Monsanto agrees to pay $1.5 million in penalties for Indonesian bribes When agrochemical giant Monsanto's bid to introduce genetically modified cotton to Indonesia was met with widespread protests from farmers and activists, it bribed a government official in order to avoid having an environmental impact study conducted on its GM crop. Yesterday Monsanto agreed to pay $1.5 million in fines -- $1 million to the U.S. Justice Department and $500,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission -- for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The proximate cause was a $50,000 payment to a member of Indonesia's Ministry of the Environment, …

Dear Umbra, Can you tell me what is the best and most effective composter for a small urban backyard? JoeBaltimore, Md. Dearest Joe, Sort of. It's ultimately a very personal choice, and one that depends on what you will try to compost and the amount of time you are willing to spend helping the compost along. You may be familiar with the concepts of "aerobic" and "anaerobic" decomposition. Aerobic is better, and compost bins in this category will either be worm domiciles or will involve some version of constantly turning the compost to integrate oxygen into the mix. Folding air …

John Mackey wants you to buy his organic squash. He's the Bill Gates of organic foods. John Mackey, founder and CEO of the Whole Foods empire, started his original health-food store, called Safer Way, in a garage in Austin, Texas, in 1978. Local farmers would drop off produce from junky old pickups, hippie bakers would supply nut loaves and 20-grain bran muffins. It was strictly vegetarian, just like Mackey himself. But he soon realized he'd have to change his tune if he wanted to hit the big time, and change it he did. Whole Foods now offers everything from beer …

Burgeoning soybean market transforming South American environment The global market for soybeans is exploding, largely driven by massive demand from China, and the resulting modern-day agricultural gold rush is transforming the landscape in South America. Farmers are chopping down rainforests, colonizing savannahs, damming rivers, and digging canals, all in an effort to get more land to raise the crop, which has lifted many of them out of poverty in an astonishingly short period of time. Argentinean acreage devoted to soybeans went from about 17 million in 1997 to more than 34 million today, Brazil from 32 million to 57 million. …

Dear Umbra, Yesterday in the grocery store I saw a "golden kiwi." Is there really such a thing? It was over twice the size of a regular kiwi and the familiar fuzz was not there. It was almost as smooth as a nectarine. When I inquired of the produce representative, she told me that it was a "natural" unaltered fruit and that I could taste it if I wanted to. Naturally, I declined. I am very leery of this strange new fruit. And have you seen the pluot? It looks somewhat like a transparent Macintosh apple crossed with a plum …

Imported herbal remedies found to contain lead and other nasties Ayurvedic herbal supplements imported from South Asia may contain lead, mercury, and arsenic, sometimes at levels high enough to cause serious health problems, including vomiting, convulsions, and seizures. A new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 20 percent of the remedies purchased in the U.S. and tested contained unsafe levels of heavy metals. Currently the supplements are not strictly monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the study's authors called for sharply increased quality control. No one's quite sure where the heavy metals are …

Sugar is causing environmental catastrophes A high-sugar diet is slowly fattening and sickening American people, but we're getting off easy. Turns out the sweet stuff is outright killing endangered Florida panthers, not to mention the ecosystem in which they live. Almost 700,000 acres of the Florida Everglades have been drained to create the Everglades Agricultural Area, about 80 percent of which is used by the state's powerful sugar industry to grow cane. Phosphorus and nitrates from fertilizers drain from farms into the Everglades, causing grasses to grow rapidly and choke out wading birds, keeping them from feeding while also altering …

At a White House ceremony last week announcing the nomination of Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns (R) to succeed Ann Veneman as agriculture secretary, President Bush called his pick "a strong proponent of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol and biodiesel," later adding that "in a new term, we'll continue policies that are pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-farmer." Johanns (left) accepts nomination, as wife Stephanie looks on. Funny he didn't mention "pro-corn." Hailing from a state ranked as the third-largest corn producer in the nation, Johanns has had obvious economic reasons to be a strong advocate for ethanol, the gasoline additive derived …

Afghan poppy fields mysteriously sprayed with chemicals Recently, planes have been flying over the poppy fields of Afghan farmers, spraying them -- along with houses, orchards, and perhaps even families -- with toxic chemicals apparently intended to kill poppy crops and keep them from being converted to heroin. Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed shock at the spraying, which his government has vowed never to support, and called on U.S. and U.K. ambassadors to explain the abrogation of Afghan sovereignty. The U.S. recently announced that it will provide $780 million to battle illegal drug production in Afghanistan, it still has a …

Patricia Lovera With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am deputy director of the Energy and Environment Program at Public Citizen. We have campaigns on energy (fighting nuclear power and electricity deregulation), against the privatization of our water supplies, and on food safety (fighting food irradiation and other methods of industrialized food production that negatively affect people's health and the environment). I work primarily on the food campaign. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute "mission accomplished"? Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, …