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Peru's Doe Run Smelter Poisoning Children
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Almost all young children in Peru's La Oroya mining town have harmful levels of lead in their blood and many are suffering from bronchitis and stunted growth because of toxic gases pumped out by the US-owned metals smelter there. Emissions from Peru's top smelter in the central Andes are also causing acid rain, polluting rivers
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with zinc & arsenic and creating "generations of sick people." full story
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California May Ban Bisphenol A
Found in Pacifiers, Toys and Baby Bottles
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Bisphenol A, the prime chemical in making the polycarbonate plastic popular in durable, clear Nalgene water bottles, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years from scientists who caution that it's found in thousands of consumer products and has invaded the. human body. If passed, California would be the first
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state to limit its use full story
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Cosmetics' Dangerous Wrinkle: Chemicals Already Banned in Europe Are Threat to Women
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Assemblywoman Judy Chu believes some shampoos, deodorants and other everyday cosmetics said two ingredients called phthalates can lead to cancer, infertility and birth defects. The European Union banned phthalates from cosmetics last year, and Chu, D-Monterey Park, wants to do the same in California.
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full story
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In Bid to Cut Mercury, US Lets Other Toxins Through
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Under the Clinton administration, the EPA added electric utilities to a critical list of industries considered to be major sources of hazardous air pollutants such as lead and arsenic. The new mercury rule "de-lists" utilities. But in the eyes of many, that original listing still constitutes a legal requirement for power plants to
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eventually control these toxic emissions full story
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Air Pollution Presents Health Challenge
for China's Children
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Some experts say 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China. Chinese officials say respiratory infection is the number 1 childhood disease. Barbara Howard spoke with experts and visited several pediatric hospital wards in Beijing, and found parents and doctors resigned to the health problems children suffer because
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of bad air. full story
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1,300 Leading Scientists: The State of the World?
It is on the Brink of Disaster
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Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st century. This is not the doom-laden talk of green activists but the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries
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who will today publish a detailed assessment of the state of the world at the start of the new millennium. full story
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UN Study: Earth's Health is Deteriorating as Growing Human Demands for Food, Water Strain Ecosystems
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Growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained the planet's ecosystems over the past 50 years, a trend that threatens efforts to combat poverty and disease, a U.N study warned. The 4-year study, the largest-ever to show how people are changing their environment, found that humans had depleted 60% of
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the world's grasslands, forests, farmlands, rivers and lakes. full story
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Global Outrage as Seal Hunt Begins
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Greenpeace today expressed outrage that the Canadian Government has chosen to proceed with the Atlantic seal hunt on the ice floes in the Gulf of St Lawrence, despite evidence that the hunt is unsustainable and scientifically unjustifiable. "Hundreds of thousand of seals will be killed over the next few weeks with no clear
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understanding of the ecological impacts." full story
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Egyptian Asbestos Factory Workers
Refuse To Die in Silence
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Many of their comrades have already been swept away by disease but the workers of this asbestos factory north of Cairo are refusing to suffer the same fate without putting up a fight and their struggle for compensation and dignity is gaining momentum. The chairman of the incriminated Ora Misr factory has refused to pay the
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salaries of 52 employees suffering from asbestos illnesses. full story
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Environmentalists Protest Use of
Timber from Illegal Loggers
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Greenpeace and Quercus are demanding that Vicaima immediately agree to halt any purchases of timber from co.s convicted of illegal logging activities and obtain Forest Stewardship Council accreditation. Activists that blockaded the entrance to the Vicaima timber company were arrested by portuguese police. full story
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Tiger Future Not Burning Bright in India
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It's been months since anybody heard a tiger roar in Sariska and activists fear the story may be the same in sanctuaries across India, which has almost half the world's surviving tigers. "It's probably the biggest conservation scandal in modern times," said Belinda Wright, director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. full story
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Nanotech Is Booming Biggest in U.S., Report Says
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The science of the very small is getting big in the US according to the first federal report on nanotechnology. Important questions about the technology's safety and oversight remain unanswered and under-studied, the report concludes. Research on the health effects of nanomaterials and necessary revisions in the way they
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are regulated are lagging full story
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Oil Developer Permitted to Log
in Ecuadorian National Park
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An undisturbed rainforest area of Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is about to be logged to make way for oil development. Friday, the Ecuador Ministry of the Environment Coca office issued a logging license to the Brazilian state oil co.Petrobras to cut trees in the park. The loggers will clear a swath for an access road, an oil
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processing facility, and two drilling platforms. full story
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Report: Spokane-area Fish Tainted with
High Levels of Toxins
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A state Department of Ecology study has found that fish in the Spokane River have the highest concentrations of toxic flame retardants of any freshwater fish in Washington state. PBDAs are chemicals used in electronics, plastics, building materials and textiles that build up in fish and humans, including the breast milk of
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nursing mothers. They can cause neurological damage in babies.
