Food

Top Climate Scientist Quits USDA, Complaining of Political Suppression

"A top climate scientist quit USDA, following others who say Trump has politicized science." "One of the nation’s leading climate change scientists is quitting the Agriculture Department in protest over the Trump administration’s efforts to bury his groundbreaking study about how rice is losing nutrients because of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

Source: Politico, 08/06/2019

EPA Won't Ban Chlorpyrifos Pesticide Linked To Children’s Health Problems

"The Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups Thursday to ban a widely used pesticide that has been linked to neurological damage in children, even though a federal court said last year there was “no justification” for such a decision."

Source: Washington Post, 07/19/2019

"Scientists Flee USDA As Research Agencies Move To Kansas City Area"

"A Trump administration decision to move researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Kansas City area is threatening to spark the flight of more than half of the staff selected to move, gutting the agency of its top scientific voices."

Source: The Hill, 07/16/2019

"Where The 2020 Presidential Candidates Stand On Food And Farming"

"Food and farming haven’t been high on the list of campaign priorities in recent decades, except maybe in Iowa. But this year, that appears to be shifting. With the pivotal role that rural voters played in the 2016 election firmly in mind, many presidential candidates are zooming in to address the challenges that abound in today’s farm country. And a number of them are connecting agriculture to other pressing issues—notably climate change, food insecurity, economic development, and more."

Source: Civil Eats, 07/04/2019

Primer Helps To Prep for Reporting on PFAS

It’s a category of more than 4,000 industrial chemicals that affect our lives nearly every day — and many of which are toxic. So what do journalists need to know to report on the emerging contaminants known as PFAS? Our most recent Issue Backgrounder offers a detailed primer on what PFAS are, where they come from, what their health effects are and how they might be cleaned up.

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"3M Knew About PFAS Food Contamination in 2001"

"Last week, we learned that the Food and Drug Administration had detected PFAS compounds in pineapple, sweet potato, meat, and chocolate cake. ... [I]t has become clear that 3M, the company that originally developed PFOS and PFOA, had known for a very long time that these toxic and persistent chemicals were in our food."

Source: The Intercept, 06/14/2019

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