Submitted by Laura Miller on
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington DC-based think tank that is funded by right-wing foundations and industries that deny global warming, sued the Bush administration over its 2000 report on climate change. The New York Times reports CEI is trying to stop the government from distributing the report, saying it is inaccurate and biased.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
The U.S. Potato Board is facing a crisis stemming from the decline in french fries sales, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. So, they've enlisted the creative powers of the St. Louis-based firm Osborn & Barr, whose clients have included the Cattlemen's Beef Board, National Pork Board and United Soybean Board. The Potato Board is looking for "concepts aimed at opinion leaders and consumers" to be part of a $1 million campaign (run by food industry PR giant Fleishman-Hillard) to get Americans to eat more french fries.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Sludge researchers, activists, and rural residents exposed to land applied sewage sludges across the nation are boycotting today's summit at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, in Alexandria, Va., organized by the EPA, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and the New England Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA). "We are boycotting this conference because its real purpose is to create an illusion that EPA and the sludge industry are concerned about people getting sick from sludge spreading.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
A USDA program billed to educate schools, parents and children on food irradiation was actually designed to promote irradiation and convince school districts to serve irradiated meat according to a new report by Public Citizen.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
A former landfill near Denver is being turned into soccer fields to be used yearly by more than a half-million people, the Denver Post reports. That has county officials spinning a success story for waste management. But public health advocates are crying "foul." The site, which is part of a several million dollar containment project, will also include a dog park and the county's hazardous household waste facility. "You'll be able to run your dogs, dump your hazardous waste and play soccer all in the same place," Jefferson County facilities manager Lee Suttie said.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Eight years ago, in 1995, PR Watch broke the stunning story of how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promoted the use of toxic sewage sludge as cheap farm fertilizer . The major media failed to report the story. This EPA scandal became a long chapter in our 1995 book Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, documenting the deceptive EPA PR campaign.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
In its recent attempt to revise an EPA report on climate change and the environment, the White House cites a study by Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics that has drawn harsh criticism from climatologists. "Greenhouse skeptics, pro-industry groups and political conservatives have seized on the results," David Appell writes in Scientific American.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to publish a draft report next week on the state of the environment, but after editing by the White House, a long section describing risks from rising global temperatures has been whittled to a few noncommittal paragraphs," the New York Times reports. "The editing eliminated references to many studies concluding that warming is at least partly caused by rising concentrations of smokestack and tail-pipe emissions and could threaten health and ecosystems.
Submitted by John Stauber on
USA Today examines the threat of mad cow disease in the U.S. asking "did you know ... that calves, instead of drinking their mothers' milk, are fed formula made from cows' blood? ... Says John Stauber, [co-]author of Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?: 'What we need to do is obvious but economically painful for the livestock industry.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Inter Press Service reports that "The recent appointment of fast food giant McDonald's to the advisory board of an environmental group has drawn accusations of 'green washing' from environmentalists and led one board member to resign in protest. Paul Hawken, a well-known activist and environmentalist respected for his strong opposition to corporate globalisation, resigned two weeks ago from the Green Business Network... .
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