"Senator Blocking FDA Nominee Over Biotech Salmon"
"Sen. Lisa Murkowski is holding up President Barack Obama's nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration to force the labeling of genetically engineered salmon."
Source: Agri-Pulse, 01/13/2016
Food
"Monsanto Increases Job Cuts As Corn, Chemical Sales Slump"
"Monsanto Co said a souring farm economy and currency woes will push its 2016 earnings to the lower end of expectations, while a cost-cutting drive will lead the world's largest seed company to slash more jobs."
Source: Reuters, 01/07/2016
FDA Just Banned These Chemicals in Food. Are They the Tip of Iceberg?
"FDA banned three toxic food packaging chemicals and is considering banning seven cancer-causing food flavoring chemicals, but food safety advocates say the process highlights flaws in the system."
Source: Civil Eats, 01/07/2016
"U.S. Issues New Dietary Guidelines That Will Change The Way You Eat"
"In the first slate of nutritional recommendations it has issued since 2011, the federal government on Thursday gave health-conscious Americans the go-ahead to eat eggs and others foods rich in cholesterol, to drink as many as five cups of coffee daily, and to enjoy a range of fats long avoided by many."
Source: LA Times, 01/07/2016
Congressional Think Tank Reports Leaked Again
Although you, as a taxpayer, pay for reports by the Congressional Research Service, Congress does not allow you to read them. Fortunately, somebody leaked these reports of interest to environmental journalists.
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Where's That Meat From? One Problem with Trade Treaties
Do consumers have a right to know where their food comes from? What if there is a federal law decreeing that they have that right? Not anymore. None of that matters. International trade treaties — nowadays often negotiated in secret — trump United States law aimed at protecting consumers.
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"Consumers Won't Know Meat Origin After US Ends Labeling Law"
"It's now harder to find out where your beef or pork was born, raised and slaughtered. After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal's country of origin on packages of red meat. It's a major victory for the meat industry, which had fought the law in Congress and the courts since the early 2000s."
Source: AP, 01/06/2016
"Why The Real King Kong Became Extinct"
"The largest ape to roam Earth died out 100,000 years ago because it failed to tuck into savannah grass after climate change hit its preferred diet of forest fruit, scientists suggest."
Source: AFP, 01/05/2016
"Alaska's Inuit Link Steady Food Supply to Environment Health"
"Alaska Inuit hunter John Goodwin for decades has hunted oogruk, the bearded seal, a marine mammal prized for its meat, oil and hide.
The largest of Alaska's ice seals uses sea ice to rest and birth pups, and after the long winter, when ice breaks into floes, there's a window of opportunity for Goodwin to leave his home in Kotzebue and motor his boat between ice panels, shoot seals and butcher them before they migrate north through the Bering Strait.
Source: AP, 12/29/2015
"USDA Finalizes Record Keeping Rule for Ground Beef"
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."
Source: The Hill, 12/15/2015
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