Pittsburgh has become the first place in Pennsylvania to ban the drilling of natural gas. On November 16, the Pittsburgh City Council voted unanimously to establish the “first-in-the-nation ordinance,” to prevent drilling of natural gas — also known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking — within the city limits. This is in direct conflict with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which permits drilling. Some point to the promise of economic opportunities and jobs that the natural gas industry could bring to the region . But many believe that those opportunities are not guaranteed, and that the risks of drilling far outweigh the benefits. Pittsburgh demonstrated that it would rather invest in a long-term future, one that is free from health and environmental risks.

Pennsylvania’s second largest city doesn’t exactly seem like a plausible place to drill for natural gas — Pennsylvania law prohibits deep well drilling within 200 feet from an occupied building. But much of Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, sits on the Marcellus Shale, a current hotbed of natural gas just waiting to be extracted by numerous energy companies big and small. READ FULL POST

The customer is always right. But is the customer always informed? Every day, money is made in this country based on the premise that most consumers don’t care about information pertaining to the products they buy. The imported seafood industry banks on it.

Every year, Americans eat on average 15.8 pounds of seafood, most of which is imported from countries like Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia. According to an NBC Today Show investigative report, “80 percent of fish and 90 percent of shrimp come from overseas.” The reason this is such a big deal is due to the high percentage of imported seafood that is contaminated with toxins, combined with the fact that the FDA inspects less than 2 percent of all imported seafood. That’s a formula for food safety disaster. READ FULL POST

A Food & Water Watch-initiated FOIA request yielded disturbing e-mails from scientists at FWS, expressing their concerns about GE salmon.

The Scottish-born American naturalist John Muir once warned, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” Those words are certainly appropriate to call upon now.

November 22, just three days before many of us sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, is the FDA’s deadline for public comments on the approval of genetically engineered salmon. (Technically, it’s the deadline for comments regarding whether or not GE salmon should be labeled — it should — but let’s not go down that road until we’ve made a much bigger point.) We’ve reached a critical juncture in this roller coaster-like process, which is why our latest letter to the FDA is so timely and so very interesting.

Recently, a Food & Water Watch-initiated FOIA request yielded documents with rather disturbing e-mail comments from scientists at the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), expressing their concern with GE salmon, including one from a scientist who wonders if anyone at the FDA has seen the film Jurassic Park. They are not exactly happy with the way the FDA has been tugging at nature and they weren’t shy about identifying FDA’s procedural gaffs. READ FULL POST