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The Top Stories of the Year in Agriculture, Food and Water

Events that used to be called “acts of God” – but that we now realize are increasingly driven by human activity – became the most important environmental news stories of 2012 in the opinion of...

Will cotton subsidies ignite new trade dispute?

If the crop insurance proposals in the 2013 farm bill, including STAX, are enacted and their costs are as high as some expect, the United States could be in serious jeopardy of violating WTO trade...

EWG’s Top Food and Ag Stories of 2013

EWG's editors asked the entire staff to pick the top agriculture-related stories of 2013, a category that includes the farm bill, farm subsidies, crop insurance, conservation, genetically engineered...

GE’s Chemical Treadmill Spawns Zombie Herbicide

Coming soon to a farm field near you: massive applications of a zombie herbicide linked to everything from Parkinson's disease to reproductive problems.

California Moves Closer to Passing Nation’s First Fire Retardant Labeling Law

Thanks to the hard work of many advocacy organizations, including EWG, that lack of transparency may change very soon. California will likely become the first state in the nation to pass legislation...

We Need Safe Cosmetics Reform Now!

We need safe cosmetics reform now! Mercury in mascara? Lead in lipstick? Scientific studies have shown that many common personal care products contain dangerous chemicals. EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics...

Top Ten Problems With Industry’s Chemical “Safety” Bill

The chemical “safety” bill that the industry's allies introduced in Congress is far worse than the current outdated and inadequate law. Here are 10 reasons why legislation hailed as “real progress” by...

California Makes it Law: Label Toxic Flame Retardants in Furniture

California scored a big win for human health and the environment today (Sept. 30) when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to require labeling on upholstered furniture to tell shoppers whether it contains...

Research

Mapping PFAS Chemical Contamination at 206 U.S. Military Sites

The Environmental Working Group has identified and mapped 206 military sites in the U.S. where drinking water or groundwater is contaminated with fluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS, at levels that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's health guideline. But this is only the tip of a toxic iceberg that is largely hidden and still growing.

GE Labeling Would Cost Peanuts, New Study Finds

A recently released study by the economic consulting firm ECONorthwest concludes that requiring genetically engineered food to be labeled would cost Americans a mere $2.30 per person per year.

Where’s the chicken?

If every American simply switched from beef to chicken, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 137 million metric tons of carbon — or as much as taking 26 million cars off the road. That's...

Colorado Court Allows Ballot Initiatives On Fracking

The Colorado Supreme Court has cleared the way for ballot initiatives that would permit municipalities to ban hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas.

Congress Moves Closer to Improving Sunscreens Available to Americans

Congress moved a step closer to improving the sunscreens available to American consumers this week (July 28) when the House of Representatives passed the Sunscreen Innovation Act.

Is fragile land near you disappearing?

With interactive maps from EWG's new report Going Going Gone!, you can find the “hot spots” where wetlands and other fragile lands are being torn up for crops and wildlife habitat is being destroyed.

Corn Growers: Stuck in the Sandbox

When there's trouble in the sandbox, kids are likely to point at each other and say, “He did it.” As we get older, most of us mature to the point where we're able to accept responsibility for the...

Huge Taxpayer Investment in Ethanol Yields Paltry Payoff

Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. taxpayers spent a whopping $17 billion to subsidize corn ethanol blends in gasoline. What did they get in return? A reduction in overall oil consumption equal to an...

Top 10 Reasons Why Congress Should Say NO to the Ethanol Tax Credit

Rumors are flying that the lame duck Congress will attach an extension of the so-called ethanol “blender's tax credit” to a bill to extend the Bush-era income tax cuts as part of a broader deal. Here...
Research

Nitrate Pollution of Drinking Water for More Than 20 Million Americans Is Getting Worse

In much of America's farm country, nitrate contamination of drinking water, largely caused by polluted runoff from crop fields, poses a serious health risk – and the problem is getting worse, according to an Environmental Working Group analysis of data from 10 states.

America’s Corn Boom is Running Dry

Corn is in the food we eat, the soda we drink, the gas we buy, plastics, cleaners – it's everywhere. Producing all that corn is a $1.7 trillion industry in the United States, and as a new report...

Research

U.S. drinking water infrastructure needs large federal investment

Congress may soon spend billions to upgrade our aging drinking water infrastructure, which would significantly improve the safety of our drinking water and create tens of thousands of jobs. The following EWG reports and maps detail the health threats posed by chemicals and contaminants in our water and the benefits of new investments.
Research

Poisoned Legacy

In 2005 the Environmental Protection Agency fined chemical giant DuPont a record $16.5 million over its decades-long cover-up of the health hazards of C8, also known as PFOA. One of a family of perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, PFOA was a key ingredient in making Teflon, the non-stick, waterproof, stain-resistant “miracle of modern chemistry” used in thousands of household products.

Let's Talk Turkey: How to Decode Labels to Choose a Better Thanksgiving Bird

Confused by the labels on turkeys? EWG helps you sort out the facts with a new label decoder.

Double Dipping: How Taxpayers Subsidize Farmers Twice for Crop Losses

Between 2014 and 2015, three federal farm subsidy programs paid farmers multiple times for the same loss in crop yield or decline in crop price.

Five Myths about Asbestos in Schools

Your kids spend most of the day at school, and you may be surprised at what they could be breathing in their classrooms, cafeterias, hallways and gymnasiums: deadly asbestos fibers.