Buy Safe Eat Well

Each day you and your family interact with dozens of chemicals – in your shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and household cleaners. But did you know that our laws don’t require most of these chemicals to be tested safe? Some 70,000 chemicals are used in consumer products, but only 200 have been safety tested by the Environmental Continue Reading

In a new plan released yesterday, the FDA is asking companies to voluntarily reduce some uses of antibiotics in the raising of livestock. Animals grown for meat are commonly given low doses of antibiotics in their feed and water to help promote growth and prevent the spread of illness in living quarters that are often Continue Reading

Casting the recent pink slime outrage as a “smear campaign” on a nutritious beef product, the governors of three mega meat-producing states are calling for a rebranding of its image. At a press event last week, the governors of Texas, Iowa and Kansas chowed down on burgers made with lean finely textured beef (aka pink Continue Reading

The FDA last week rejected a petition to ban the chemical BPA from food and beverage containers, citing insufficient evidence of its health effects. Consumers Union expressed disappointment at the announcement, noting in a press release that there’s  ”ample scientific evidence about the health risks of BPA for the agency to take action now and Continue Reading

Although the FDA is poised to make an announcement by the end of March concerning the use of the chemical BPA in food packaging, Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) took preemptive action yesterday asking the agency to permanently ban BPA from infant formula and baby food packaging, reusable food storage containers and canned goods. “Industry practice, Continue Reading

A former USDA scientist is blowing the whistle on ‘pink slime’, a concoction of leftover beef scraps and connective tissue treated with ammonia hydroxide that’s commonly added to ground beef. “It’s economic fraud,” microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein told ABC News. “It’s not fresh ground beef. … It’s a cheap substitute being added in.” Invented by the Continue Reading

Despite a company’s best intentions, faulty and dangerous products still hit marketplace shelves. Even seemingly innocuous goods you could never imagine causing harm may turn out to pose inadvertent hazards to you and your family. Where to turn if you have the misfortune of encountering a product like this? www.SaferProducts.gov This website is a clearinghouse Continue Reading

One member of Congress has a question for the restaurants, retailers and processors who sell meat: “What’s in the beef?”  And while they’re at it, she wants to know about pork and poultry too. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has asked 60 companies to disclose their policies on antibiotic use in meat and poultry. “The US Continue Reading

New legislation introduced in the House this week would require limits to be set on arsenic and lead levels in juice for the first time. The “Arsenic Prevention and Protection from Lead Exposure in Juice Act of 2012″ (or APPLE Juice Act), introduced by Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT),  would require the Continue Reading

by Ami Gadhia and Jean Halloran You may have heard a lot recently about Washington D.C. and its ‘regulations’ – probably not much of it good. Politicians and others have been talking about doing away with federal regulations, and the Senate is set to consider several bills that will make it a lot tougher for Continue Reading