Antibiotic resistance claims 23,000 lives a year in the U.S.—and the overuse of antibiotics in livestock plays a role. Is …
FDA
EcocentricGoing Green
Why Meat in China — and the U.S. — Has a Drug Problem
A new study shows widespread antibiotic resistance on Chinese farms, where use of the drugs to speed animal growth is common. That could have scary impacts for the rest of the world
EcocentricFood
As Europe Reels From E. Coli, Problems with Food Safety in the U.S.
As a scary E. coli outbreak spreads across Europe, health authorities in the EU are coming to grips with the fact that the transnational body may not be ready to investigate and stop a major foodborne illness. But surely we’d do better if a similar outbreak occurred in the U.S. Right?
Maybe not. We’re lucky to have the crack …
EcocentricFood
Environmental Groups Sue the FDA Over Antibiotics and Meat Production
Chances are your hamburger is on drugs. Not the illegal kind—probably—but the medicinal sort. Though the statistics are fuzzy, environmentalists and sustainable food advocates believes vast amounts of antibiotics are delivered at low levels to farm animals, to promote rapid growth and produce meat more cheaply. According to a …
EcocentricHealth
Warning: Getting Your Hair Straightened Could Endanger Your Health
Crossposted from TIME’s Healthland
Bad news for women who like to get their hair severely straightened with the popular Brazilian blowout technique à la Jennifer Aniston: it may look good, but apparently it’s not good for you.
EcocentricHealth
Study: Even “BPA-Free” Plastics Leach Endrocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
Cross posted from TIME’s Healthland
Plastics. They seem so…inert. Slow to erode or decay, with a biodegradation time measured in the hundreds of years, plastics appear cut off from the organic environment in the way that no other product is, safe and secure and sterile. Yet scientists have begun to learn that plastics are …
EcocentricFood
Food: Why the Just Passed Food Safety Bill Is Only a First Step
The troubled but important food safety bill finally passed Congress yesterday, and should be signed by President Obama today. I have a post over at Healthland explaining why the bill may not be worth much without more funding.
EcocentricHealth
Health: Consumer Reports Warns Over Mercury in Tuna
Over at the Healthland blog, I have a post up on a new report from the venerable Consumer Reports on potentially unsafe levels of mercury found in canned tuna. Mercury contamination is a real risk for pregnant women and young children—the Consumer Reports investigation shows that mercury may be more prevalent in canned tuna than we …
EcocentricHealth
Health: Canada Declares BPA Toxic. Is the U.S. Next?
It’s used almost everywhere. It’s in almost all of us. It does weird things to rodents and it may be doing weird things to us—but it’s tough to be certain. Bisphenol-A (BPA) has become a litmus test for how people view environmental health and the risks of common household chemicals—as I wrote in a long story for TIME earlier this …
EcocentricHealth
Talking Meat and Antibiotics
I had the chance to go on the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC yesterday afternoon to talk about the renewed push to regulate antibiotics used for growth promotion in farm animals. With the Food and Drug Administration now urging meat producers to limit the amount of drugs they give their animals—over concern about the rise in antibiotic …