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All Documents in Health Tagged food

Growing Green Awards
2013 Awards Honor Extraordinary Leadership in Sustainable Food
News

NRDC is honoring leaders in the field of sustainable food and agriculture through the fifth annual Growing Green Awards.

Raising Resistance: Feeding Antibiotics to Healthy Food Animals Breeds Bacteria Dangerous to Human Health
Overview

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a major public health crisis, leading to infections that are difficult to treat and sometimes impossible to cure, require longer and more expensive hospital stays, and are more likely to be fatal. At the same time, the development of new antibiotics has slowed to a trickle. In some cases, there are now few or no antibiotics that work to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections. Meanwhile, scientific studies have shown that consumers are exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria on their meat and other food. While improper use of antibiotics in the health care sector is a problem, organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) recognize that the "overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food animals" is a major source of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Curbing inappropriate use of antibiotics is key to maintaining their effectiveness in humans and slowing the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Get document in pdf.

Case Study: Alar
History

Much as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle led to passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act 0f 1906, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring triggered bans of DDT and other toxins, the airing in February 1989 of the 60 Minutes broadcast, "A is for Apples" -- based in large part on NRDC publication, "Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in Our Children's Food" -- sparked a chain of events that led to critical improvements in food safety policy.

Mercury Contamination
A Guide to Staying Healthy and Fighting Back
Guide

Power plants and chemical facilities are the main sources of mercury pollution, but this hazardous chemical makes its way into our homes and bodies in fish. This guide provides information about the health effects of mercury exposure, shows where it's coming from, offers tips for eating fish more safely and highlights opportunities to help stop mercury pollution.

Eat Green
Our everyday food choices affect global warming and the environment
Fact Sheet

What we eat matters. The food choices we make every day have a big effect on the environment. The good news is that even small changes in what we buy and eat can add up to real environmental benefits, including fewer toxic chemicals, reduced global warming emissions, and preservation of our ocean resources. Eating “green” can also mean eating fresher, healthier foods while reducing your grocery bill and supporting our farmers. Get document in pdf.

The Benefits of Organic Food
Food grown without intensive use of synthetic chemicals is better for the health of people and the environment
Overview

In recent years, many farmers across the United States have abandoned synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and hormones in favor of organic growing methods. The result is healthy, naturally grown food that’s better for our health and the environment.

Green Eating Guide
Tips for making healthy food choices for you and the planet
Guide

From farm to fork, growing our food, processing it and transporting it all use tremendous amounts of energy, water and chemicals. By making just a few small changes in our eating and buying habits, we can greatly reduce this impact. When we eat green, we help the environment by reducing global warming pollution -- and help ourselves by eating fresh and healthy food.

The EPA’s Pesticide-Protection Failure
Opinion

Linda Greer, the director of NRDC’s public health program, discusses the failure of the federal government to implement the Food Quality Protection Act, a groundbreaking 1996 law recognizing that children are particularly vulnerable to the ill-effects of pesticides.

Children, Cancer & The Environment
By identifying elements in the environment that contribute to cancer, we can take steps to eliminate them and protect our children and ourselves.
Overview

Scientists now believe that many childhood cancers are caused by environmental factors which, unlike heredity, can theoretically be controlled. Learn more about some of the suspected environmental causes of childhood cancer and how you can reduce the risks to your own children.

Endocrine Disruptors
FAQ

Answers to questions including: What is an endocrine disruptor? What are some likely routes of exposure to endocrine disruptors? Are children at greater risk from endocrine disruptors?

How to Protect Your Children from Environmental Risks
Pollution-related illnesses may be on the rise, but there are things parents can do.
Guide

Pollution-related illnesses are on the rise, increasing concerns about the role environmental toxins might play in diseases, especially in children, as rates of asthma and childhood cancers increase. There are steps you can take to protect your children from the five worst environmental threats to their health: lead, air pollution, pesticides, environmental tobacco smoke, and drinking water contamination.

Our Children At Risk
The Five Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health
Report

A report identifying the special vulnerability of children to environmental hazards and highlighting the growing evidence pointing to a link between pollution and childhood illnesses. The report makes recommendations, at both the policy and personal levels, for the protection of the next generation.

The Story of Silent Spring
How a courageous woman took on the chemical industry and raised important questions about humankind's impact on nature.
History

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) was one of the landmark books of the 20th century. It described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans, causing cancer and genetic damage. Silent Spring not only exposed the hazards of the pesticide DDT, but eloquently questioned humanity's faith in technological progress and helped set the stage for the environmental movement that followed.

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