“An environmental group with clout.” -USA Today
“A green dream team of computer programmers, policy experts and engineers.” -Associated Press
“An environmental advocacy organization that has a knack for shaping government data into punchy calculations.” -Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“The Environmental Working Group has become a respected watchdog of environmental and land-use policies since its founding in 1993.” -The Hill
Farm Subsidies
Sunscreens
Mining
BPA
Farm Subsidies
"According to the subsidy data from the Environmental Working Group, one giant cotton farm collected $2.95 million through crop subsidies in 2005, nearly as much money as the federal government spent on its primary research program for organic agriculture last year—$3 million."
— Marian Burros
New York Times
July 4, 2007
"California rice and cotton farmers pulled in $5.9 billion in subsidies between 1995 and 2005 – but that put it behind nine other states, according to a searchable database published by the Washington and Oakland-based Environmental Working Group, a key player in farm bill reform. Only 9 percent of California’s farmers get any subsidy at all."
— Carol Ness
San Francisco Chronicle
July 10, 2007
"Thanks to the Environmental Working Group, we know exactly how much money every subsidized farmer is getting in every county. The group's database shows that just 1 percent of all farmers receive about 17 percent of the payments—averaging $377,484 per person, over three years."
— "Red State Welfare"
Timothy Egan
New York Times
June 28, 2007
“EWG, which has made a name for itself as a public-interest group advocating environmental causes, has done it again. It has drilled through the U.S. Department of Agriculture data to identify each individual who receives farm payments and exactly how much the checks are written for.”
— "Database follows subsidy trail" Scott A. Yates
Capital Press
June 15, 2007
“Advocacy organizations like the Environmental Working Group have made Americans more aware of farm-bill spending, specifically how much goes toward commodity payments.”
— "Debate on farm bill still rages in different era"
Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
June 11, 2007
“Perhaps the most influential member of the alliance is the Environmental Working Group, which maintains a computerized database of farm subsidies by name of farm, type of crop, even congressional district. The data help foment discord amoung farmers by detailing who gets subsidies and who doesn’t.”
— "Fat days may be over for farm subsides"
Richard Wolf
USA Today
June 8, 2006
“Every subsidy payment in the county can be found on a Web site put together by the Environmental Working Group, which advocates an overhaul of the farm payment system. The site has become a must-read for farmers…”
— The New York Times January 4, 2005
“Environmental Working Group’s internet database was influential in the debate over the 2002 Farm Bill and almost certainly has increased support in Congress for tightening limits on subsidies to large farms. The database has been searched 35 million times since November.”
— Des Moines Register
October 9, 2005
“Throughout the angry Senate debate about whether to limit subsidies to wealthy farmers, lawmakers kept referring to “the web site.” No one had to ask “what web site?” – it was www.ewg.org, operated by the Environmental Working Group, a small nonprofit with the simple idea that taxpayers who underwrite $20 billion in farm subsidies have the right to know who gets the money.”
— New York Times
February 2002
Sunscreens
"The sunscreen industry cringes when EWG releases its yearly report -- this is its fourth."
— AOL News, May 24, 2010
"We don't need to have sunscreens that end up in the blood of a kid," says Richard Wiles, co-founder of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based nonprofit. EWG's researchers say some sunscreens are better than others; the group operates a database of cosmetic products vetted for potential health hazards ( http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com). For its sunscreen section, updated each June, the organization subjects thousands of products to lab tests for effectiveness and combines the results with safety assessments of each ingredient."
— "The Dark Side of Sunscreens"
The Washington Post
June 28, 2008
"After the Environmental Working Group put out its list of best and worst sunscreens, many loyal sunscreen users began to worry. Many of the top-selling brands don’t make the best list, and the group claims four out of five sunscreens it reviewed aren’t effective."
— "Questions About Sunscreen Safety"
The New York Times
July 21, 2008
— "Why Suncreen May Not Completely Protect You From Skin Cancer"
Fox News.com
July 9, 2008
“Just in time for beach season, the Environmental Working Group released their research study on sunscreen safety, and found some marketing claims to be misleading and outright wrong.”
— "Sunscreen Safety & Effectiveness"
ABC 7 NY
June 19, 2007
"The sunscreen screening site, put together by the Environmental Working Group, gives detailed information about all the products and groups them by the types of harmful rays they're meant to protect against. The EWG has cautioned the public in the past about health concerns involving certain cosmetics and seafood. It unveiled the sunscreens site on Early Show Tuesday.”
— "New Web Site Rates Hundreds Of Sunscreens" CBSnews.com
June 19, 2007
“But Dr. David M. Pariser, the president-elect of the American Academy of Dermatology, said that without a standardized UVA rating system, consumers can’t be sure how much a sunscreen provides….
Until then, Dr. Pariser said to choose sunscreens that contain ingredients known to filter UVA…..He also recommended a database…..created by the Environmental Working Group that lists products with UVA protection.”
— "Do Sunscreens Have You Covered?"
Natasha Singer
New York Times
July 5, 2007
“Ever wondered what the difference was between the myriad varieties of sunblock on the market? There's more to it than simple SPF factors. More chemicals than you can shake a stick at, some unregulated, abound in the many brands and varieties. To make sense of it all you need a massive database and a lot of research. Fortunately, the folks over at Cosmetics Safety Database have not only done that work, but they've ranked them in terms of safety and effectiveness. The bottom line is that, according to their work, some sunblock may be worse for you than doing nothing at all, and a handful of brands truly live up to their claims while being non-toxic at the same time.”
— "Summer Knowledge: What's in That Sunscreen?"
Nick Aster
Triplepundit.com
june 25, 2007
Mining
“But the scars of open-pit mining are visible in many places on the Environmental Working Group’s Web site, which combined its new data with the Google’s mapping software.”
— "Uranium Is a Hot Commodity, and Claims Have Soared"
Felicity Barringer
New York Times
December 14, 2006
“Environmental groups, looking to the database of mining claims created by their colleagues at the Environmental Working Group, say private owners could gain title to 5.7 million acres of federal forests, rocky promontories and grasslands.”
— The New York Times
November 20, 2005
BPA
"Sciences International's federal contract creates a blatant conflict of interest, and the EWG is not going to take it sitting down. Deep bow of appreciation to EWG”
— "EWG Going to Task for Us Again"
Localforage.com
March 13, 2007
“Many of the revelations about SI’s industry connections and its potential for conflicts of interest come courtesy of Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public watchdog and nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.”
— "NIH Sacks Contractor Due to Conflict of Interest"
News Inferno
April 17, 2007
Staff
Organics
"I was reading today in The Times that organic food prices are rising. It reminded me of a really helpful list from the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, about how to be a strategic shopper when buying organic fruits and vegetables.... ...The Environmental Working Group tested dozens of fruits and vegetables to determine which foods are the worst offenders in terms of pesticide exposure. Some fruits and vegetables grown with conventional farming methods simply don’t absorb the pesticides. Some examples of vegetables and fruits with very low pesticide residues are onions, mangoes, asparagus, broccoli and eggplant. So whether you pick them up from the regular produce section or the organic aisle, your pesticide exposure is going to be low."
— "Strategic Spending on Organic Foods"
The New York Times
April 18, 2008