full story
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U.S. Troops Tortured Iraqis in Mosul, Documents Show
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American soldiers tortured Iraqi prisoners at a military base but nobody was court martialed over the abuse, U.S. army documents say. The docs show that mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners was not confined to the Abu Ghraib jail, where abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates caused worldwide outrage last year. One
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prisoner died 12/03 after 4 days of punishment. full story
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War at sea: Greenpeace Fights to
Save Dolphins from the Nets
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Campaigners say dolphins, who have to come up for air every six minutes or so, are dying in their hundreds, possibly thousands, each year, drowning entangled in the nets of these "pair" trawlers. Their bodies are usually dumped back by the fishermen, their bellies slit to make them sink quickly. And by a combination of persuasion
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and harassment, the Greenpeace boats are trying to stop the fishing and save the dolphins full story
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In Ohio, One Farmer's Prosperity Is Another's Poison
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Over the past 7 years, more than 40 Dutch dairy farmers have moved to the region, driven out of the Netherlands by costly milk quotas, intense competition, tough environmental regulations and high land prices. The large farms, known as confined animal feeding operations, have too little acreage to allow grazing,
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produce more manure than they can handle and threaten to pollute aquifers. full story
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Nature Makes a Comeback in Gainesville Yards
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The image of a freshly mowed yard, a few symmetrically shaped shrubs and a single dogwood tree exemplifies a perfect Gainesville yard. But don’t expect hospitality. For the chirping birds, delicate butterflies, charismatic squirrels and other creatures that should accompany this picture, there will be no trespassing. full story
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In Texas Town, Pipeline at Center of Legal Action
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Luce had lived with a bleeding bladder for more than a decade, and the lining of her 30-year-old son's stomach was inflamed most of his life, she said. Nearly every member of the family suffered chronic nausea, vomiting, severe fatigue, nose bleeds, and throbbing headaches. Even the family cats lost hair and vomited so often a
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veterinarian diagnosed "chemical overload," 2 died. full story
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ExxonMobil Takes Some Responsibility for
Methyl Tertiary Butyl Contamination in Fallston
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ExxonMobil Corp. acknowledged yesterday that it may be responsible for up to half of the chemically contaminated drinking-water wells in Fallston, but said it needs to do additional tests to determine the extent of its culpability. Most of the wells have shown a trace of MTBE, a gasoline additive. full story
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Both Sides Prepare for More Conflict
Over Arctic Oil Drilling
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Last week’s Senate vote to allow oil drilling and industrial development in ANWR has refueled a 25-year struggle between environmentalists and pro-industry interests. Denouncing the 3/16 vote, environmentalists reiterated concerns that oil drilling in the refuge, home to large populations of endangered species, would be both
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economically ineffective and environmentally devastating. full story
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1985 EPA report: 92,000 Residents at Risk
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Federal environmental officials knew employees and neighbors were in danger of asbestos exposure from the W.R. Grace & Co. plant more than 15 years before they did anything about it, a 1985 report reveals. It warns of possible exposure by more than 74 million consumers nationwide as well as an additional 13 million
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living near the processing, or exfoliating plants. full story
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Study Provides Detailed Look at
What Kills World's Children
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10.6 million of the world's children under the age of 5 die each year, and the vast majority of those deaths could be prevented through simple measures like alleviating poverty, basic nutrition and vaccination, according to a new study. A handful of causes account for 3 out of 4 child deaths worldwide. The leading
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causes include: pneumonia: 3 million, diarrhea: 1.8 million. full story
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Texas explosion raises concerns about aging refineries
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This week's deadly blast at an oil refinery south of Houston, the area's worst such disaster in 15 years, has put a fresh focus on questions about the age and safety of America's oil refineries. The blast at the BP refinery rocked the Texas City area Wednesday, leaving more than a dozen dead over 100 injured. full story
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Experts Warn Ships May Bring Lake Invaders
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Ships navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway may carry more than coal and grain through the Great Lakes, say environmentalists, who warned Thursday about potential "cargo" like killer shrimp or monkey gobies. 162 exotic species in the lakes are now counted. They're being discovered at a rate of one every 8 months full story
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Canada Begins Annual Seal Cull
Amid Call to Boycott its Seafood
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The snow and ice of eastern Canada is set to turn red with blood once again as hunters prepare to embark on an operation to club or shoot up to 320,000 young seals. Animal rights campaigners have begun a boycott of Canadian seafood products and this year's hunt is set to be as controversial as before. full story
