Postcard from California: Why the top US farming region is sinking
By any measure, California’s San Joaquin Valley is one of the preeminent farming regions in the world. The agriculture industry’s seemingly bottomless thirst gives the Valley another distinction: It is losing its groundwater.
How Big Sugar pushed fluoride — new study alleges a century of spin
The sugar industry and companies that make sweet drinks and foods have spent nearly a century downplaying sugar’s role in health problems and distorting the science around fluoride — and the practice continues today, according to a new study.
Industry, environmental groups spar over California bill to ban PFAS in cookware
As US states increasingly pass laws to limit PFAS chemicals in consumer products, a debate is heating up over a California bill that proposes banning the sale of cookware with intentionally added “forever chemicals” beginning in 2030.
WATCH: Beneath the surface of Iowa’s water crisis
TNL’s Editor-in-Chief Carey Gillam traveled to Iowa to hear directly from the people living through an ongoing water crisis. In conversations with residents, farmers, politicians and scientists, a troubling picture emerged: dangerously high levels of nitrates and pesticides are contaminating drinking water across the state. Many fear this pollution is fueling Iowa’s unusually high — and still rising — cancer rates.
Pesticides on your plate – New study warns of need to better understand health effects
Eating plenty of fruits and veggies is recommended as key to a healthy diet, but new research underscores how consuming family favorites such as strawberries, peaches, spinach and kale commonly comes with side of pesticide residues that could be harming your health.
EPA moves to ease chemical safety reviews, citing red tape
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a rollback of certain Biden-era regulations that determine how the agency evaluates chemicals — a move it says will speed innovation. Critics argue the plan weakens safeguards to protect people from toxic exposures.
In Washington, a battle builds over a right to sue pesticide makers
It’s been seven years since Germany’s Bayer bought US agrochemical giant Monsanto, inheriting not only the company’s vast portfolio of seeds and pesticide products, but also more than 100,000 lawsuits alleging Monsanto’s popular Roundup herbicide causes cancer. Bayer has been working to put an end to the litigation and to block any future such cases.
WATCH: Inside the EPA – frequent industry access sparks concern
Internal calendars from the US Environmental Protection Agency show top officials meeting dozens of times with companies like Bayer, BASF and Dow — while giving little time to public health and environmental groups.
New warnings of water contamination from farm pollution in Wisconsin
While all eyes have been on Iowa this summer, where levels of harmful nitrate contamination of water supplies spiked well above federal safety standards, nitrate pollution has also been persistently plaguing water sources in other farm states as well.
FOIA records reveal EPA leaders frequent meetings with industry lobbyists
Top regulatory officials met with agricultural and chemical industry representatives dozens of times in the first few months after President Donald Trump took office in January, government records show — meetings that were followed by a series of regulatory rollbacks and a downplaying of pesticide concerns by the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission.