Media Center

Food Security Background Briefer: Our Food and Farms are at Risk from Climate Change

May 1, 2014 Press Release

Two definitive reports, representing the work of hundreds of scientists, show the risks that climate change poses to our food system. A recent U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, including a chapter on food and agriculture is available here…

Chicago’s Petcoke Problem: City Council Ordinance Moves in the Right Direction

April 30, 2014 Press Release

CHICAGO (April 30, 2014) – Chicago’s City Council today prohibited more oil refining waste storage sites from blighting the city’s neighborhoods, air and waterways with the passage of an ordinance aimed at banning new coal and petroleum coke (petcoke) operations…

Supreme Court Ruling Protects Millions from Air Pollution

April 29, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 29, 2014) -- The Supreme Court today upheld, by a 6-2 vote, the cross-state air pollution rule, one of the most significant health standards ever adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Koch Brothers in Court Over Chicago's Petcoke Piles?

April 28, 2014 Press Release

CHICAGO (April 28, 2014) – Environmental groups today signaled their intention to sue the owners of two sites that together hold massive mounds of oil refining waste and coal on Chicago’s Southeast Side. The Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) and…

CDC: Foster Farms Salmonella Outbreak Not Over

April 21, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 21, 2014) – More than two months after declaring the outbreak appeared to be over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported an additional 43 people sickened by strains of Salmonella linked to Foster Farms…

Spring-run Salmon Release Marks Progress in Restoring San Joaquin River

April 17, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 17, 2014) – Today, for the first time in over 60 years, spring run Chinook salmon returned to the San Joaquin River when the San Joaquin River Restoration Program released 54,000 juvenile into California’s second largest…

California Fails to Protect Drinking Water from Toxic “Erin Brockovich” Chemical

April 15, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO (April 15, 2014) – The California Department of Public Health today announced its final drinking water standard for the toxic chemical hexavalent chromium made infamous in the film Erin Brockovich. The state’s new Maximum Contaminant Level of 10…

NRDC Report: Potentially Unsafe Chemicals in Food Threaten Public Health

April 7, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 7, 2014) – Federal protections to keep potentially unsafe chemicals out of our foods are woefully inadequate and may be putting the health of Americans at risk, a Natural Resources Defense Council investigation found.

FDA’s Antibiotics Plan Misses the Mark

March 26, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 26, 2014) – The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) today released a progress report on its voluntary approach to reducing the use of antibiotics in farm animals, which relies on collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.

NRDC Petition Helps Put a Stop to Toxic Chemical in Flea Collars

March 14, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 14, 2014) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and major pet product companies announced an agreement today to cancel the use of a toxic chemical called propoxur in flea collars due to the risk posed to the…

U.S. Nuclear Regulators Still Not Doing Enough to Prevent Fukushima-like Hydrogen Explosions

March 11, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 11, 2014)—On the third anniversary of the devastating nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, the Government Accountability Office today issued a report on how nuclear regulators in the U.S. and 15 other countries are responding to the lessons learned…

NRDC Report: U.S. Nuclear Safety Regulators Ignore Severe Accident Hydrogen Explosion Risks Despite Fukushima Tragedy

March 7, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC (March 7, 2014)—Three years after hydrogen explosions wreaked havoc in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is still not adequately protecting American nuclear reactors from the risk of similar hydrogen blasts in a severe…

House Bill Would Gut Environmental Safeguards on Major Projects

March 6, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 6, 2014)—The House of Representatives Thursday approved the RAPID Act, a bill that would gut environmental safeguards on major development projects, handing the review and decision process over to developers and limiting the public’s participation on these large…

House Chemicals Bill Would Undermine Health and Safety

February 28, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 28, 2014) – A House bill to overhaul federal oversight of the chemical industry would do more harm than good, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The bill, introduced late yesterday by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), chair…

House Bills Threaten Public Safeguards

February 27, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 27, 2014)—The House of Representatives today passed a package of bills, HR 2804, that would hobble--and even prevent--federal agencies from carrying out their Congressional mandates to implement and enforce safeguards to protect public health and safety.

NRDC Petitions EPA to Save the Monarch Butterfly

February 24, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 24, 2014)--Skyrocketing use of the weed-killer glyphosate, first marketed as “Roundup,” is devastating monarch butterfly populations, and new safeguards should be put in place immediately to save the iconic species from further decline, the Natural Resources Defense Council…

New Report: Food Expiration Date Confusion Causing up to 90% of Americans to Waste Food

September 18, 2013 Press Release

NRDC & Harvard Reveal Costs of Mass Consumer Confusion; Offer New Plan for Commonsense Food Date Labeling

GAO Perchlorate Report Demands Action, NRDC Says

June 21, 2005 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 21, 2005) -- The General Accountability Office (GAO) today is expected to release the results of its 18-month study on perchlorate. The chemical, a primary component of rocket fuel, harms the thyroid and is especially dangerous for infants…

Academy Succumbs to Pentagon-White House-Industry Pressure, Recommends Perchlorate Safety Level that Fails to Protect Children

January 10, 2005 Press Release

WASHINGTON (January 10, 2005) -- The National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) report released today, which concluded that a higher exposure level to the toxic rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate than recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency is not harmful, could threaten…

White House, Pentagon, Industry Secretly Colluded to Skew National Academy of Sciences Perchlorate Report, Documents Show

January 10, 2005 Press Release

Chemical Attacks Thyroid, Poses Significant Threat to Infants