Author Archives: lzerbe

Pesticide News Every Family Needs to Know

Posted on April 19, 2012 by lzerbe| 1 Comment

by Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, PhD, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network

Spring has sprung, and farmers across the country are preparing for planting season. One of their biggest headaches will be dealing with the millions of acres of cropland that have been infested with superweeds and with new generations of superbugs. These superpests have evolved as the direct — and inevitable — consequence of Monsanto’s aggressive promotion of its genetically engineered “RoundUp-Ready” and insecticidal seed packages over the past 15 years.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Men's Health, Pesticides & GMOs, Women's Health

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Doo Doo Chicken: the New Pink Slime

Posted on April 13, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

By Walker Foley, communications assistant at Food & Water Watch

Some consumer advocates are marking a swift victory after Beef Products Inc. announced the shutdown of three of its four factories last week. But pink slime is just the frothy tip of the repulsive, risky, potentially unsafe meat iceberg floating in our food supply.

In case you’ve been out of the country for the past two weeks and missed the pink slime hysteria, here’s the gist. In 2002, USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein dubbed BPI’s lean, finely textured beef trimmings (LFTB) “pink slime.” Zirnstein’s neologism lay dormant for the next 10 years until mainstream media and consumer activists rallied around the term and asked not, “Where’s the beef,” but, “What’s the beef?” Continue reading →

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Posted in Food Politics

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Danger in the Poultry Aisle

Posted on April 6, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University

Apparently as a result of a need to cut costs, the USDA is changing the way its inspectors oversee chicken processing.

As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post puts it, this is

a proposal to allow chicken slaughterhouses to inspect themselves — eliminating those pesky federal monitors who have the annoying habit of taking diseased birds out of the food supply.

Even if the Obama administration were inclined to bring down capitalism with an orgy of overregulation, there isn’t enough money in the budget to enforce the rules on the books.  That’s what the chicken fight is about: Spending cuts…are a form of de facto deregulation (my emphasis). Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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The New GMOs: What You Need to Know

Posted on April 6, 2012 by lzerbe| 3 Comments

By Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, PhD, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network

As if the disaster of RoundUp resistant superweeds sweeping our farmland weren’t enough, Monsanto is now preparing to launch an even greater disaster: a new soybean engineered to be resistant to the older, more toxic weedkiller, dicamba. The seed — which Monsanto plans to market in 2014 if approved — will also come stacked with the company’s RoundUp Ready gene, and is designed to be used with Monsanto’s proprietary herbicide “premix” of dicamba and glyphosate. Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Men's Health, Pesticides & GMOs, Women's Health

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Solar: Is It Even Safe?

Posted on March 28, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

by Pierre Bull, Air & Energy policy analyst at Natural Resources Defense Council

Many people have asked me lately, “What goes inside solar panels and does any of it pose a health risk?”  A report released today by the corporate watchdog group,  As You Sow , titled, Clean & Green: Best Practices in Photovoltaics, gives a fair and comprehensive overview of the health and safety risks with regard to solar photovoltaic manufacturing and end of life management. The report discusses:

  . . .  in non-scientific language, the process of manufacturing PV panels, the risks involved, and how companies mitigate those risks. It focuses on practices and policies companies use to mitigate risks from hazardous compounds, reduce environmental impact, and responsibly manage their supply chains. Continue reading →

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Posted in Clean Energy, Climate Destabilization, Low-Impact Living

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Superbug Lawsuit Could Save Antibiotics

Posted on March 26, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

by Peter Lehner, executive director, Natural Resources Defense Council

Last Thursday night, a federal court ordered the Food and Drug Administration to take action on the practice of giving antibiotics to livestock through animal feed. This victory will help protect American families against superbugs and other drug-resistant bacteria. Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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Salt Wars: What’s Really Too Much?

Posted on March 26, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University

Dietary sodium continues to generate much talk but little action.

The CDC issued a recent Vital Signs report on dietary sodium with this graphic:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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9 Low-Tech Steps for Community Resilience in a Warming Climate

Posted on March 22, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

By Kaid Benfield, director of sustainable communities at Natural Resources Defense Council

heat vulnerability in the US (by: NRDC)

Over the past 50 years, our average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history.  That is fact, not opinion.  Scientists say that under current trends, average US temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century. Continue reading →

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Posted in Climate Destabilization, Healthy Home & Garden, Low-Impact Living

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7 Ways to Spring Clean Your Life

Posted on March 22, 2012 by lzerbe| 1 Comment

by Deirdre Imus, founder and president of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center at Hackensack University Medical Center

Like a bear coming out of hibernation, we too are beginning to emerge from winter’s darkness into spring’s light. And just as a bear cautiously reintroduces his body to a nourishing environment, so we must turn to healthy activities that feed our soul and give us new life in this season of renewal.

Below are the seven steps I hope you’ll follow this spring to clean your body and your home: Continue reading →

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Posted in Healthy Diet, Positive Psychology

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The Gas Price Blame Game

Posted on March 16, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

by Peter Lehner, executive director, Natural Resources Defense Council

Every year when gas prices rise, politicians and pundits like to play the blame game. On Fox & Friends, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal blamed the Obama administration’s “radical environmental ideology” for high gas prices. (The latest Bloomberg poll, however, showed that most Americans do not blame the White House.) The Christian Science Monitor points the finger at India. Continue reading →

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Posted in Clean Energy, Climate Destabilization

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