Monday, 30 Jul 2001

Kernel Clink

The U.S. EPA indicated on Friday that it would not permit even trace amounts of genetically modified StarLink corn into human food. StarLink, which was previously approved for use as animal feed, was found to have entered the food supply last year, prompting the costly recall of taco shells and other corn products. Despite a request by the maker of StarLink, Aventis CropScience, to ease restrictions on its product, the EPA stuck with its current ban after an advisory panel concluded that there was not enough evidence to rule out possible allergic reactions to the corn in human food. Enviros celebrated the decision, while the Grocery Manufacturers of America lashed out against it.

Rider Back Atcha

In a slap in the face to the Bush administration, the U.S. House voted 218 to 189 on Friday to require the White House to stick with the tough standard for arsenic in drinking water set by former President Clinton. Nineteen Republicans supported the measure, which was a direct response to a decision by Bush in March not to move forward with the standard. In a way, Democrats are following in the footsteps of Republicans in trying to advance their agenda. The arsenic measure was a rider on a spending bill for the U.S. EPA. Republicans used similar riders to try to pressure the Clinton administration to make anti-environmental regulatory decisions; Dems are using riders to try to force the Bush administration not to roll back enviro protections.

Don't Touch That Fish With a 10-foot Pole

Mercury was discovered in Columbia River fish in Washington state more than a decade ago, but the state hasn't yet posted signs to warn anglers about the dangers of eating mercury-tainted fish. One Health Department official said the major reason for not posting signs was that they would cost too much. Meanwhile, a state government website urges folks visiting Lake Roosevelt, a reservoir on the Columbia, to "[b]reak out your fishing pole."

Rice-a-Roni, the Global Warming Treat

U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice made sure yesterday that the rest of the world maintained its low expectation of the U.S. on climate change. On CNN's "Late Edition," Rice contradicted a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and said the U.S. would probably not have a comprehensive plan to combat climate change ready by October, in time for the next international meeting on this issue. Ten days ago in Europe, Powell promised foreign nations that a plan would be prepared by then. Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund says the climate deal struck last week in Bonn is not the best thing since sliced bread. The group says the final agreement effectively reduces by two-thirds the overall targets for decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases that were agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.

Be All That You Can Be

Thousands of workers in the U.S. may develop a fatal lung disease because companies have exposed them to the highly toxic metal beryllium without safeguards or warnings, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation. Beryllium disease, once only a problem with the defense industry, appears to be on the rise in the electronics, recycling, and dental industries. It turns out that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration rarely inspects companies that handle beryllium, whose toxic dust slowly damages victims' lungs. Beryllium can now be found in golf clubs, cell phones, and computers, but experts say they have found no evidence that consumers are at risk from the products.

Law and Disorder

At the same time it was hired by the U.S. Energy Department to help determine whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be a suitable site to store the country's nuclear waste, a Chicago-based law firm was taking money from the nuclear power industry to lobby Congress and the White House to get the site approved. Critics of the Yucca site are crying foul, saying the conflict of interest casts doubts on all federal decisions about the site. Robert Loux, head of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Office, the state agency created to oppose the site, said, "You could make a case that every piece of data since 1992 is tainted."