The Issue
Chemicals in Food
Foods can contain many harmful substances, including pesticides, unhealthy additives or contaminants. EWG is working to reduce the threat of toxic chemicals in food.
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The Latest on Chemicals in Food
New tests by Toronto's Globe and Mail and CTV News show some of the world's highest levels of chemical fire retardants in common Canadian foods.
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The Washington Post reports that half the fish consumed worldwide will be farm-raised instead of wild-caught by the year 2025, exposing Americans to more fish with plenty of healthy omega-3s and dangerous levels of toxic PCBs.
Read MoreA new study finds chemical flame retardants known as PBDEs contaminate common foods available on supermarket shelves. The study appears in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology and provides possible evidence that food may be a primary source of the flame retardant contamination found in humans.
Read MoreA study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology shows that farmed salmon accumulates higher levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) a chemical flame retardant used in furniture and electrical equipment. Some types of flame retardants have been banned in Europe and California because of health concerns.
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The American Medical Association (AMA), the national professional organization for all physicians in the United States, has adopted a resolution that includes the following recommendation: "Given the limitations of national consumer fish consumption advisories, the Food and Drug Administration should consider the advisability of requiring that fish consumption advisories and results related to mercury testing be posted where fish, including canned tuna, are sold."
Read MoreIn a sharp rebuke to the Bush Administration, a federal advisory committee on children's health warns that the EPA's recommended cleanup level for a rocket fuel chemical fails to protect children, fetuses and mothers.
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Milk from cows raised in some parts of California may expose infants and children to more of a toxic rocket fuel chemical than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Massachusetts, according to unreleased tests by state agriculture officials and independent laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) says tests on salmon and trout raised in federal hatcheries in the Northeast found enough PCBs and other toxic chemicals that consumers should severely limit consumption – no more than one meal of the fish every two months.
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A new study by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) found that a large percentage of people who had their blood and urine tested carried pesticides above levels considered safe by government health and environmental agencies.
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Grist magazine reports that the Bush Administration, at the behest of agribusiness lobbyists, has quietly taken several actions to weaken national standards for organic food. The Department of Agriculture made the changes without allowing public comment or feedback from the National Organic Standards Board, an advisory panel that is supposed to review changes to the standards.
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The Oregonian reports consumers are increasingly choosing healthy wild salmon instead of PCB-laden farmed salmon. Studies over the past year by EWG and others have shown that farmed salmon has far higher levels of toxic PCBs than wild salmon. Higher prices for wild salmon are good news for Alaska and other West Coast fishermen who have struggled in recent decades.
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Air pollution from coal burned in power plants is a major source of mercury in fish. If women follow the FDA's advice and eat one can of albacore tuna a week, hundreds of thousands more babies will be exposed to hazardous levels of mercury.
Read MoreEWG's analysis of mercury data obtained from FDA under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that mercury contamination of fish is more serious than federal scientists previously assumed.
Read MoreThe Environmental Working Group (EWG) today released results of the most extensive tests to date of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) levels in farmed salmon consumed in the United States.
Read MoreView and Download the report here: Tainted Catch
Read MoreEWG asks the CEOs of nine major fast food corporations to disclose the use of toxic nonstick chemicals in their packaging.
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Lettuce grown in the fall and winter months in Southern California or Arizona may contain higher levels of toxic rocket fuel than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to independent laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).
Read MoreCorrespondence regarding perchlorate contamination in food growth in the United States
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