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Rider Back Atcha
In a slap in the face to the Bush administration, the U.S. House voted 218 to 189 on Friday to require the White House to stick with the tough standard for arsenic in drinking water set by former President Clinton. Nineteen Republicans supported the measure, which was a direct response to a decision by Bush […]
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Don't Touch That Fish With a 10-foot Pole
Mercury was discovered in Columbia River fish in Washington state more than a decade ago, but the state hasn’t yet posted signs to warn anglers about the dangers of eating mercury-tainted fish. One Health Department official said the major reason for not posting signs was that they would cost too much. Meanwhile, a state government […]
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Be All That You Can Be
Thousands of workers in the U.S. may develop a fatal lung disease because companies have exposed them to the highly toxic metal beryllium without safeguards or warnings, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation. Beryllium disease, once only a problem with the defense industry, appears to be on the rise in the electronics, recycling, and dental […]
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You Dirty Rats!
Using boats and helicopters to drop about 120 tons of poisoned bait, New Zealand has launched the biggest rat eradication program in history. By ridding the remote Campbell Island south of New Zealand of 200,000 rats, officials hope to clear the way for the return of the flightless teal duck and the restoration of a […]
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Rising Stun
The International Whaling Commission yesterday delayed for a year the touchy subject of whether to lift a ban on commercial whaling. A motion by pro-whaling countries asking the IWC to allow controlled hunts was withdrawn before an official vote. The pro-whaling faction is led by Japan, which ran into a P.R. nightmare last week when […]
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Jesus, Christie!
U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman yesterday proposed replacing five of the government’s toughest air-pollution programs with a single approach favored by the electricity industry. Rules to limit mercury emissions, reduce emissions from Midwestern power plants, and restore visibility in national parks would be scrapped. As a replacement, Whitman sketched a plan to reduce nitrogen […]
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Crash Test Dummies?
A panel appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has eased up on the auto industry in a draft report on fuel-economy standards. An earlier draft, which was leaked to the New York Times, said big increases in fuel economy for cars and SUVs would be possible over the next six to 10 years; […]
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Gulp of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone, where nutrient pollution from farms in the Midwest has chocked off fish life, is bigger this year than ever before, according to university researchers. Stretching from the Mississippi River delta to Texas waters, the 8,000-square-mile, low-oxygen area is forcing crabs and other bottom feeders to the surface. Environmental groups […]
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Just Say No to G.M. Escargot
The European Commission proposed a framework yesterday to replace Europe’s three-year moratorium on approving new genetically modified foods. The proposed rules would require labels on all approved biotech foods and testing for the presence of genetically modified organisms at each stage of the production chain. The commission tried to dodge one bullet — in this […]
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Colorado man cleans up war-game carnage
The war is over and Dan Sharps is doing a body count. In a thicket of pinyon and juniper trees, something big and violent has cleared a path. Dan Sharps as a tack. Photo: David Mayfield. “Lost arm,” Sharps says, gesturing toward one tree clipped of a big branch. “Lost leg,” he says, pointing to […]
