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Concerned about developing babies, EPA warns about danger of weed killer used on farms, golf courses
By Johnathan Hettinger
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday took the rare step of issuing a warning about “serious, permanent, and irreversible health risks” associated with a chemical used to kill weeds on farms and golf courses and athletic fields.
Mexico delays planned April 1 glyphosate ban
By Carey Gillam and Johnathan Hettinger
After standing firm for more than three years on plans to enact a ban on the weed killer glyphosate starting today, Mexican officials said they were delaying the ban.
Toxic vinyl chloride accidents happen once every five days, report finds
By Dana Drugmand
Accidental releases of toxic vinyl chloride have occurred in the United States once every five days, on average, since 2010, according to a new report that highlights the extent to which communities and chemical plant workers are exposed to the known carcinogen.
When measuring a farm’s carbon footprint – Britain has the right answer
By Dean Dickel
The key to achieving climate mitigation in agriculture depends on an accurate measure of carbon sequestration and emissions of major greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.
US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers
By Shannon Kelleher
A US appeals court has vacated an action by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordering a company to stop producing plastic containers that leach toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into pesticides, household cleaners, condiments, and many other products.
Postcard from California: The global plastics crisis is a threat to human health
By Bill Walker
Last April, an annual assessment of the clarity of Lake Tahoe found it was the clearest it had been since the 1980s. But just months later, scientists reported that the iconic alpine lake straddling the California-Nevada border had alarming levels of a nearly invisible form of pollution: microplastics.
‘We are defending your products:’ Emails reveal coordination between US government, industry in foreign trade disputes
By Johnathan Hettinger and Carey Gillam
Against the backdrop of a fierce battle between the United States and Mexico over the safety of certain farming products, newly obtained government communications provide fresh evidence of how powerful corporate interests often drive US officials to meddle in foreign affairs.
Warnings of a “wave of lawsuits” as PFAS exemption debated
By Shannon Kelleher
Representatives of US water and waste systems told US lawmakers this week that hundreds of such operations across the nation could face unintended and overwhelming liabilities unless they are exempted from a proposal that would designate two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances.
Citing “catastrophic disaster”, small Massachusetts town sues over PCB contamination
By Dana Drugmand
Monsanto and General Electric (GE) engaged in a “criminal corporate action” through a secret 1972 deal that allowed the companies to keep profiting from the sale and use of dangerous PCBs despite knowing the toxins were harmful, according to a lawsuit filed by a small Massachusetts town awash in PCB contamination.
New book details rise of “dystopian agricultural horror show”
By Sara June Jo-Saebo
Few books about America’s industrial agriculture system and food industry uncover the billionaires behind its biggest corporations. But a new book by Austin Frerick, a former tax economist at the US Treasury Department and current Fellow at Yale University’s Thurman Arnold Project, reveals the amassed fortunes of Big Ag’s most powerful families. Barons: Money, Power, and Corruption of America’s Food Industry exposes these ill-gotten gains and a cadre of complicit government players who made it all possible.