Your Organic “Cage-Free” Eggs Might Come From Hens Locked Up All Day
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. When you pay up for certified-organic eggs, do you picture a flock of hens scratching outdoors in the grass? If so, I’m here with a sobering reminder: As I reported in 2015, under the letter of organic code, which is developed and enforced by the…
These Popular Pesticides Are Really Bad for the Birds and the Bees
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. As spring approaches, US farmers are gearing up to plant about 180 million acres in corn and soybeans—a combined land mass nearly twice the size of California, mostly in the Midwest. The great majority of the seeds they sow will be coated with neonicotinoid pesticides: synthetic chemicals…
The Price-Fixing Scandal Rocking Big Chicken
buhanovskiy/Getty Images Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. The biggest poultry processors in the United States face widespread allegations that they colluded to raise prices over the course of 10 years in the $30 billion broiler chicken market. In just three weeks, two grocery retailers and the country’s two biggest food…
The Environmental Disaster Tucked Into the Tax Bill
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)fazeful/Getty The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—recognized for its picturesque vistas and wildlife—has been a battleground for Democrats and Republicans for years. The 20-million-acre park sits above large oil and gas reserves, which Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), have eyed as a huge source of revenue for the state. Several…
Inside the Bold New Animal Liberation Movement: No Masks, No Regrets, All the Risk
Mother Jones; Direct Action Everywhere When Julianne Perry first met the calf this summer, the animal was lying listlessly in a wooden crate on top of narrow slats, caked in her own dried diarrhea. Maggots crawled on her body. Just a few days old, she was emaciated. As she tried to get up, her knees…
Chicken Farms Fueled a Massive Public Health Crisis—While the Government Turned a Blind Eye
shutterstock This story was originally published by Food and Environment Reporting Network. Antibiotic-resistant infections—everything from gastrointestinal illnesses to recurring urinary tract infections and staph—are among the most menacing issues in public health today, sickening 2 million people a year and killing at least 23,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So perhaps it’s…