Sign up to receive email updates, action alerts & health tips from EWG. [Privacy]

News Releases

U.S. Catches Up with Science On Fluoride in Drinking Water

Friday, January 7, 2011
Since 2005, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been pushing the federal government and municipal water utilities to reduce the levels of fluoride in drinking water to protect children from tooth enamel damage ("dental fluorosis") and other potential health problems. Today those concerns have been heard. The nation's top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced plans to lower the agency's maximum recommended fluoride level from 1.2 milligrams per liter of water to 0.7.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Water
Tap Water

What’s In Your Bottled Water – Besides Water?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011
A survey of websites and labels of more than 170 bottled waters sold in the U.S. found only three – and only one of the top 10 domestic brands – that give customers information about the water’s source, the method of purification and any chemical pollutants that remained after the water was treated, according to a new report by Environmental Working Group (EWG) .
Read more
Key Issues: 
Bottled Water

California Moves to Protect Public from Notorious Carcinogen

Monday, January 3, 2011
For years, California officials have been working to set the nation's first-ever safety standard for the carcinogenic metal hexavalent chromium (chromium-6), commonly found in the state's drinking water. Last week (Dec. 31), after specifically evaluating the pollutant’s threat to infants, public health officials sharply lowered their proposed “public health goal” to 0.02 parts per billion (ppb) of chromium-6 in drinking water.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Toxics
Chromium-6
Water
Tap Water

EWG Applauds Obama Administration Plan to Address Chromium-6 Contamination

Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Just two days after the release of Environmental Working Group's (EWG) analysis of chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium) contamination in the drinking water of 31 U.S. cities, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a comprehensive plan to help local water utilities address the problem.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Toxics
Chromium-6
Water
Tap Water

Milestone Measure to Advance Food Safety Passes Congress

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The nation’s food safety system is responsible for 3,000 deaths each year, and 48 million illnesses annually , according to newly released data from the federal Centers for Disease Control. Landmark federal legislation enacted today by Congress should significantly reduce that terrible human toll.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Food

Press Release - Tests Show Notorious Carcinogen is Widespread in US Tap Water

Monday, December 20, 2010
Millions of Americans are drinking water contaminated with the carcinogenic chemical that came to national attention in the 2000 feature film Erin Brockovich. Laboratory tests commissioned by EWG found hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in the drinking water of 31 of 35 selected U.S. cities. Among those with the highest levels were Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Toxics
Chromium-6
Water
Tap Water

Lawmakers, Researchers, Doctors Reject Schwarzenegger’s Flawed Green Chemistry Proposal

Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Oakland, Calif. – Lawmakers, public health advocates, scientists, public utility managers and medical doctors are demanding that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger withdraw his administration’s proposed Green Chemistry regulations.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Toxics
Chemical Policy

Obama Signs Child Nutrition Act

Monday, December 13, 2010
Taking an historic step to improve the health of children across the country, President Obama signed into law today (Dec. 13) the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. For the first time in three decades, the federal government will dedicate additional resources to expanding child nutrition programs and improving the quality of school lunches in order to fight rising hunger and reduce childhood obesity.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Food
Healthy Eating

Farm Pollution Knocks Chesapeake Bay Out of Balance

Tuesday, December 7, 2010
For more than thirty years, contamination from high-intensity farming has been adding to the pollution that fouls Chesapeake Bay, one of America’s most storied waterways. A new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows that weakly regulated agricultural practices in the six states of the Chesapeake watershed are overloading soils with phosphorus, a major reason the bay is in trouble.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Farming
Environment

Congress Passes Child Nutrition Act

Thursday, December 2, 2010
A major public health victory on behalf of the nation's neediest children is about to be realized when President Obama signs into law legislation that will provide healthy school lunches to millions.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Food
Healthy Eating

Holidays Come Early for California Chemical Makers

Thursday, December 2, 2010
In September 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the signing of two bills that, he said, would propel “California to the forefront of the nation and the world with the most comprehensive Green Chemistry program ever established.” He promised that once the legislation went into effect, toxic chemicals would no longer become “inevitable byproduct of industrial production,” lowering the risk of exposure to synthetic chemicals for California’s people and the environment.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Chemical Policy

Food Safety Bill will Save the Lives of Thousands

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
At least 5,000 Americans – most of them young children, the elderly and the sick – die every year from eating contaminated food, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And about 76 million get sick from ingesting food-borne pathogens.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Food
Chemicals in Food

Environmental, Health, Business and Public Policy Experts Join EWG Board

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Six new members have taken seats on the board of directors of Environmental Working Group, collectively bringing with them decades of experience in environmental activism, grassroots organizing, children’s health and a wide range of public policy issues, from civil rights to constitutional law.
Read more

Europe Steps Up to Protect Babies from BPA

Friday, November 26, 2010
Bisphenol-A (BPA) will be banned from baby bottles come June of 2011, announced the European Union’s executive commission on Thursday.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Chemical Policy
BPA

Black Farmers Finally See Justice

Saturday, November 20, 2010
Yesterday (Nov 19) it was announced that the $1.15 billion awarded black farmers in the Pigford settlement that arose from decades of discriminatory practices at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finally been approved by the Senate.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Farming

Chemical Lobby Gets Its Way in U.S. Senate

Friday, November 19, 2010
For several years now, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been warning of the risks associated with bisphenol A (BPA) – especially the BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups and cans of infant formula. EWG has also been a leader in trying to get state and federal agencies to regulate this hazardous chemical.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Chemical Policy

Calif. Officials Honored for Efforts to Protect Public Health and Environment

Thursday, November 18, 2010
Six dedicated public servants will be honored tonight in San Francisco for their shared commitment to protecting the health and environment of Californians.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Chemical Policy

Will the Real Ethanol Beneficiaries Please Stand Up?

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
This month’s election is being called a referendum on taxpayer-funded bailouts and wasteful federal spending, but Congress may not have gotten the message. It’s poised to approve billions in additional federal subsidies to the corn ethanol industry in the lame duck session that began this week.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Energy
Biofuels

In Farm Country, Democrats’ Bitter Harvest

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Just two years ago, Democratic political strategists defended passage of a status-quo farm subsidy bill by claiming it was essential to the survival of freshmen members from farm districts and to the party’s continued control of the House.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Subsidies

Throwing Good Money at Bad Land

Wednesday, October 20, 2010
A new Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis has found that a federal Bureau of Reclamation proposal to continue farming on a vast swath of selenium-tainted acreage in the Central Valley’s giant Westlands Water District would cause a taxpayer boondoggle.
Read more
Key Issues: 
Farming
Subsidies

Pages