Articles by Grist staff

Stuporfund

Superfund Project Funding Still Inadequate According to the U.S. EPA’s own data, some 111 of the nation’s 1,230 Superfund toxic-waste sites may pose ongoing risks to nearby residents of exposure to health-threatening chemicals, and 251 may pose ongoing risks to groundwater. Superfund program analyst Melanie Hoff notes that at “about 80 percent [of Superfund sites] […]

Batting Cleanup

Fed Audit Finds Hanford Cleanup Not Working According to a federal audit released yesterday, efforts to clean up the contaminated groundwater around the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southern Washington state have basically sucked — “largely ineffective” was the report’s more delicate phrase. Thus far the Department of Energy has spent $85 million attempting to clean […]

I’m Gonna Git You, Succor

Panel Report Recommends Monitoring of GM Foods A new report from a 13-member panel of the influential National Academy of Sciences is serving as a bit of a Rorschach test in the debate over genetically modified foods. GM opponents found succor in the panel’s warning that modifying the genetic structure of foods could “create unintended […]

Species Freezies

Scientists Preserve DNA of Endangered Species A consortium of U.K. research centers and scientists has launched an ambitious project to preserve the DNA of thousands of endangered species. The Frozen Ark Project will start with creatures expected to disappear within five years — like North Africa’s scimitar-horned oryx and Mexico’s Socorro dove — and then […]