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East Africa Coastline Exposed to
Toxic Waste Dumped in Somalia
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UNEP is investigating the magnitude of the health problems caused by radioactive waste dumped along the Somali coastline barely 200km from villages on the Kenyan side of the border The team was able to establish that Somalia's coastline "has been used as a dumping ground for other countries' nuclear and
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hazardous wastes for many years." full story
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Airborne Soot Adds to Arctic Melting, Study Finds
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Soot pollution from southern Asia appears to be contributing to climate changes at the North Pole, raising atmospheric temperatures and speeding up the melting of snow and sea ice, according to a study by scientists at NASA. The researchers have found a link between the timing of Arctic warming and ice loss and deposits of
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tiny particles from man-made pollution during the late 1900s. full story
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Teak's Nightmare Journey
from Burma to Your Back Yard
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The furniture is marketed as ethically acceptable but the profits in Wyevale Garden Centres are helping to prop up one of the most ruthless regimes in the world and destroy some of the planet's most precious environments. Human rights orgs say thousands of villagers have been driven from their homes to make
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way for logging operations... full story
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State’s Chinook Packed with PCBs
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Concentrations of banned chemicals that are particularly threatening to children are at least three times higher in Puget Sound chinook salmon than in chinook from other areas. “The food chain in Puget Sound is significantly contaminated with PCBs and flame retardants,” said Jim West state Fish and Wildlife Dept. scientist. full story
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Sarawak Lake in Danger of Drying Up
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The largest freshwater inland lake in east Malaysia, the Loagan Bunut Lake in northern Sarawak, is being slowly “poisoned and choked to death”. This vital 650ha water reservoir, which is roughly the size of 2,600 football fields, is projected to completely dry up and become a wasteland within 60 years because of severe
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sedimentation and pollution. full story
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Canada Unveils Annual Seal Hunt, Blasts Activists
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Canada said Tuesday it would allow 320,000 young seals to be killed this year and lashed out at activists who promise to boycott Canadian seafood products in a bid to stop the hunt. But anti-hunt activists, who say many animals are skinned alive and die in agony, say they will press ahead with the boycott. Pictures of
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hunters clubbing defenseless animals to death has turned the event into an annual public relations nightmare for the govt. full story
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Tons of Experimental Biotech Corn
Inadvertently Shipped to Farmers
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Swiss Co., Syngenta AG, said Tuesday it mistakenly sold to farmers an experimental corn seed genetically engineered to resist bugs that was never approved by US regulators, bolstering critics' claims that the industry needs tighter govt. scrutiny. Hundreds of tons of the ge seeds and resulting corn crop were shipped in the US
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and overseas from '01-'04 full story
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South America Wetlands May Be 'Next Everglades,' Report Says
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Giant South American wetlands are under threat from farming and house building and could shrink like Florida's Everglades last century, a study by U.N. experts said on Tuesday. The report also said that global warming of 3-4 degrees C. could wreck 85% of the world's remaining wetlands from Bangladesh to
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Botswana, home to thousands of animal and plant species. full story
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Pentagon Censored ‘Embarrassing’ Document,
New Version Reveals
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Recent revelations show that the Defense and Justice Departments used a broad definition of “sensitive” to determine what to hide from the public, extending it to include information inconvenient to itself. Last December ACLU released scores of internal documents it had obtained from the FBI through the Freedom of
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Information Act. full story
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Country Faces Disaster Due to Water Diversion by India
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Construction of dams and barrages in upstream India are shrinking fresh water sources in Bangladesh and adversely affecting its ecological balance, bio-diversity, agriculture, fishery, navigability and public health. Bangladesh will face a big disaster if India implements its much-vaunted river-linking project. full story
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Study Says Household Dust Holds Dangerous Chemicals,
Homes in 7 States Tested
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Common household dust contains a variety of hazardous chemicals originating from everyday consumer products. The study showed that hidden away in dust balls in vacuum cleaner bags were 35 toxic industrial chemicals that are legal in products but have been shown to cause reproductive, respiratory and other health problems in
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humans or test animals full story
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Cost of Logging Plans Soars,
University Study Finds
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The increasing cost of logging regulations may prompt more landowners to sell their timberland for development and other uses, particularly in areas where property values are rising, according to a new study. The study is triggering criticism of the researchers for accepting partial funding from the timber industry.
