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“Out of time” – Short film documents tragic saga of pesticide-poisoned Nebraska town
For decades, Mead, Nebraska, was a peaceful rural town—until toxins generated by the area ethanol plant poisoned Mead’s land, water, and air. Farm to Fuel, a short documentary, builds on investigative reporting by The New Lede, co-published with The Guardian, which exposed how the plant’s reckless disposal of pesticide-laced waste created an environmental disaster. At the heart of the crisis are neonicotinoid pesticides, still widely used across the US despite mounting evidence of their harm.
TNL’s Alex Hinton traveled to Mead, Nebraska, where he met with farmer Stan Kaiser and his family, who shared their story of environmental devastation, previously reported by The New Lede. Hinton spoke with Dr. Judy Wu-Smart of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, whose groundbreaking research has been crucial in exposing the dangers of neonicotinoid pesticides, and former State Sen. Carol Blood, who has been leading the fight for stronger regulations to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.
Mead’s fight for justice is far from over. Despite the plant’s shutdown, its toxic legacy lingers, raising urgent questions about corporate negligence, environmental responsibility, and the safety of rural communities across America.
It’s not just RFK Jr — Opposition to fluoride in drinking water grows
By Douglas Main
Opposition to the US practice of adding fluoride to drinking water supplies has been growing as more evidence accumulates linking fluoride exposure to potential harmful brain impacts in children. Now, the future of the practice could be in doubt, with Thursday’s confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kennedy, an environmental health lawyer, has been calling for an end to fluoridation in public drinking water for years. And though it is the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has regulatory oversight of fluoride levels in water supplies, the HHS plays a role in policy by publishing recommendations for fluoridation that many states follow.
An HHS task force currently recommends fluoridation based on “strong evidence of effectiveness in reducing tooth decay.”
But that could change. In his new role, Kennedy is widely expected to push for guidance against fluoridation.
Since Kennedy posted on X on November 2, 2024, that Donald Trump would end fluoridation if elected, it opened a floodgate of attention to the issue, said Chris Neurath, science research director with the anti-fluoridation group Fluoride Action Network.
That, combined with a high profile recent court case that ordered the EPA to re-evaluate the safety of fluoridation, and accumulating evidence of harm, have all caused a “snowball effect” of attention, according to Neurath.
“This elevation of the issue into the mainstream really is unique in the last 80 years,” Neurath said. Though evidence of harm keeps growing, he said, “the facts haven’t really changed — but the awareness of them has.”
Illnesses and deaths from food outbreaks skyrocketed in 2024, report finds
By Shannon Kelleher
Hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses more than doubled in 2024 over the prior year, with most people sickened in a small number of high-profile outbreaks involving lunch meat, eggs, cucumbers and other commonly consumed foods, according to a report published Thursday.
The report comes as some US lawmakers are pushing legislation that would bar the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing a new regulatory framework proposed under former President Joe Biden aimed at addressing Salmonella contamination in raw poultry.
A total of 1,392 were sickened from contaminated food in 2024, up from 1,1118 people in 2023, and the health impacts of the outbreaks was more severe, with 487 people hospitalized last year compared to 230 the previous year. Nineteen people died after eating contaminated food in 2024, compared to eight in 2023, according to the report.
Across 13 total outbreaks in 2024, almost all of the illnesses were caused by E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella bacteria, including a large outbreak of illnesses tied to E. coli contaminated onions in McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers. A large outbreak that landed 60 people in the hospital was linked to listeria-contaminated products traced back to a now-shuttered Boar’s Head plant in Virginia. The number of food recalls because of Listeria, Salmonella or E. coli increased significantly in 2024, representing 39% of all recalls.
“This report serves as an important reminder that there cannot be any cuts to food safety funding or rollbacks in regulations,” said Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy for the nonprofit Consumer Reports who was not involved in the study. “Industry, regulators and consumers must be constantly vigilant about food safety and the data in this report shows that there is still much work to be done and improvements to be made.”
Microplastic pollution found “pervasive” in Antarctic snow
By Douglas Main
New research has found significant levels of tiny microplastics within Antarctic snow from multiple locations across the world’s most remote wilderness, findings that reinforce concerns that no part of the planet is safe from plastic pollution.
The paper, published this month in Science of the Total Environment, provides evidence that earlier studies have underestimated the extent of microplastic contamination in the region.
The first such study on the subject, published in 2022, found an average of 29 particles per liter of snow sampled. The new study, which used techniques that allow for greater detection of tiny materials, found that “microplastics were pervasive” at more than 3,000 particles per liter, with an average of around 800 particles. About 95% of these bits were under 50 microns, slightly smaller than the average width of a human hair.
Researchers now know that microplastics are essentially everywhere — the remote Amazon, inside human brains, plant roots, clouds — but to find them in such levels in the world’s most remote wilderness still came as a shock.
“It was surprising to see such high concentrations of microplastics in areas with a limited human footprint,” said study co-author Emily Rowlands, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey.