By Andrea Germanos A new congressional report released Wednesday revealing the baby food industry has failed to keep products with heavy metals off the shelves spurred calls for federal authorities to enact swift action and tough limits on toxin levels. “This is what happens when…
By Andrea Germanos Despite lower applied amounts of pesticides in U.S. agriculture, their toxicity to non-target species including honeybees more than doubled in a decade, according to a new study. The findings by a team of researchers from Germany’s University Koblenz-Landau were published Friday in…
By Andrea Germanos Global environmental justice campaigners heralded a Dutch court’s ruling Friday that Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary must pay punitive restitution to Nigerian villages for oil spill contamination that brought death, illness, and destruction to Nigerian farmers and communities. “After 13 years, justice!”…
By Andrea Germanos The German government announced Wednesday it had agreed on a plan to phase out the use of glyphosate—the key chemical in the weedkiller Roundup—with a total ban set to begin by the end of 2023. “Way to go, Germany!” tweeted the U.S.-based…
By Andrea Germanos Conservation groups were up in arms Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to strip federal protections from gray wolves. “This disgusting proposal would be a death sentence for gray wolves across the country,” said Collette Adkins, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological…
By Andrea Germanos Critics pounce on new GMO labeling rule calling it a “disaster.” “It is obvious that this rule is intended to hide, not disclose, information about genetically modified foods.” Food safety advocates are expressing sharp disappointment with the final federal GMO labeling rule, released Thursday by…
By Andrea Germanos “Consolidation has now reached a point where the top four firms in almost every sector of the food and agriculture economy have acquired abusive levels of market power,” said Sen. Cory Booker, who introduced the legislation Reviving an effort made nearly 20 years ago by…
By Andrea Germanos “The images are just as insulting to consumers as the law, which the chemical and junk food industry lobbyists spent $400 million to pass.” –Katherine Paul, Organic Consumers Association The public comment period is now open on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s just unveiled proposal for…
By Andrea Germanos The industry-crafted law was “in large part, targeted at speech and investigative journalists,” appeals court found. A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down key provisions of Idaho’s ag-gag law—which criminalizes those who secretly document abuse of animals at agricultural facilities—saying they violate…
By Andrea Germanos The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head, Scott Pruitt, sparked outrage in March when he rejected his agency’s proposed ban on a pesticide shown to harm children’s brains. New reporting by the Associated Press Wednesday prompts further question about his decisions…
By Andrea Germanos ‘This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it’ The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday published two bee-related announcements, but with both, say environmental groups, the agency has failed the pollinators. One…
By Andrea Germanos Victory for Monroe County, Penn. community comes on heels of another loss of bottled water giant in Ore. After facing community resistance, bottled beverage giant Nestlé Waters North America this week ditched its plans to extract water from a Monroe County, Penn. spring….
By Andrea Germanos A new plan for tackling the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes, or so-called superbugs, addresses the unnecessary use of antibiotics and includes a call on Big Pharma to “play or pay” to help bring successful treatments to the market. The report, commissioned by…
By Andrea Germanos The Republican-controlled U.S. House on Tuesday passed legislation—newly rebranded with the word “Zika” in it—that Democrats say is in fact not at all about the addressing the threat of the virus but making it easier for pesticides to contaminate the nation’s waterways….
