Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Mary Anne Hitt In 1982, complying with a federal court order stemming from a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), finally issued regulations governing toxic pollution discharges under the 1972 Clean Water Act. Industry polluters had used political clout to delay those regulations for a decade. But […]
Michele Simon Last month, I participated in an important panel at a childhood obesity conference to discuss the current strategy backed by some advocacy groups: asking industry to market “healthier” foods to children. But as Susan Linn and I recently argued, any marketing to children is harmful, regardless of the product’s nutritional content. Instead of […]
EcoWatch A letter addressed to members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. was delivered today by a broad coalition of farm, community and consumer organizations, urging the members to recommend that the Obama Administration reject the proposed Shuanghui International Holdings, Ltd. acquisition of Smithfield Foods. The significant risks of a Shuanghui takeover […]
Beyond Pesticides The Chinese government has just announced its work plan to manage and clean up contaminated groundwater in North China Plains, a region where many are completely dependent on groundwater for drinking water. A polluted river in Shaangxi province in China. Photo Credit: Adam Cohn (Flickr CC). Eighteen percent of water use in China […]
Mint Press News By Trisha Marczak A company with a history of failing to report hazardous material spills is set to expand its Central Valley, CA, toxic waste dump, to the dismay of low-income communities already plagued with concern over proximity to the operation. Photo credit: clui.org A draft permit for the expansion of Chemical […]
DeSmog Canada By Elizabeth Hand Early scientific analysis predicted that the risks associated with hazardous waste injection wells would be negligible. Unfortunately, experience has indicated that disposing of hazardous waste deep underground has been linked to water contamination, destroyed ecosystems, toxic leaks and earthquakes. Now we are learning that there is a difference between scientific […]
Michael Leonardi July 1 marks Canada Day when many Canadians celebrate the unification of three colonies into their country on the same date in 1867. In Ontario, droves of people head off to their summer cottages and vacation get-a-ways on the shores of the Great Lakes for the holiday weekend. Lake Huron’s sandy beaches and […]
Amy Mathews Amos I did something on vacation this spring that I normally never do: I sent my clothes to the laundry. Usually I pride myself on packing so wisely that I can last a week out of a carry-on bag, and I’m typically not staying in a place swanky enough to actually “do” laundry. […]
Sierra Club Greenpeace By Justin Guay and Lauri Myllyvirta Increasing coal burning in Europe caused 2,000 additional premature deaths, with exports from the U.S. accounting for two thirds of that increase. Coal-fired power plants are silent killers. Hour after hour, these plants fill the air with toxic pollutants, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium and tiny […]