Category Archives: agriculture

Pesticide Residue Found on Nearly Half of All Produce Sold in Canada

Posted on January 12, 2014 by caitlin

Canada’s CBC News recently requested data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) under federal Access to Information Act, similar to the U.S.’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). According to the data, almost half of the fruits and vegetables sold … Continue reading →

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Losing “The Good Earth”

Posted on January 1, 2014 by tbach

China’s government acknowledged this week that 8 million acres of its farmland – a land mass about the size of Belgium — is too polluted for growing food.    In 2013, dangerous levels of cadmium were detected in rice grown in Henan, a … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, agriculture and human health, air pollution, cadmium, carcinogens, China, environmental health, environmental health law, food contamination, lead, pesticides, pollution control standards, synthetic chemicals | Comments Off on Losing “The Good Earth”

New FDA guidance on antibiotic (antimicrobial) use in cows, pigs, and chickens

Posted on December 12, 2013 by tbach

Human antibiotic resistance has been on the radar for several years, but did you know that antibiotic-resistant infections kill 23,000 people in the U.S. and make another 2 million sick each year?  Some of this resistance has come from medical … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, agriculture and human health, animal welfare, antibiotics in livestock, antimicrobials, environmental health, FDA, food contamination, Food processing industry, public health, public health law | Tagged | Comments Off on New FDA guidance on antibiotic (antimicrobial) use in cows, pigs, and chickens

New reports from IoM on Agent Orange and Biofuels

Posted on December 11, 2013 by tbach

As I’ve written before, the Institute of Medicine produces plentiful publications connecting the environment to human health. Two new reports that came out at the end of 2013 are cases in point, one providing limited new data in an ongoing debate … Continue reading →

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NPR Story on the Difference of Opinion on FDA’s Proposed Rule on Raw Manure

Posted on November 29, 2013 by caitlin

A recent NPR story discussed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s proposed rule on raw manure, highlighting the difference of opinion on the subject between FDA and organic farmers. Many organic farmers rely on manure to fertilize their farms … Continue reading →

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The New Water Atlas

Posted on November 17, 2013 by caitlin

The original California Water Atlas, a book addressing the state’s water crisis, was published in 1979. The book used maps and graphics to provide information about water supply, management, history, and governance. Almost 35 years later, computer specialists, designers, and … Continue reading →

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High Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes

Posted on April 22, 2013 by KarenLee

A shocking health article on corn syrup and the adverse health consequences from consuming too much of it was reported by The Guardian on June 11, 2012.The article, ‘Why food is making us fat,’ pointed out that we are way … Continue reading →

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Meat with a side of Drug Resistant Bacteria

Posted on April 19, 2013 by msinnott

Last month, the FDA released the 10th National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System Retail Meat Annual Report. The results showed, among other things, that 81% of ground turkey, 69% of pork chops, 55% of ground beef, and 39% of chicken sold … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, agriculture and human health, animal welfare, CAFO's, environmental health, environmental health law, food contamination, public health, public health law, Vegetarian/Vegan | Comments Off on Meat with a side of Drug Resistant Bacteria

THE INLAND WATERS RULE: Can Numeric Water Quality Criteria Save Lake Erie?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by mkyle

In the 1960s, pollution in Lake Erie was so extensive that the lake was frequently declared “dead” in the media. In his original 1971 edition of The Lorax, Dr. Seuss referred to the lake’s degraded condition in describing the poor Humming-Fish and their … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, algal blooms, Clean Water Act, dead zones, environmental cleanup, environmental health, environmental law, EPA, Great Lakes, nonpoint source pollution, water quality standards | Comments Off on THE INLAND WATERS RULE: Can Numeric Water Quality Criteria Save Lake Erie?

Dead in the Water

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Alex English

Thanks to laws such as the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, tremendous progress has occurred in the past forty years: the Cuyahoga River no longer catches fire, Boston Harbor is generally free of fecal matter, and municipal water … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, agriculture and human health, algal blooms, Clean Water Act, climate change and health, cyanobacteria, dead zones, drinking water, environmental health, NIH, nonpoint source pollution, phosphorus, public health, routes of exposure, Safe Drinking Water Act, vulnerable populations, water quality standards | Comments Off on Dead in the Water