weeks in which aid was nearly all choked off, the number of trucks entering the strip has increased in recent days. But according to the World Food Program (WFP), hundreds of thousands of people still remain in dire need of food assistance, and the amount currently entering the strip is far too little.
Only about 30% of WFP's target food parcels have been allowed to be distributed, though it says that it has been able to move that number upward more quickly in recent days.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the WFP, said that while this is “a step in the right direction... a lot of these food supplies stay in border crossing points for long days and therefore you know the possibility of them going bad is high.”
Pires said that as winter approaches, hundreds of thousands of children are “sleeping in the open” and “trembling in fear while living in flooded, makeshift shelters."
“For hundreds of thousands of children living in tents over the rubble of their former homes, the new [winter] season is a threat multiplier," he said. "Children are shivering through the night with no heating, no insulation, and too few blankets.”
As Gaza's medical system lies in ruin, UNICEF says over 4,000 children urgently need to be evacuated from the strip. But even after the ceasefire deal, Palestinian journalist Eman Abu Zayed reports in Truthout that securing medical referrals from the Israeli government and traveling for treatment outside the strip is a "near-impossible task."
“Gaza's doctors tell us of children they know how to save but cannot,” said Pires. He said they were children "with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and children with cancer who have lost months of treatment. Premature babies who need intensive care. Children who need surgeries that simply cannot be done inside Gaza today.”
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