Blog Posts: December 2010

Last week, soon-to-be-former New York Governor David Paterson surprised many when he vetoed the fracking moratorium and signed an executive order that creates loopholes that could allow some kinds of fracking to continue.  Paterson explained that, “Enacting this legislation would put people out of work…,” referring to jobs associated with drilling. But, there’s another labor force that’s threatened by fracking: upstate New York farmers. Read the full article…

Canned tuna, while tasty and convenient, is also a source of high levels of mercury, and the FDA could be doing more to warn consumers about it.

By now, most of us are aware of the potential risk of mercury in our seafood and how it can be detrimental to our health. We’re familiar with the various warnings, in particular, for women of childbearing age, pregnant/nursing women, and children. It might be surprising however, that canned tuna — a food item many of us include in our diets because it’s considered nutritious, tasty and inexpensive — might also contain high levels of mercury. Read the full article…

Great news on the triclosan front: the EPA finally published our petition! Almost one year ago, Food & Water Watch and Beyond Pesticides, along with 84 other health and consumer groups, submitted a petition calling for a ban on triclosan. Not only has EPA finally acknowledged our concerns, they are asking for public comments! Read the full article…

Outgoing New York Governor David Paterson vetoed the hydraulic fracturing moratorium legislation, going against the votes of the State Legislature, and issued an executive order that allows fracking for specific types of drilling.

Lame duck and outgoing New York Governor David Paterson made a surprising move over the weekend when he chose to veto the hydraulic fracturing moratorium legislation approved by the State Legislature and instead issued an executive order that allows fracking for specific types of drilling. While the moratorium on new drilling will be extended, which is good, the moratorium is only applied to hydraulic fracturing for horizontal drilling, which is bad. Paterson’s veto weakens regulations, makes things a bit more confusing and creates opportunities for the continued use of hydraulic fracturing for vertical drilling— just what energy companies were wishing for this holiday season. Read the full article…

Whenever there is a disaster that puts people out on the street, bottled water is there. Be it flood, drought, hurricane, fire or water main break, bottled water is always around to save the day. The camera from news coverage of such events will often pan by several cases of bottled water — conveniently delivered for free from a far away place — as if to depict that safety has arrived. The bottled water industry has certainly done a good job in recent years of associating their product with emergencies. But do we really need bottled water in most emergencies? Read the full article…

Lately, I feel like someone could slap a sticker on the Brooklyn Bridge that says, “This bridge is certified sustainable,” and we would just accept it. Since most of us have no idea what would make a bridge sustainable, we would have no way of knowing if it’s truly sustainable or not. Even if the Brooklyn Bridge were certified sustainable by, let’s say, the National Sustainable Bridge Inspection Association (NSBIA), we would need to inquire as to what standards were established for that certification and why. Most importantly, people we trust in the bridge business would all have to agree on those standards. They would also have to agree that those standards, if met, would allow a bridge to be certified sustainable. This all seems straightforward, yet we allow ambiguity to exist in the organic labeling of our food.  Look what’s been happening at the fish market… Read the full article…

I was thrilled to see the blog, “Should Your Company Wash Its Hands of Triclosan?” on Greenbiz.com a while back. For the past two years I’ve been likening triclosan’s cresting wave of public awareness to that of Bisphenol A’s (BPA). After all, it wasn’t that long ago that no one knew what BPA was or that it was harmful. Now, companies and manufacturers tout their “BPA-free” wares. Read the full article…

Food & Water Watch now proudly unveils the latest version of our Factory Farm Map, which charts the concentration of factory-farmed animals across the country.

It’s called the food “industry” for a reason. If you’ve seen Food Inc., you understand why. In that film, and here at Food & Water Watch, some careful analysis reveals the massive network of production and distribution that has become our food system. Thanks to advertising, marketing and fancy packaging, the images we create for ourselves of the places where our food comes from are often in direct contrast to the reality of where most of it is produced. Much of the time, we may be thinking farm, but we’re really getting factory. Read the full article…