Food safety

Who Should Pay for the Costs of the StarLink Scandal?

The US is exporting a variety of genetically engineered corn that has not been approved for human consumption in the US. StarLink was grown in 1998 on about 10,000 acres in the US, some 250,000 acres in 1999, and more than 350,000 acres in 2000.

Borders Are No Barrier to Dioxin Emissions, NAFTA Commission Study Shows

The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) released a study showing the dioxin emissions from point sources in Mexico, the United States and Canada is contaminating food and the environment in the Canadian Arctic. They identified the incinerator operated by Xcel Energy in Red Wing, Minnesota as one of the major sources of this contamination.

Cure for Ice Cream Headache: Shut Down Dioxin Sources

Former chemical industry lobbyist Steven Milloy and Dr. Michael Gough gave the folks at Ben & Jerry's a real "ice cream headache" last week. They presented findings at an international symposium on dioxin, one of the most toxic compounds ever studied.

Groups Fault U.S. for Not Restricting Antibiotic Use on Farms

Public health, agriculture and environmental groups sent this letter sharply criticized a government plan to reduce antibiotic resistance, saying it fails to call for banning the use of medically important antibiotics used in agriculture.

Save the Hotdish! MN Food Threatened By Dioxin Emissions

Several common Minnesota food dishes contain toxic by-product dioxin, according to a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report released today. Foods that contain dairy products, such as the traditional cream soup-based "hot dish", meat and fish are all part of a diet the EPA is recommending that Americans avoid to reduce their dioxin intake.

EPA Drops the Ball on Dioxin

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its long-awaited assessment of dioxin this week, its conclusions corroborated what many scientists (and communities like Love Canal and Times Beech) have said for some time: that dioxin can cause cancer, a host of other effects, and that parts of the US population have dangerously high exposure levels.

IATP Comments on Codex Meeting on Food Labeling

IATP submitted this comment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Food Labeling in response to the USDA's attempt to overcome the conflict between the National Organic Standards Board and the biotechnology industry by declaring equivalency between organically produced and certified food and food derived through genetic manipulation.

EPA Report Calls Dioxin a Human Carcinogen

In response to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report leaked to the Washington Post acknowledging that dioxin is a human carcinogen, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy today urged the agency to act quickly to eliminate the primary sources of dioxin pollution.

Keep Your Sludge Out of My Sandwich!

In 1978, a team of scientists from Dow Chemical found that rats exposed to very low levels of dioxin developed liver cancer. This research, combined with earlier tests that demonstrated birth defects in mice at extremely low exposure levels, led to dioxin's characterization as "the most toxic synthetic chemical known to man".

Sewage Sludge & Food Safety

This factsheet explains what sewage sludge is, how its made and what it contains, IATP's policy position on why using sludge for fertilizer on agricultural lands is unacceptable, as well as the risk for home and garden use, is laid out.