On Monday, U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) got folks in New York’s 2nd Congressional District talking turkey about the potential hazards that may be in their Thanksgiving meal.
With a Thanksgiving dinner–complete with all the trimmings–serving as a backdrop, Israel used the press conference to formally announce legislation he introduced in the U.S. House to get [...]

An op-ed in the October 7th Wall Street Journal by Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent inspired me to do some fact-checking. In the article, “Coke Didn’t Make America Fat, Americans need more exercise, not another tax,” Mr. Kent defended his industry as being an easy target in the debate over obesity and its cause: “Sugar-sweetened beverages [...]

Timing could be better considering the latest warnings of sugar shortages and price spikes by U.S. food manufacturers, but at least one public health communications and marketing researcher believes a tax on high fructose corn syrup could help in the fight against America’s obesity epidemic. I caught up with Dr. R. Craig Lefebvre, a professor [...]

Bob Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, appeared on both the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and ABC’s Nightline programs this week to discuss possible connections between Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and the flu outbreak.

Watch CBS Videos Online

It looks like Meatless Monday’s “Inspiring a Movement” video is doing just that, but the meat industry is already grumbling. In particular, industry leaders have a beef with the video’s claim that, “Meat mass production, as currently practiced, is extremely inefficient.” The claim makes sense to me, especially when you consider research that suggests the [...]

Watch a short interview with Dr. Robert Lawrence, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Lawrence discusses the nation’s water pollution and his involvement in the production of “Poisoned Waters,” a PBS FRONTLINE documentary that examines the increased hazards to human health and the ecosystem caused by decades of polluted runoff from agriculture, [...]

Did you know according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an estimated 70% of antibiotics in the U.S. are used on animals?
To promote growth?
A former research fellow, Jay Graham, MBA Ph.D., recently sat down to talk about the reality of antibiotic misuse on factory farms.  This discussion is in part a follow-up to our March [...]

Environmentalists and Foodies alike couldn’t contain their giddiness when they heard the First Lady broke ground on the White House Kitchen Garden today. Check out more pictures from the White House Blog. The Washington Post even has video as Mrs. Obama was joined by about 2 dozen elementary school students.

Watch Dr. Amy Peterson, a Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) Fellow, make a statement at the USDA’s public meeting October 14 on the use of antibiotics in large-scale industrial agriculture.