Numerous studies in recent months have tied agricultural pesticides to reproductive and other serious health problems. And a new study out of Argentina adds even more evidence to the fact that such chemicals are a widespread public health pandemic.

Andres Carrasco, head of the molecular Embryology Lab at the University of Buenos Aires, recently presented a report explaining that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, is responsible for causing birth defects, infertility, sperm destruction, and cancer.

For the study, Carrasco and his team tested the effects of glyphosate on animal embryos and found that the chemical alters and impairs proper embryonic development. The paper also explains that "glyphosate itself was responsible" for causing the birth defects, and that the results of the study suggest similar outcomes for humans as well.

"I didn't discover anything new," said Carrasco in an interview with GMWatch.org. "I just confirmed what other scientists discovered. In spite of the evidence, they tried to run down 30 years of my reputation as a scientist ... They know they can't cover up the sun with one hand. There is scientific proof and, above all, there are hundreds of affected towns [that] are a living evidence of this public health emergency."

Besides glyphosate, the whole slew of other toxic chemicals applied to conventional and genetically-modified (GM) crops are also a severe threat to human health. A report published in the magazine Scientific American back in February explains that the vast majority of pesticides are endocrine disruptors. The chemicals affect male hormones in particular, blocking or mimicking them, and ultimately leading to all sorts of very severe health problems.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to unveil a new plan for solving the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict or risk having the U.S. and international community move ahead with a strategy of their own.

Israel won some breathing space with the postponement last week of a meeting of international powers in Berlin, but American and European diplomats are continuing to prod Netanyahu to lay out his vision for restarting peace talks and ending the occupation of the West Bank. If he does not, diplomats warned, the so-called Mideast quartet - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - may attempt to jump-start the process by formally endorsing, for the first time, the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Netanyahu's government has vehemently opposed such a move.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled last week that international patience over the stalled peace process was growing thin and that the recent Arab world unrest made a resolution of the conflict more pressing. She promised "active American leadership" and a reinvigorated U.S. approach that would be announced in coming weeks.

Last month, Israeli government aides floated the idea of an interim peace plan with temporary borders, but the Palestinians rejected it. Now Netanyahu is considering handing the Palestinian Authority more control over certain areas in the West Bank or calling for an international conference aimed at restarting talks.

In a speech to European Union envoys last week, Netanyahu offered no clues. "I have not decided what to say, and when to say it," the prime minister reportedly told the group. On Thursday, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone, saying he would not succumb to outside pressure. "We will stand firm against anyone who attempts to dictate conditions to us that will leave us without security and without peace."

President Obama has said he wants to welcome a Palestinian state into the U.N. in September. Not coincidentally, that's also when the Palestinians are promising to take their statehood bid to the U.N. General Assembly, which most predict will approve it.

"I don't see in the current government a political plan for moving forward," said lawmaker Shaul Mofaz of the opposition Kadima party. Yet, he added, "a do-nothing policy is very dangerous for the future of Israel."