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full story
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China Faces Severe Water Shortages,
Mounting Pollution Problems
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China's already severe water shortages are worsening due to heavy pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development projects with a big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains, state media reported. More than 100 cities have inadequate water supplies, with more than half "seriously threatened.'' full story
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Power Plant That Pollutes Northeast
Agrees to Cut Emissions
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Ohio Edison, one of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the country, has agreed to sharply cut harmful emissions that drift across state lines and cause respiratory problems throughout the Northeast. The agreement is one of the most significant settlements ever for cleaning the air and improving the health of millions of
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people who live downwind from the plant. full story
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Water Shortages Are Potential Threat
to China's Growth, Stability
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China has the world's 4rth largest fresh water reserves, but rapid economic expansion is straining those supplies, with more than 400 cities facing severe shortages. China's unquenchable thirst may threaten growth and stability in the most populous nation on Earth. The Juma river has been Shanhou's only source of water until the
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govt. diverted virtually all the river's water to Beijing. full story
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Britain's Ozone Levels Near All-time Low, Scientists Say
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Scientists warned yesterday that levels of protective ozone over Britain are approaching record lows. According to a monitoring centre in Germany, the ozone layer above Britain was reduced to half its normal thickness yesterday, and could get worse today. Ozone shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation,
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which can cause skin cancer and cataracts. full story
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The Oil Under this Wilderness Will Last the US 6 Months But Soon the Drilling Will Begin
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"The United States has only 3% of the world's proven oil reserves and we use 25% of the world's produced oil. Do the math. We could destroy every last wilderness area in the country, but we will never be able to drill our way to oil indepen dence. We have to wean ourselves off oil" full story
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Manatees Have Brittle Bones, Study Shows
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Despite their huge size, the bones of manatees are as brittle as fine porcelain, making them extremely vulnerable to being broken when struck by a boat, a University of Florida researchers said Thursday. The surprising findings could ultimately change public policy for the management of Florida's waterways, said Roger
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Reep, a professor of the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. full story
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Scientists: Road Salt May Harm Environment
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The use of salt to melt snow and ice from slippery roads has an environmental downside that can affect a widespread area long after winter has passed.. Nancy Karraker, a NY-based scientist, shared her research at the University of Maine this week to show how road salt can affect amphibians in small seasonal wetlands called
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vernal pools located as far as 550' from roads. full story
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Study Links Mercury from Power Plants to Autism
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After years of debate about whether a nationwide explosion in autism is related to a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines, Texas researchers have found a new suspect: mercury from coal-burning power plants. In a new study, scientists at the University of Texas are reporting a strong correlation between higher
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mercury release levels and autism full story
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Greenpeace and British Trawlermen in Sea Standoff
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British coastguards said on Friday they had intervened to stop a confrontation at sea between Greenpeace protesters and trawlermen because of fears people could be killed. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it had issued warnings to Greenpeace, which had accused the trawlermen of killing dolphins while fishing
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for sea bass, and four British trawlers. full story
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Railroad Safety, Security Secrecy
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The outcome of a legal battle over a far-reaching District of Columbia law restricting shipments of "ultra-hazardous" materials near the U.S. Capitol is being closely watched by chemical companies, railroads, and cities that are considering similar legislation. Driving its passage were public fears of a terrorist attack
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blowing open tank cars that carry hazardous materials through the nation's capital. full story
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BP Settles Lawsuit for $81 Million
|
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The South Coast Air Quality Management District on Wednesday won a record $81-million settlement with energy giant BP, which regulators accused of illegally spewing toxic gases from its Carson refinery for nearly a decade. Under the settlement, BP will pay $30 million for a new community outreach program in which doctors
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will attempt to diagnose possible asthma and other health problems in thousands of the refinery's neighbors. full story
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Senate Approves Arctic Refuge Oil Drilling
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The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, handing a major defeat to Democrats and environmentalists who have battled long and hard against the plan. "Even if you think we should drill in ANWR this is not the time or place for the debate. It invites greater mischief down the line."
