Farmed
fish, such as salmon, eat a lot of wild fish that happen to
swim into their pens. And that means they could be eating
over-fished species.
(Photo courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service)
To be labeled organic, animals
have to be fed all organic food. But
under the new proposal that won’t be
the case for fish. Julie Grant reports
that in the recommendations for organic
fish, the standard is much lower:
Transcript
To be labeled organic, animals
have to be fed all organic food. But
under the new proposal that won’t be
the case for fish. Julie Grant reports
that in the recommendations for organic
fish, the standard is much lower:
Some fish is raised in huge net-pens in the ocean. Farmed
fish, such as salmon, eat a lot of wild fish that happen to
swim into their pens. And that means they could be eating
over-fished species.
New recommendations by the National Organic Standards
Board would go ahead and allow farmed fish to eat up to
25% wild food – as long as it’s not from endangered species.
George Leonard is director of aqua-culture with the Ocean
Conservancy. He says these standards would weaken the
organic label.
“You don’t change the organic standard to be consistent with
current practices, you hold the organic standard steady and
you allow or you incentive the industry to change their
practices to reach that standard.”
The new “organic fish” recommendations still need final
approval from the USDA.
CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s.
(Photo by Ed Edahl, courtesy of FEMA)
Congress recently increased the Corporate Average
Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls
for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon
by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these
standards:
Transcript
Congress recently increased the Corporate Average
Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls
for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon
by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these
standards:
CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s.
But the way people drive has changed a lot since then.
Engines are more powerful, people drive faster, and more cars use air conditioning.
That means these old tests don’t reflect the gas mileage we get today.
Experts say car companies are really averaging anywhere from 20 to 30% less than the
standards called for.
Jim Kliesch is with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the system should
change.
“If your representative is standing on Capitol Hill and telling you that they’ve raised
standards to 35 miles per gallon, you’d like to go out and buy a vehicle that can average
35 miles per gallon. Not one that averages 26, 27, 28 miles per gallon.”
There is a more accurate test available today.
Kliesch says it could be used to set CAFÉ standards if members of Congress require it.
The Bush administration’s new fuel economy
standards mean more fuel efficient cars in the
future. But Lester Graham reports some
environmentalists say it would have been better
for the environment and the economy if the standards
would have required more fuel efficiency:
Transcript
The Bush administration’s new fuel economy
standards mean more fuel efficient cars in the
future. But Lester Graham reports some
environmentalists say it would have been better
for the environment and the economy if the standards
would have required more fuel efficiency:
The standards call for a fleet-wide average of close to 32 miles per gallon by the year 2015.
Environmentalists say the first three years of the five year plan calls for an increase of
one and a half miles per gallon each year. But the last two years only require about a
half a mile improvement each year.
Jim Kliesch is with the Union of Concerned Scientists
“The fact that those numbers
trail off very quickly is a canary in the coal mine that something is amiss in their cost-
benefit analysis.”
The government’s cost-benefit analysis weighs whether more expensive technology –
such as a hybrid drive train – is worth the effort: will it save that money in gasoline.
But
the government’s cost benefit analysis predicted gas prices by 2015 would be about
$2.25 – more than a dollar a gallon less than we’re already paying. Using those prices,
the analysis short-changes the advantages of fuel saving technology.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Produce section of a supermarket in VA.
(Photo by Ken Hammond, courtesy of USDA)
More companies are importing organic
products from China and other countries. But
contaminated pet food, tainted toothpaste,
and unauthorized antibiotics in fish have been
imported to the U.S. from China. Now, some people are
concerned about organic foods from China. Julie
Grant reports:
Transcript
More companies are importing organic
products from China and other countries. But
contaminated pet food, tainted toothpaste,
and unauthorized antibiotics in fish have been
imported to the U.S. from China. Now, some people are
concerned about organic foods from China. Julie
Grant reports:
When you see that round USDA organic seal on a carton of
milk, boxed foods, or bananas , it means that on some farm,
somewhere, something like this happened:
(farm inspection sound)
Inspector: “All righty. Anything under the box on the far
right.”
Farmer: “That’s the burnout. Which I haven’t used for 3 or 4
years.”
An inspector walks around looking at the greenhouse, the
barn and the fields, in the greenhouse, and in the barn. He
works for an agency that’s accredited by the USDA to certify
farms as organic. He’s making sure nothing is happening on
the farm that’s prohibited by the National Organic Standards.
