Thalidomide: "The 50-Year Global Cover-Up"
"Secret files reveal the German maker of thalidomide ignored and covered up repeated warnings that its drug could damage unborn babies."
Source: Melbourne Age, 07/26/2012
Health
"Seasonal Firefighters Win Battle for Government Health Insurance"
"For the first time, more than 8,000 temporary wilderness firefighters -- the men and women who battle some of the nation's most devastating fires -- will be eligible to receive federal health insurance, the White House said Tuesday."
Source: LA Times, 07/19/2012
TOOLBOX: EWG Ag Subsidy Database a Tall Silo of Environmental Stories
One starting point to covering agriculture — and the health implications of land and water use — is to follow the money using Environmental Working Group's major database tool. Any reporter covering the ag-environment link should know about it.
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SEJ's 22nd Annual Conference Agenda — Friday
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SEJ Member Spotlight: Terri Hansen
Terri Hansen, a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and correspondent for This Week from Indian Country, has been reporting on environmental issues since 1992. Her focus areas are the impacts of toxics on human health, environmental justice in the Native American community, and Indigenous Peoples worldwide.
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"Tending the Body’s Microbial Garden"
"For a century, doctors have waged war against bacteria, using antibiotics as their weapons. But that relationship is changing as scientists become more familiar with the 100 trillion microbes that call us home — collectively known as the microbiome."
Source: NY Times, 06/19/2012
"What's in a Name? FDA, on High Fructose Corn Syrup, Says Lots"
"It appears high fructose corn syrup will still be called high fructose corn syrup. On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration denied a petition by the Corn Refiners Assn. (filed in 2010) to allow 'corn sugar' as an alternate name for HFCS."
Source: LA Times, 06/01/2012
Clear Channel Mounts FBI Billboards Promoting Trade Secrecy
Claims of trade secrecy — often unsubstantiated — are a huge barrier to environmental reporters and others trying to find the truth about chemicals that may harm human health and the environment. But the FBI's billboards urge Americans to be vigilant against corporate insiders who may appear suspicious, and presumably to turn them in.
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Data.gov Keeps on Giving Gifts to Gumshoe Reporters
The federal Data.gov, while not perfect, has grown over three years especially strong in datasets from federal agencies that deal with the environment, energy, natural resources, health, and science. Many of them are downloadable, so that you can crunch them on your own computer. Several are map layers or geo-tagged in some way. See a few randomly chosen examples here.
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SEJ Member Spotlight: McKay Jenkins
McKay Jenkins has been writing about people and the natural world for 25 years. He is the director of journalism at the University of Delaware, and the author of numerous books, including What’s Gotten into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World, which chronicles his investigation into the myriad synthetic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and the growing body of evidence about the harm these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment.
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