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said Russ Feingold (D) Wisconsin. full story
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Activists Alarmed As Senate Moves to
Permit Arctic Refuge Drilling
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The Bush administration, which received $2.5 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry during the last election cycle, has pushed hard to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling, arguing that developing domestic oil sources is crucial for weaning the US from foreign oil dependence full story
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EPA Watchdog to Investigate
Halliburton's Drilling Method
|
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The EPA has decided to investigate a whistle-blower's complaint about Bush's handling of hydraulic fracturing, an oil- and gas-drilling technique pioneered by Halliburton Co. "Not only are there important environmental questions at stake, but the credibility of a federal agency is also at risk," said Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.). full story
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Beauty, and the Beast
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Phthalates, the chemicals used in some cosmetics, may keep your nail polish hard and shiny and your tresses thick and glossy, but in animal tests they cause birth defects, disrupt hormone systems and lead to reproductive problems. The EU recently banned them. Now, despite a huge outcry from the $35 billion
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cosmetics industry, some California lawmakers are trying to ban phthalates in the US full story
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Rizal Firm Accused of Dumping
Toxic Waste in Laguna Bay
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Two employees of a Rizal-based toxic-waste treatment plant have denounced the dangerous practices of the March and June Environmental Management Corp. which they accused of dumping hazardous wastes and chemicals in the Laguna de Bay or burying them underground, risking the contamination of the water supply. full story
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Documents for Nuclear Waste Project
May Have Been Falsified, Government Says
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Govt. employees may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The disclosure could jeopardize the project's ability to get a federal permit to operate the dump. The questionable data involved computer modeling for water infiltration
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and climate at the Yucca site. full story
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Senate Prepares to Vote on
Alaska Refuge Drilling Proposal
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Seeking to sidestep a Democratic filibuster that would require 60 votes to overcome, Republicans have put the Alaska refuge provision into a budget doc. that is immune to a filibuster under Senate rules. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said that even at peak production the refuge would account for less than 2.5% of U.S. oil needs. full story
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Greens Clash over South African Elephant Cull Question
|
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A simmering battle over culling elephants has brought to light sharp divisions in the green movement over how to restrain a burgeoning population from outgrowing the confined wilderness of South Africa's parks. A senior S. African National Parks official said the country may cull elephants for the first time in a decade to control surging
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populations of the animals. full story
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The Age of Autism: Mercury in the Air
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A new study has found a possible link between higher mercury emissions and higher rates of autism. "There was a significant increase," according to the study. "On average, for each 1,000 pounds of environmentally released mercury, there was a 43% increase in the rate of special education services and a 61% increase in the
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rate of autism." full story
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Waste Dumping off Somali Coast May Have Links to European Companies, Mafia and Somali Warlords
|
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Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the '90s. European co.s found it to be cheap to get rid of waste there, costing as little as $2.50 a ton where disposal costs in Europe are something like $250 a ton. Included are uranium radioactive waste, leads, heavy metals like cadmium and
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mercury, and industrial waste and hospital wastes. full story
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Agency Orders Power Plant Mercury Pollution
Cut by Nearly 50 Percent
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Tuesday, Bush ordered power plants to cut mercury pollution from U.S. smokestacks by nearly 1/2 within 15 years but left an out for the worst polluters. EPA faced immediate political and legal opposition. Senators, environmentalists and public health advocates said EPA failed to do all the Clean Air Act requires. full story
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New Hybrid Locomotive's Emissions
Are Clean As a Whistle
|
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Union Pacific Railroad put into service one of the nation's first locomotives using environmentally friendly hybrid technology Tuesday, and the company called it an important step toward cutting air pollution generated by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The new breed of rail locomotive combines electric and diesel
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power and runs almost noiselessly. full story
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Whaling Moratorium Likely to Be Dumped,
New Zealand Official Warns
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The 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling is likely to be rescinded in the next few years, New Zealand's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission has warned. A decade-long stalemate within the commission over whether to resume whaling shows signs of being resolved in favor of
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pro-whaling nations, Sir Geoffrey Palmer said. full story
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Australians Give Up Plastic Carry Bags
|
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Australians are trying to stop using so many plastic carry bags, and according to two reports issued by Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell Saturday, they are succeeding. The plastic bags litter the landscape, block drains and creeks, and injure wildlife on land and at sea. Overall, Australians have reduced
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bag use by around 21% since 2002. full story
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Bush Uses Rule Book to Roll Back Protections
|
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Since taking office more than 4 years ago, Bush has pushed ahead with a broad, largely successful effort that has resulted in a major overhaul of protections to health, safety and the environment. The White House says it is satisfying a campaign pledge to ease the hand of govt. from people and businesses. Critics say it is nothing
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more than a payoff to corporate interests and campaign supporters
full story
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Water Crisis Looms as Himalayan Glaciers Retreat
|
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Himalayan glaciers are among the fastest retreating glaciers globally due to the effects of global warming, and this will eventually result in water shortages for hundreds of millions of people who rely on glacier-dependent rivers in China, India and Nepal, warns WWF. Their report states that glaciers in the region are
