Articles by Grist staff

Pop Mart

What do butter, meat loaf, cantaloupe, peanuts, and popcorn have in common? Persistent organic pollutants. Banned in the U.S. since the 1970s, POPs such as the pesticides DDT and deldrin still contaminate 20 percent of the food we eat, according to a report by the San Francisco-based Pesticide Action Network. Based on an analysis of […]

Come on In, the Water’s Fine

Ecologists and sport-fishing fans have succeeded in blocking a decree by the Mexican government that would have increased commercial shark fishing and threatened other fish stocks. Mexico currently requires shark vessels to stay 50 miles offshore; the new rule would have allowed them to come within a half-mile of the coast, dragging mile-wide nets and […]

Whale Like a Banshee

After a 10-year struggle to reclaim its whaling rights, Iceland has finally gotten the green light from the International Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunting. The commission outlawed commercial whaling in 1986, but Iceland and Norway refused to accept the ban. Norway negotiated to remain part of the commission and hang onto its hunting rights, […]

Would You Like an Excise Tax With That?

British biodiesel users, beware of bobbies! Police in Great Britain have cracked down on users of the alternative fuel, most recently staging a bust that bagged more than a dozen motorists in the Welsh seaside town of Burry Port. Biodiesel is essentially refined vegetable oil that burns more cleanly than conventional diesel; as the folks […]