A Penn State anthropologist puts forth a new hypothesis: that the nearly universal human tendency to bond altruistically with animals is a unique trait that has evolved because it gives us many advantages.
Journalism about farm and food is often a key part of the environment beat. To help reporters quickly find sources and resources that can help them cover farm and food, SEJ has compiled on its website a list of some of the best.
Food and agriculture can yield a bounty of local stories for many environmental reporters. That's because agriculture is historically adapted to the growing conditions in many specific locations — and because many of its environmental impacts are local as well.
Methylnaphthalene, one of the hydrocarbons behind the Kellogg Company's June recall of some 28 million boxes of cereal, has yet to be evaluated for carcinogenicity
"Before a fillet of grouper, fresh oyster or piece of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico lands in the grocery seafood aisle, state and federal agencies have weighed in on its safety. ... However, no one is testing seafood to tell whether it has absorbed the toxic compounds found in the nearly 1.8 million gallons of dispersants BP has poured into the water to break up the oil."
"The use of roxarsone and other arsenic-based additives in poultry and swine feed is at the center of a national controversy."
"Scientists say methyl bromide threatens the ozone layer, and its alternative, methyl iodide, is a threat to workers and their families."
Small-scale farmers who want to grow and sell meat locally have been hampered by federal regulation of slaughterhouses. Now mobile slaughterhouses are helping those farmers get back in the game.
"Organic food from China, like tea and frozen broccoli, has increasingly found its way onto American store shelves, typically emblazoned with the green 'U.S.D.A. organic' seal also found on food grown in this country. ... Now serious questions about certification in China have been raised by the United States Agriculture Department."
"The Agriculture Department will approve for broad use [Tuesday] a genetically modified soybean engineered to contain healthier oils, the opening salvo in a biotech oil fight between DuPont Co. and its rival, Monsanto Co."
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