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now receding at an average rate of 10–15 metres per year. full story
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Chemical Reform Hampered by Opposition
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Later next year Europe will require vastly more information and precaution from chemical manufacturers. But internal memos uncovered by a House committee show Bush is working with the nation's chemical industry to weaken Europe's new rules. And business interests have a near-perfect record in shooting down California
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reforms they consider "job killers." full story
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Mercury Taints Mountains
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Mercury falls on almost no place in the Northeast more than it does in the Catskill Mountains. Studies compiled and analyzed data from across the NE US and Canada. The results showed emissions from coal-fired power plants and industry have led to widespread mercury contamination in wildlife, including many mountainous
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and rural areas like NY's Adirondack Mountains. full story
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Breast Milk Toxin Study Troubles Nursing Moms
|
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Breast milk provides special nutrients that help infants ward off infections, allergies and childhood cancer, and even cavities, diabetes and multiple sclerosis later in life. Some studies suggest breast-feeding increases a child's confidence and IQ. That's why it's so painful to tell eager new mothers that breast milk also contains toxic
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chemicals. full story
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Inspector Finds Civil Rights Abuses
against Muslims in Federal Prisons
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A govt oversight agency has determined that prison officials at an unnamed federal lock-up discriminated against Muslim inmates and sometimes punished them for reporting the mistreatment to authorities. In its semi-annual report to Congress released Friday, the OIG for the Justice Department detailed that and numerous
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other findings of civil rights violations. full story
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In Yonkers, New Pressure to Clean Up Bronx River
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In its investigation, the attorney general's office found that sewage was carried by 17 storm pipes scattered along the river's 8 -mile stretch through Yonkers. The discharge from 1 storm pipe had extremely high fecal contamination, with 5 million fecal coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters of water. The state's water-quality
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standard calls for no more than 200 per 100 milliliters. full story
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Kyoto Credits System Aids the Rich, Some Say
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Sajida Khan, who has fought for years to close an apartheid-era dumpsite that she says has sickened many people in her community in S. Africa, learned recently that she faces a new obstacle: the Kyoto Treaty. Under the protocol's highly touted plan to encourage rich countries to invest in eco-friendly projects in poor
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nations, the site now stands to become a cash cow that generates income for S. Africa while helping a wealthy European nation meet its obligations under the pact. full story
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Kansas Prosecutor ‘Fishing’ for
Underage Sex, Abortions
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Under the guise of defending the young and unborn, Kansas’ attorney general is snooping around the medical records of girls and women, trolling for potential suspects in what critics describe as a personal crusade. Critics say Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline had that truism in mind when he led an investigation to explain
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subpoenas demanding the medical records of 90 women who have had abortions at 2 Kansas clinics. full story
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Tribe Wants Environmental Cleanup
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A land rights claim filed against NY by the Onondagas claims significant portions of Broome and Tioga counties and a sliver of Chenango County as its ancestral homeland. The Onondagas want the region's polluted sites to be cleaned up as part of a settlement. Included are 27 Superfund sites and Onondaga Lake, one of the
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most polluted bodies of water in the nation. full story
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What's in You
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In the 1st study of its kind a family had their blood, hair and urine tested for a suite of chemical pollutants thought to be ubiquitous in our environment. The tests showed PCBs, plasticizers, mercury, lead and cadmium in each family member. Chemicals used to make Teflon and GoreTex contaminated their blood. full story
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Manila Suspects Pesticide Poisoning Behind Deaths
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Philippine doctors said on Saturday they suspected pesticide contamination as the possible cause of food poisoning that killed dozens of children in a remote village. Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said test results that could show the cause of death of 27 school children on the central Bohol island as government toxicologists
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ran more tests on food, blood and vomit samples. full story
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EPA to Punish Polluters Despite 'Safe Harbor' Deal
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Federal environmental officials told an Iowa citizens group this week that they intend to crack down on livestock operations that pollute despite agreements that granted amnesty to some of them. A recent amnesty deal with livestock producers, called the "safe harbor" agreement, doesn't prevent the EPA from going after operations that threaten public health full story
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Agent Orange Case for Millions
of Vietnamese Is Dismissed
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A federal judge today dismissed a damage suit filed on behalf of millions of Vietnamese that claimed American chemical companies committed war crimes by supplying the military with the defoliant Agent Orange. The suit claimed that the highly toxic dioxin left a legacy of poison in Vietnam that caused birth defects, cancer and other
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health problems. full story
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High Levels of Mercury Found in Vermont Birds
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Scientists have found high levels of mercury in songbirds on Vermont mountaintops. Researchers at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science announced this week that mercury was found in the blood and feathers of the rarely seen Bicknell's thrush on Mount Mansfield and Stratton Mountain. full story
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Iberian Lynx in Immediate Danger of Extinction
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Survival of the Iberian lynx is in grave doubt, a Portuguese conservation group said in an urgent alert today. The world's most endangered cat, found only in Spain and Portugal, numbers only about 100 animals now, down from 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century, according to a report from SOS Lynx.
