Children

Waiter, There Is Toxic Sludge in my Organic Soup!

by John Stauber — March 16, 2010 - 12:03pm
  • Topics: Food Safety, Agriculture, Sludge, Children

    • (NOTE: Visit the SourceWatch Portal on Toxic Sludge)


    Fifteen years ago, the Center for Media and Democracy in my book Toxic Sludge Is Good for You first exposed the deceptive PR campaign by the municipal sewage industry that has renamed toxic sewage sludge as "biosolids" to be spread on farms and gardens. Unfortunately, the scam continues to fool more people than ever, even in San Francisco which is often dubbed the country's greenest city.

    I suspect that Bay area celebrity chef Alice Waters would never dump sewage sludge onto her own organic garden, nor serve food grown in sludge in her world famous natural foods restaurant Chez Panisse. The mission of her Chez Panisse Foundation is to create "edible schoolyards" where kids grow, prepare, and eat food from their own organic gardens. But Francesca Vietor, the new executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, is at the same time actively promoting dumping toxic sludge on gardens in her role as Vice President of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

    Disney's Iron-Fisted Marketing to Kids

    by Anne Landman — March 12, 2010 - 2:28pm

    The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is a small advocacy group that last fall successfully got the Disney Company to offer full refunds to people who had purchased the company's "Baby Einstein" videos, which were supposed to make ver

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, March 9, 2010

    FDA Backpedals on Safety of BPA

    by Anne Landman — January 18, 2010 - 12:39pm

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is backing off its much-criticized position defending the safety of a ubiquitous chemical ingredient in plastics called Bisphenol-A (BPA).

    Main Source: 
    Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, January 15, 2010

    A PR Campaign to Make BPA Plastic Fantastic

    by Diane Farsetta — June 3, 2009 - 1:50pm

    On May 28, industry executives met "to devise a public relations and lobbying strategy to block government bans" of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in cans and plastic containers.

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, May 31, 2009

    Smoking in the Movies: Under-the-Radar Cigarette Advertising?

    by Anne Landman — April 1, 2009 - 4:41pm

    A meta-study published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that viewing movie smoking scenes is a significant factor in smoking among older teens and young adults. In 1999, researchers interviewed thousands of 10- to 14-year-olds, assessing their smoking status and exposure to images of smoking, via movies.

    Main Source: 
    Pediatrics, March 30, 2009

    Kids Who Watch R-Rated Movies More Likely to Smoke

    by Anne Landman — February 24, 2009 - 2:21pm

    A four-year study of more than 1,200 youngsters performed by the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that children whose parents let them watch R-rated movies are more likely to smoke. Participants were in sixth grade when they started the study, and researchers interviewed them a total of eleven times over the course of the study. They were asked questions about the availability of cigarettes in their home, whether smoking was allowed in their home and whether their parents let them watch R-rated movies and videos.

    Main Source: 
    U.S. News and World Report, February 23, 2009

    Lead Pipes vs. Crack Pipes

    by Sheldon Rampton — January 30, 2009 - 3:20am

    On January 26, the New York Times examined "The Epidemic That Wasn't" -- breathless news reporting from the 1980s that predicted an epidemic of irreparable damage to inner-city children whose mothers used crack cocaine. Actually, it turns out, the so-called "crack babies" are doing fine.

    Main Source: 
    Columbia Journalism Review, January 28, 2009

    It's Not Rocket Science

    by Diane Farsetta — September 24, 2008 - 4:35pm

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to end "a six-year-old battle between career EPA scientists" who want to regulate a chemical linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women and children, and the White House and Pentagon, where officials oppose setting a drinking-water safety standard for the chemical, perchlorate. Guess who's likely to win?

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, September 22, 2008
    Syndicate content