FEATURED STORIES

A synthetic opioid created in the 1970’s has made an appearance in parts of Texas recently, and health officials are concerned about the dangers associated with it.
At least 2 North Texans have been hospitalized after using the drug, U-47700, according to officials with the North Texas Poison Center. Dr. Joann Schulte, a toxicologist with the North Texas Poison Control Center said of the dangerous substance:

“No matter how you want to party – I don’t think anyone wants to die.”

The world’s oceans are filled with plastic. More than 5 million pieces of it are floating around, being eaten by fish and passed up the food chain. Every year, more than 100,000 marine animals and seabirds are killed by plastic waste.
Illustration: P. Huey. Sourced from U.T. Bornscheuer, Science 351:1154 (2016).
Of the 342 million tons of plastic produced each year, a tiny fraction of it – about 14% – is recyclable.

It was just a week ago that the Internet exploded with confused-anger after a photograph of peeled oranges packaged in plastic on the shelves of a Whole Foods store was posted on Twitter. Whole Foods, which fancies itself a sustainable and environmentally friendly company, quickly pulled the fruit from its shelves after enduring thousands of complaints about the oranges’ “wasteful” packaging.

A city in Northern Michigan recently passed an ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell without cause for concern, but a series of massive raids conducted by U.S. Homeland Security, the Michigan State Police, and a number of sheriff’s offices has resulted in millions of dollars of product, cash, and even automobiles being seized.

If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of having a landlord who doesn’t seem to care that toxic mold is growing in your house or apartment, you might want to consider moving to California, because the state isn’t putting up with that kind of neglect anymore.
California recently became the first state to declare that the presence of mold is an enforceable substandard housing condition. The law, which went into effect January 1, declares that the visible presence of mold is a misdemeanor.

A landmark case about the dirty-money and politics that go into keeping Big Food and Big Biotech afloat was just decided.
Judge Anne Hirsch awarded a summary judgment in a suit brought against the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, finding the GMA guilty of a money laundering scheme that shielded members’ identities as they helped to defeat Washington’s 2013 GMO labeling ballot initiative, I-522, with their donations.

After price-gouging sick Americans for its pharmaceutical drugs, Pfizer plans to slip under the IRS’s radar and dodge an estimated $35 billion tax bill by merging with a foreign company (a $160 billion buyout).

The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) unanimously voted last week against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, adding to a growing number of opponents to a proposed ballot measure that would decriminalize cannabis in the state.

Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is currently treating an American health care worker who was diagnosed with Lassa fever, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Sunday.
Emory is the same hospital which treated 4 Ebola patients in 2014.
The patient, a physician’s assistant who had been working with a missionary organization in Tongo, was transported from West Africa to Atlanta at the request of the U.S. State Department after doctors suspected she had the virus. [1]

Genetically modified mosquitoes designed to limit the spread of the Zika virus will likely soon be unleashed in the southern United States, as the federal government said today decided to permit a field test in the Florida Keys.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had made a preliminary determination that the GM mosquitoes are unlikely to harm humans, animals, or the environment.