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full story
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World Fisheries Managers
Let Seabirds Perish on Longlines
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The 1st review ranking the environmental performance of the world’s 19 intergovernmental Regional Fisheries Management Orgs finds that most are failing to safeguard albatrosses, and the seabird populations are headed for extinction as a result. Over 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, and thousands
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of marine mammals and turtles are killed by both legal and illegal longline fishing fleets every year full story
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Mexico's Gulf Coast in Peril from Global Warming
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Experts say the lowest-lying villages along the southern Gulf of Mexico coast will be hit first in Mexico as the fog of gas belched out by rich countries sends weather patterns haywire. They predict melting glaciers will swell global sea levels by up to 3' by 2100. "Global warming is here and it's already affecting us. Our coasts are at
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of marine mammals from rising seas and hurricanes. We'll see droughts in the North and floods in the South." full story
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Quiet Talk of Drilling Offshore
'Stealth Strategy' Worries Opponents
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The powerful House Resources Committee, headed by a California Republican lawmaker, is quietly circulating what environmentalists call a "stealth strategy'' to overturn nearly a quarter-century of bans against new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the U.S.
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coastline. full story
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Bush-Backed Emissions Bill Fails to Reach Senate Floor
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Efforts to pass a bill to control power-plant emissions crumbled in the Senate on Wednesday amid charges of partisan intransigence. The day's developments sidelined - and possibly doomed - action this year on the legislative centerpiece of Bush's environmental policy. full story
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Senate Tries New Strategy to Win Alaska Drilling
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The Bush's aim to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling was included in a draft Senate budget resolution on Wednesday, improving its chances of passage after repeated filibusters. The White House and Republican leaders want to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a vast pristine area on Alaska's north
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coast, to boost domestic supplies of oil. full story
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Evangelical Leaders Swing Influence Behind Effort
to Combat Global Warming
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A core group of influential evangelical leaders has put its considerable political power behind a cause that has barely registered on the evangelical agenda, fighting global warming. These church leaders, scientists, writers and heads of agencies argue that global warming is an urgent threat, a cause of poverty and a Christian issue
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because the Bible mandates stewardship of God's creation. full story
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Record Strandings of Dolphins and Whales
'Are Tip of the Iceberg'
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The number of whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings has more than doubled in the UK in the past decade. Strandings rose from 360 in '94 to 782 in '04. The biggest increase has been in the past 5 years. "Only a small percentage of the total number of dead dolphins and whales are washed up on our shores, so the recent
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dramatic increase in strandings represents a much larger number of deaths." full story
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Logging Starts in Burned Oregon Forest
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Loggers began chopping down trees Monday inside a wildfire-ravaged old-growth forest after authorities hauled away environmentalists trying to block the logging from taking place. Loggers toting chainsaws, axes and fuel cans hiked past the protest site on the Siskiyou National Forest. A short while later the roar of
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chainsaws and trees crashing to earth could be heard. full story
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UN Issues World Fish Stock Warning
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A UN agency has warned that world stocks of most fish are stretched to their limits.The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation issued the grim snapshot of world fisheries in a report that warned of increased pressure on stocks since 2002. The report said the pressure was unsustainable amid rising consumption and
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added that 52% of world fish stocks were exploited fully. full story
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Whistleblower Office Workers
Charge Boss With Rights Violations
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Employees at the Office of Special Counsel spend their careers investigating violations of federal civil service laws and employer retaliation against workers. However, when several employees at the federal agency filed a complaint last week accusing their boss of the same charges, they were in a peculiar situation. The
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complaint had to be filed with their very own agency, since it functions as the only outlet for federal workers seeking redress. full story
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Bulgarian Green Leader Threatened With Death
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Award-winning Bulgarian anti-nuclear activist Albena Simeonova has received threats on her life due to her public opposition to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belene Greenpeace said today. On 2/23, 2 men showed up at her house threatening to kill her if she did not stop her resistance against plans to build the nuclear
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power plant in Belene. full story
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Garlic-laced Crops Ward off Insects
