Green Reads: Plastic Bag Ban Vetoed, Journal-Sentinel Explores Carp and Trib Criticizes FDA
By JoshMogerman in News on Aug 26, 2012 8:10PM
It's raining, so you're stuck inside with time to expand your horizons, right? Here are some fabulous green reads on our radar today:
Who is looking out for your Hormones?
Shrieks over “job-killing” regulations aside, there has been a growing drumbeat of concern over federal regulators being asleep at the wheel or simply unable to do the job of protecting our food supply. The Trib’s excellent food reporter Monica Eng takes a swing at the Food and Drug Administration today, noting the alarming handoff of responsibility for testing new ingredients entering the American diet away from government scientists in favor of the companies that are trying to sell the new products. Worse still, the Agency has become so marginalized, it may not even know when new ingredients are making their way into the system. Nick Kristoff at the New York Times points the blame squarely at “Big Chem,” the industry he believes has knocked FDA out of the box as he continues to dig into controversial endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA, a chemical used in plastics and food packaging that is linked to all sorts of uncomfortable impacts to hormonal development in kids.
Fish Fracas
You know we love us some Asian carp. But how did an ugly fish become such a divisive issue? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Great Lakes maven Dan Egan posted the final installment of an epic series that recaps the issues and makes clear what is at risk for both sides in what has become a national battle over invasive species in Chicago’s waterways.
Bag Bill Bagged By Teenager
Governor Quinn is making use of his veto pen this year. Today, he struck down what many had been terming “the bad bag bill,” which would have outlawed Illinois communities from banning the use of plastic bags. The fact that it had been advertised as a bit of pro-recycling legislation really pissed off a suburban 13-year old who led the statewide effort to bag the bill and stands as the big winner today. Grayslake's Abby Goldberg may just emerge as a figure to be reckoned with in Illinois politics down the line!