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The Unintended Environmental Impacts of the Renewable Fuels Standard
U.S. farmers are planting fence-row-to-fence-row to produce enough corn to supply ethanol plants and at the same time meet burgeoning demand for food and feed crops. The intensification of corn...
Bonus Subsidy
A new EWG analysis identifies more than 1.2 million prospective recipients of a proposed $1.5 billion crop subsidy bonus contained in HR 4939, The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense...
After Two Decades of Agricultural Disaster Aid A Chronic Dependency Takes Root
This year millions of dollars of emergency agricultural disaster aid will go to the very same farmers and ranchers who have collected it every other year, or more frequently, for decades.
Cotton and Accountability
What if the United States does not comply with the WTO's broad rulings and fails to reform its multi-billion dollar cotton subsidy programs to Brazil's satisfaction? What retaliatory trade measures...
Nitrate Contamination of Drinking Water
An Environmental Working Group review of nearly 200,000 water sampling records found that over two million people -- including approximately 15,000 infants under the age of four months -- drank water...
Taking From the Taxpayers
The Bush administration is paying some of the biggest and richest agribusinesses in America $17 million for cutbacks in their taxpayer-subsidized water supply. But an EWG investigation found that...
Soaking Uncle Sam
Courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, a few hundred California farms in Fresno and Kings counties annually get enough water to supply every household in Los Angeles, at pennies on the dollar of the price paid...
Senators Push for Action on Disease Clusters Bill
Two years ago, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced the Strengthening Protections for Children and...
Do you filter your tapwater? Should you?
When people ask what kind of water filter to use for their tapwater, we reply, "It depends on what contaminants are present in your tap water, since different filters are effective at removing...
Agriculture and Carbon: "The More We Mimic Mother Nature the Better"
Veteran reporter Dan Morgan has taken a hard, clear-eyed look at carbon markets for agriculture and the validity of various conservation practices aimed at fighting climate change (h/t farmpolicy.com)...
If You Follow the Science, It's Senseless to Boost the Corn Ethanol Blend
Last week saw the launch of a new web property by a coalition of environmental and business groups who take a dim view of plans to raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15%. The site, Follow the...
New Study Warns Pregnant Women Millions Drink Contaminated Water
Women's Health Weekly Published January 31, 2002 Millions of Americans have been drinking tap water contaminated with chemical chlorine byproducts that are far more than what studies suggest may be...
EPA may allow 'Brockovich' carcinogen in wood preservative
On January 19, EPA will decide whether to allow unrestricted use of a potent human carcinogen in lumber sold at hardware and home improvement stores. Hexavalent chromium–the "Erin Brockovich" chemical...
NY Times: Less is more when it comes to skin care
The New York Times' most emailed article of the day reports on the absurd marketing claims for cosmetic skin creams and the high prices the products demand. A Manhattan dermatologist recommends...
EPA backs off -- halfway -- on plan to gut toxics reporting
EPA administrator Stephen Johnson has announced that the administration is dropping its plan to excuse companies from annual reporting of their toxic chemical releases. At face value this is a step in...
U.K. Environment Agency names top 100 eco-heroes
The Environment Agency (UK) has published its Top 100 eco-heroes as voted by their peers ("peers" is code for "the staff of The Environment Agency"). Many of the obvious trailblazers have made the...
OSHA tries to put the brakes on asbestos precautions
OSHA scientist Ira Wainless is facing unpaid suspension for standing by his assertion that mechanics should be warned of possible asbestos exposure from brake pads. Most people, including mechanics...
Climate change a hot topic in the pulpit
There is so much which can and must be accomplished when we know what is happening to our environment, and its direct impact on each of our lives. No one person, group or organization can bring about...
Measuring your disease risk
A new website by Harvard School of Public Health lets visitors tally their risk for several types of cancer, as well as heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and stroke. Users input their age and...
It’s Time for a Mandatory National Registry of Fracking Chemicals
If oil and gas companies were injecting potentially toxic fluids into the ground near your home or your children's schoolyard, wouldn't you want to know about it?
Is Organic Really Better?
A new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that organic crops have higher concentrations of antioxidants, lower levels of cadmium and nitrates and fewer pesticide residues than...
Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Spew Methane, Study Finds
If you think the risks associated with fracking for oil and gas disappear once a well stops producing and goes out of commission, think again. And that goes for conventional drilling technologies, too...
Obama and Vilsack Push For Conservation Compliance
The Obama Administration is ramping up efforts to link crop insurance subsidies with conservation requirements.
Crop Insurance: A never-ending disaster
As the cost of crop insurance has ballooned – from less than $500 million a year in the 1990s to more than $14 billion in 2012[1] – the program's most ardent defenders keep repeating the same mantra...
