A Dangerous Lie: What the EPA Knows and Won't Say About the Libby [Asbestos] Cleanup
In November 1999, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that 192 people had died and 375 had been sickened by exposure to asbestos from WR Grace & Company's Libby vermiculite mine. The ill effects were not limited to miners, but struck down many who had never even been to the mine. The newspaper posited that Grace executives, the EPA and other government agencies knew the dangers of the mine, but did nothing to stop exposure(...)after six years of abatement, at a cost of $110 million, and with Montana's one-time shot at an expedited Superfund cleanup spent, exposure to asbestos, which has now killed approximately 300 and sickened 2,000 in Libby, continues.
Read the full story. Learn more about asbestos-related diseases and the Libby mine scandal.
Farmers use as much pesticide with GM crops, US study finds From The Independent (UK): One of the major arguments in favour of growing GM crops has been undermined by a study showing that the benefits are short-lived because farmers quickly resort to spraying their fields with harmful pesticides.
Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. A commentary in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription only) discusses Chicago's proposed ordinance banning restaurant chains from cooking with oils containing trans fats. Trans fats, linked to heart disease, are a favorite in the food industry because they extend the shelf life of products. The author poses the question: "What if arsenic also conferred profitable advantages to margarine or potato chips? Clearly, we'd all vote to ban its use. "
Have A Green Summer
Earth Day Network and Google Maps have released a new green-travelling website, featuring video tours of five top U.S. vacation spots.
The Terror of our Ways Michael J. Kavanagh for Grist on the extreme Right's conflation of environmentalists as terrorists. This is from a few weeks back, but still a good read. Also check out Environmental Action's round-up of news clips in which "experts" compare climate change science to Nazi propaganda.
