GreenWatch

B. McPherson Gap brand clothing has been linked to the use of toxic chemicals in the manufacture of its clothing lines. This also includes their other lines Banana Republic and Old Navy. An Indonesian supplier PT Gistex has been found to be dumping toxic chemicals directly into the local drinking water supply. Despite being outed for its association with polluting manufacturers in China and Mexico, Gap Inc. has not signed on to the Detox campaign that Greenpeace has spearheaded. Clothing lines that have joined the Detox campaign are Zara, Uniglo, Levi’s and Mango. “Investigations into Gap branded clothing also revealed that 78% of the items tested contained traces of nonylphenol ethoxylate – a hazardous chemical that breaks down to form an even more toxic and hormone-disrupting substance when released into rivers, lakes and seas.” Greenpeace The toxic substance nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE), found in much of the Gap Inc. clothes is extremely toxic to aquatic life....

By B. McPherson Fracking for natural gas in the fields outside of Innisfail, Alberta, has seen a spectacular result. A pumpjack in a farmer’s field suddenly started spewing a black liquid into the air. Fracking fluid, nitrogen and oil from the well were sprayed onto the field. Crews are attempting to clean up the mess. Chief Executive for the fracking company, Midway Energy, Scott Ratushny was quoted in the Calgary Herald: “ Approximately 50 cubic metres of oil, fracturing fluid, nitrogen and sand were spilled on the surface and have been recovered from the site, Ratushny said.”  "We have drilled over 40 wells in the Cardium in the region without any incidents," Ratushny said. "We've never seen this before." Calgary Herald Fracking has become a hot environmental issue as the pace of this technology has increased exponentially in the past few years. The search for natural gas – the clean fuel – has corporations fracturing rock formations with e...

By B. McPherson An Indian court has ruled that the banned pesticide endosulfan can be exported in spite of the government’s ban on its manufacture, sales and usage. With a cavalier disregard to other people’s safety, one of the chief justices was quoted in the Environmental Justice Foundation web page: Chief Justice S H Kapadia said, “Our main concern is that we don’t want our people to suffer…Why should this material lie on Indian soil? If some countries are willing to import it, we should go for it.” Endosulfan was introduced to the world in the early 50s as part of the Green Revolution. It was widely used on food crops, potatoes and vegetables. India has been a major producer and user of this chemical but the government has recently instituted a complete ban on its use, manufacture or sale. The manufactures have unsold stocks of the pesticide and lobbied the courts to be able to send the poison to countries that are not respecting the ban. Canada and the US hav...

By B. McPherson While Americans were celebrating the end of 2011 and the beginning of a new year, the USDA quietly approved a new strain of genetically altered corn developed by Monsanto in coordination with the large chemical corporation BASF. According to Monsanto’s press release, the corn will be able to better able resist drought conditions as well as stand up to Roundup and the predations of insects. “For the 2012 trials, Monsanto plans to have Genuity® VT Triple PRO® and Genuity® VT Double PRO® technology serve as the agronomic trait platform to be used with the drought-tolerant trait. These technologies offer growers excellent insect protection and tolerance to Roundup® agricultural herbicides.” Monsanto Press Release Corn varieties that have these characteristics are ‘stacked’ in that they have multiple non-corn genes inserted into their DNA.  There is little to no independent research done on the possible synergistic effect of multiple alien genes ins...