Articles by Grist staff

Maybe There’s Something to This “Polite” Business

Auto industry agrees to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada After years of halting negotiations, the auto industry has reached a deal with the Canadian government to voluntarily reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by some 5.8 million tons by 2010. Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion had previously threatened to impose strict fuel-economy standards if the automakers didn’t […]

Do You Ear What I Ear?

Government kept mum about GM corn’s mistaken identity Over a four-year period, Swiss biotech giant Syngenta AG inadvertently sold unapproved strains of genetically modified corn seed to U.S. farmers. The corporation claims the sales, which began in 2001, resulted from a case of mistaken identity between two genetically similar varieties of GM corn. Although the […]

Panther in the Dark

FWS admits using bad data to determine panther habitat The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has admitted to using shoddy science and thrice violating federal law while designating habitat for the endangered Florida panther, thereby allowing giant development projects to proceed within the species’ range. Turns out, the core of the disputed science was a […]

Dust, but Verify

New study finds toxic chemicals in household dust Samples of household dust from 70 residences in seven U.S. states were found to contain a toxic cocktail of industrial chemicals — all of which have been shown to harm animals, all of which are legal and commonly used. The study, conducted by consumer-advocate group Clean Production […]