FEATURED STORIES

A legislative drafting error has caused local governments in California to act post-haste to fix what would be a ban on marijuana cultivation in the state. Gov. Jerry Brown signed an emergency bill to fix the problem just days ago.
The legislation, AB21, proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Healdsburg, would amend the comprehensive medical marijuana regulations that the California Legislature passed in September. It would:

Public health directors across the United States are pressuring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put a “black box” warning, the agency’s strongest warning, on prescription painkillers and sedatives. [1]
The demand, which comes in the form of a petition, comes as cities and states grapple with a growing epidemic of painkiller abuse.
The officials write in the petition submitted Monday:

No one would hand a five-year-old a package of Marlboro Red cigarettes and tell her to smoke up! But that’s what exposing our children to pesticides is like, according to a new study from the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas, CHAMACOS.
Chronic exposure to pesticides is as bad for children’s lungs as secondhand cigarette smoke, which we’ve learned over the years is often worse than first-hand smoke.

Keurigs and other single-serve coffee makers make great coffee and they sure are convenient. But environmentally speaking, the little plastic coffee pods, or “K-Cups,” that house the coffee are a nightmare. So much so that the city Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, just became the first in the world to ban them.
Photograph: Humans are Free

“I grew up worshiping at the altar of science, and in my wildest dreams I never thought scientists would behave this way,” said Virginia Tech professor, Marc Edwards, whose research helped expose the high levels of lead in municipal waters in both Flint, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

A medical marijuana proposal that would legalize edible, vapor, and topical cannabis products was recently approved by Utah state senators on Monday, with lawmakers voting 13-15 to advance the bill.
Senate Bill 73 still has one more regulatory hurdle to clear – 1 more vote in the Senate, which could happen as soon as Wednesday. Senate Bill 89, a competing bill that would permit an extract to treat medical conditions, was passed with an 18-8 Senate vote, and is now on its way to the House for consideration.

Senator Pat Roberts is taking over where other legislators have left off. He’s been busy trying to push the DARK ACT, a piece of legislation that would halt states from implementing mandatory GMO labeling, on the people with brute force.

Like probably many of you, I have friends who have no clue why eating organic is a big deal. Prepare to show this piece to them the next time they laugh at you for spending a little extra on foods that aren’t genetically modified and covered in pesticides.
A new study analyzing data on milk and meat found that the organic varieties contain 50% more omega-3s than the non-organic types.

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide, Roundup, is “the most widely applied pesticide worldwide.” Yet farmers report that glyphosate is failing to control weeds – so why is it still being used?!

After refusing a $47 billion-dollar takeover bid from Monsanto – one of its biggest pesticide production competitors – the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta AG has agreed to a $43 billion cash buyout by government-owned China National Chemical Corp. Syngenta had rejected an earlier bid of $42 billion.