But small farms like this one are no longer the norm in
organics. Organic products have become a big business all
around the world.
So people are wondering… who inspects those farms?
(store sound)
Sheila Rombach is a buyer for a small natural foods store.
Like a lot of people, she’s a little nervous about the safety of
food coming from China. Last year’s pet food scare and
poisonous toothpaste are still fresh in many people’s minds.
Rombach’s customers pay a premium for ‘organic’ foods.
She wonders how the USDA can certify that farms all the
way in China are following organic rules.
“I guess it crossed mind because of all the negative publicity
about things manufactured in China. I want to be sure that
the items grown under the organic label are truly organic.”
It’s such a concern that one large health food chain, Trader
Joe’s, is taking all Chinese imports off its shelves. Trader
Joe’s plans to have Chinese garlic, ginger, and all other
single-ingredient foods out of its 300 stores this spring.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains if it says
organic, it’s truly organic. Barbara Robinson is chief
administrator of the USDA’s National Organic Program. She
says foreign products go through the same process as those
grown here.
“So, if the product is coming from India, or the product is
coming from Australia, and you want to market in the United States – then
you need a certifying agent who is accredited by us.”
Robinson says all certifying agents accredited by the USDA
should be enforcing the same organic rules. If a product has
that little round seal, Robinson says consumers can trust it
meets the U.S.’s National Organic Standards.
But enforcing the rules isn’t always that easy. The USDA is
having difficulty making sure those rules are consistently
applied on U.S. farms. So how can the agency be so
confident about farms in other countries?
One expert on Chinese agriculture and politics says that’s a
good question. Paul Thiers is a political science professor at
Washington State University who’s been visiting farms in
China since the early 1990s.
“There is some difficulty, I think, in expecting people from
outside of China to really get far enough in and understand
what’s going on in political and economic conditions of rural
China.”
Thiers says many Chinese farms are run by the local
government. Others are run by private managers with
peasant farmers working the land.
“In some places, peasant farmers who were purported to be
part of organic production, who were on land that was
certified, couldn’t tell me what organic was, had no
conception of different production standards. And all they
said was, ‘we just sell our product to the government’.”
Thiers says at that time, five or ten years ago, farmers were
probably using chemicals, even though they were selling
food labeled organic.
Thiers expects that China’s organic farming practices are
improving, though. He says people in Chinese cities are becoming
concerned about food safety and want to buy organics. But
the USDA has to rely on organic certifiers in China. And with
the rapid growth of organic farms, no one is sure they’re
actually meeting U.S. standards.
Thiers says there is one consolation. At least organic farms
are inspected by someone. Conventional farms don’t get
those kinds of visits from inspectors.
Dozens of home appliances will have to meet higher energy efficiency standards sooner than expected. Rebecca Williams reports the Department of Energy agreed to speed up its rulemaking process to settle a federal lawsuit:
Transcript
Dozens of home appliances will have to meet higher energy efficiency standards sooner than expected. Rebecca Williams reports the Department of Energy agreed to speed up its rulemaking process to settle a federal lawsuit:
The energy department has to propose stricter energy standards for appliances within the next five years.
Attorneys general from 14 states and a few public interest groups sued the Department of Energy. The plaintiffs said the agency was dragging its feet on updating energy standards. In some cases, the agency has missed deadlines by as much as 14 years.
Chuck Samuels is with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. He says it is time to update the standards for some products.
“But we need to make sure that we don’t require such radical redesigns in products that either they become cost prohibitive or burdensome for many consumers, or that they take away the basic functions and utilities that consumers expect.”
The groups who filed the suit say higher energy standards will save consumers money in the long run.
Federal researchers have detected Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOC’s, in many of the nation’s underground drinking water supplies. But the samples showed lower concentrations of the cancer-causing chemicals than some suspected. The GLRC’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Federal researchers have detected Volatile Organic Compounds, or
VOC’s, in many of the nation’s underground drinking water supplies. But
the samples showed lower concentrations of the cancer-causing
chemicals than some suspected. The GLRC’s Erin Toner reports:
Volatile Organic Compounds are by-products of industrial and
commercial applications. They come from plastics, paints, dry-cleaning
products and gasoline.
Over the past few decades, researchers have detected many places in the
country where soil and groundwater is highly contaminated by VOCs.
This latest study by the U.S Geological Survey took a broader look at
VOC concentrations in the nation’s groundwater.