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A Bangladeshi scientist has used garlic to develop an environment-friendly alternative to pesticide. A 4-year research project funded by the USDA has developed a garlic tablet that can treat seeds for up to .4 hectares. The garlic tablets, which cost less than 1 ¢ each, are used to mix a solution into which the seeds are dipped. full story
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China's Rising Wood Imports a Threat
to the World's Forests
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More than half of the timber imported by China comes from countries such as Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia, which are all struggling with problems such as over-harvesting, conversion of natural forests and illegal logging. China is one of the major destinations for wood that may be illegally harvested or traded. full story
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Right Whales Caught in Fight for Survival
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The recent discoveries of 6 dead North Atlantic right whales along the coast from New England to Florida are extremely troubling to the scientists who study them. However, the occasional news stories about a dead whale, when spread out over a year-long time frame, give little impression of the grave impact that the loss of
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these whales has on the future of their species. Right whales are dying faster than they are being saved. full story
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Scientists Accuse Bush of
'Fiddling While the World Burns'
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Britain's most prestigious scientific institution has made an excoriating attack on George Bush, calling him "a modern day Nero over climate change, fiddling while the world burns". Robert May, president of the UK’s national academy of science, will this week say the rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the US since 1990
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dwarf the cuts committed to under the Kyoto Protocol, emphasising the need for a truly global effort to fight climate change. full story
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Bus Depot Plan a Slap at Low-income Philly Residents?
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Lower Merion plans to plop its 108-bus fleet in a low-income, predominantly African-American North Philadelphia neighborhood, then drive them off each day to Montgomery County to pick up suburban kids and ferry them to school. Opponents say the buses would mean more noise, more traffic and more pollution.
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full story
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Environmentalists Fear Brazil's Lifting of GMO Ban
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Brazil's move to lift a ban on the sale of genetically modified crops poses a serious threat to the country's endangered Amazon rain forest, environmentalists charged Friday. Brazilian President da Silva defied his environment minister, much of his party and his own campaign promises this week when he won legislation to
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allow the sale and planting of GMO plants. full story
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Poll: Majority Wants U.S. Federal
Trust Fund for Clean Water
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More than 8 in 10 Americans believe that clean and safe water is a national issue that deserves federal investment, according to a new poll of 900 adults conducted jointly by Republican and Democratic polling firms. Federal legislation that would create a long term, sustainable, reliable trust fund for clean and safe water infrastructure
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received support from an 'overwhelming' 86%. full story
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On Beyond Organic: The Many Uses of Hemp
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Hemp, a non-psychoactive relative of majiuana, is illegal to cultivate throughout most of the Unites States, despite its versatility including use as fuel, food and paper. In the past decade, imported hemp products has become a rising star ingredient in many natural and organic products, including snack food, dietary supplements and
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clothing. full story
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Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality Program Will Monitor Only About 30 Factory Farms
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Thousands of factory farms nationwide are expected to sign up for a new EPA compliance program, but the agency will pick only about 30 to monitor levels of gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The EPA program allows owners of farms that house thousands of hogs, chickens or dairy cattle to avoid fines for violating
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the Clean Air Act by paying a civil penalty up front. full story
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Global Warming Has Chilling Effects
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The world is warming, and worrisome changes are already upsetting the balance of nature in New England, according to one of the first regional climate studies of records culled from the U.S. govt. Stacks of studies show that rainfall, the sea level, snowfall, the number of days with snow cover have dropped, and the growing
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season in the NE have all increased over the past century. full story
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More Than 20 Rough-toothed Dolphins Die in Keys
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The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine on a training exercise off the coast. More than 20 rough- toothed dolphins have died since Wednesday's beaching by about 70 of the marine mammals. full story
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Parched Village Sues To Shut Tap at Coke:
Drought-hit Indians Say Plant Draining Groundwater
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This month, the high court of Kerala is expected to rule whether the panchayat in Plachimada, a village of about 30, 000 inhabitants, exceeded its power by denying water to the mega-corporation. If the court decides it has not, the decision could be a rallying cry in other drought- stricken states where peasant farmers are
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blaming Coca Cola for siphoning off badly needed water, activists say.
full story
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