Politics & Globalization
International trade agreements force the U.S. and other participting countries to "harmonize" food and envrironmental safety standards to the lowest common denominator. Often these agreements are negotiated behind closed doors, shutting out Congress and the public, while granting corporations and trade associations a seat at the table. It's no surprise that these agreements give transnational corporations "special rights", allowing companies to challenge individual countries' environmental, worker and food safety laws and regulations.
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Rose and Ronnie· Joe volunteer© 2008
NewsGuard, a self-appointed internet watchdog that sells a browser plugin to rate websites on their credibility and transparency, has received much funding from Big Pharma giants through the company Publicis. NewsGuard threatens to allow Publicis and Big Industry to maintain their undisputed reign as shapers of public opinion about health-related issues.
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"Why is it that farmworkers feed the nation but they can't get food stamps?" This comment by Dolores Huerta, a labor rights leader, resonates with me. Growing up in a farming village in Pakistan, the sight of yellow mustard fields on a cold morning with a backdrop of dense fog meeting a rising sun is engraved in my mind.
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The Trump administration is set to continue its corporate friendly assault on U.S. environmental regulations Thursday by finalizing a rule that will allow companies, landowners, and property developers—including golf course owners like the president—to dump pesticides and other pollutants directly into many of the nation's streams and wetlands, potentially threatening the drinking water of millions of Americans.
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Continuing a trend well established by prior Republican and Democratic administrations, the five new members recently appointed by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) all have a current or past relationship with the industry’s major lobby group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA).
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On Friday, USDA Deputy Under Secretary Brandon Lipps proposed new rules for the Food and Nutrition Service that would allow schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them license to sell more pizza, burgers and fries to students. The agency is responsible for administering nutritional programs that feed nearly 30 million students at 99,000 schools.
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As reported by U.S. Right to Know last May, court documents showed that a domestic policy advisor at the White House said, ‘We have Monsanto’s back on pesticides regulation.’ In a new and unsettling report from the Center for Biological Diversity, we now have confirmation that this promise is being kept.
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'Forever' chemicals, which are often referred to as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals), are a class of heat and water-resistant chemicals used in a variety of industrial products, flame retardants and nonstick products, such as raincoats, cookware and packaging and have leeched into water supplies in almost every state in the country, according to The Hill. They are known carcinogens and do not degrade in the environment nor in the human body.
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On Thursday, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the launch of a new joint website, meant to function as a one-stop shop for understanding complex biotechnology regulations. This category of food includes genetically modified plants and animals,
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California burned. The Amazon burned. Greenland burned. Siberia burned. Indonesia burned. Australia’s ongoing fires look hellish. Now, last year’s global inferno looks to Naomi Klein, the author and intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal movement, like a lit fuse to a fascist future.
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Farm subsidies have now hit a 14-year high after the USDA sent out payments of approximately $16 billion in aid in 2019 and $12 billion in 2018. The two-year total of $28 billion paid to American farmers tops the auto-industry bailout following the 2008 financial crisis by billions.
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