John Zogorski led the project.
“In most of the wells that we sampled, and we’re sampling before any
treatment by the water utilities, we didn’t find any of these 55
compounds using even our most sensitive analytical methodology.”
Zogorski says VOC’s were found in some drinking water wells, but he
says the good news is that where the VOC’s were found, they were
mostly below federal drinking water standards.
A lot of studies have linked air pollution with heart and lung problems. A new study suggests your diet can worsen air pollution’s effects on you. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland has more:
Transcript
A lot of studies have linked air pollution with heart and lung
problems. A new study suggests your diet can worsen air pollution’s
effects on you. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland
has more:
Every time you inhale, you’re breathing in tiny particles from dust, soot
and smoke. They can increase both the plaque buildup in your arteries,
and the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Now, a study led by Dr. Lung Chi Chen at New York University’s
School of Medicine says a high fat diet combined with bad air led to a
faster buildup of plaque in the arteries of mice. He says that’s because
air pollution affects lipids – fats – in the blood. It changes their
characteristics, or oxidizes them, which leads to more plaque on artery
walls.
“If the mice are fed with high-fat, then the level of the oxidized
lipid will be higher, because they have more lipid in their blood.”
Dr. Chen says arteries of mice on a high-fat diet and breathing dirty air
were 42-percent blocked. Mice breathing clean air had arteries that were
26-percent blocked.
He hopes the study not only encourages people to eat better, but also
persuades the government to toughen air quality standards.
The EPA says tighter controls are coming for hundreds
of companies that burn hazardous waste. But the changes didn’t come without a fight. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The EPA says tighter controls are coming for hundreds of companies that burn hazardous waste, but the changes didn’t come without a fight. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The new regulations apply to large boilers, incinerators, cement kilns, and other devices that burn hazardous waste. The EPA says it’s trying to reduce emissions of several toxic pollutants.
A few years ago, environmentalists won a legal fight to force tougher controls than the Clinton Administration had originally proposed. Earthjustice attorney Jim Pew says the EPA was told to do its job right.
“Now EPA really hasn’t done it right this time, but it’s done it better, and as the result of the work of environmental groups, we’re seeing less toxic pollution going into peoples’ homes and schools and communities.”
A group representing cement kiln owners says it’s generally satisfied with the new EPA rules, but warns that some kilns may have trouble reaching the tougher targets. The case could wind up back in court.
The home appliance industry is taking issue with a lawsuit filed by several states. The states want improvements made on energy efficiency standards. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The home appliance industry is taking issue with a lawsuit
filed by several states. The states want improvements made on energy efficincy standards. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
In all, fifteen states and the city of New York have filed suit,
claiming the Department of Energy is years behind schedule writing
updated energy efficiency standards for twenty-two common appliances. The
states say if the federal government would get up to speed, consumers would benefit.
But the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers says there are
good reasons the government is behind schedule. General Counsel
Chuck Samuels says the energy department faces a lot of complex
rule-making.
“It is impossible for any agency to do all these rule-makings. What DOE has been forced to do is to prioritize and pursue those standards
that which will have the most benefit.”
Samuels says refrigerators and clothes washers have become much
more energy efficient. He acknowledges that tougher rules for other
large appliances like furnaces and air conditioners have not been
finished.
Particulate matter is an air pollution problem the EPA is trying to reduce. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)
Federal regulators are looking at two plans for reducing the amount of soot in the air. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports, public health advocates say tougher regulations would prevent thousands of premature deaths from heart and lung disease:
Transcript
Federal regulators are looking at two plans for reducing the
amount of soot in the air. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah
Hulett reports, public health advocates say tougher regulations would
prevent thousands of premature deaths from heart and lung disease.
One of the plans would cut the amount of pollution in a 24-hour period by more than half. A second plan would allow a little more soot each day, but it would cut the total amount allowed each year. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson is expected to make a make a choice between the two plans by the end of the year.
EPA researchers looked at the links between air pollution and premature death in nine U.S. cities. Janice Nolen is the director of national policy for the American Lung Association.
“In those nine cities they were estimating that each year, about five thousand people died of particle pollution, where the standards are right now.”
Nolen says the standards EPA is considering would greatly reduce those deaths. The new standards would take effect in the fall of 2006.
Farmed fish, such as salmon, eat a lot of wild fish that happen to swim into their pens. And that means they could be eating over-fished species. (Photo courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service)
