Articles by Grist staff

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

After a decade of debate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released final standards for labeling organic foods last month, siding with environmentalists and the organic farming industry on nearly every contentious issue. The standards, which will become fully effective in 2002, ban the use of irradiation, biotechnology, and sewer-sludge fertilizer for any food labeled organic. […]

Not Watt! Nit Whit!

In a move that has environmentalists up in arms, President-elect George W. Bush nominated former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton for Interior secretary on Friday. Norton, a protege of James Watt, Ronald Reagan’s first Interior secretary, was part of an effort under Watt to try to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to […]

Hi, Ho, Quicksilver

After more than six years of debate, the U.S. EPA yesterday said it would draft standards to require coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that as many as 60,000 babies may be exposed to unhealthy levels of mercury each year because either they or their […]

Gone Fission

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where a reactor melted down and spewed radiation 14 years ago in the world’s worst nuclear accident, was shut down with a simple flip of a switch today in Ukraine. Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma said, “The world will become a safer place. People will sleep in peace.” Since the 1986 […]