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In the News: Civil Eats March 22, 2023

Paraquat, the Deadliest Chemical in US Agriculture, Goes on Trial

Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Attorney, Toxic Exposure & Health Program, Earthjustice: “The initial paraquat risk assessment was scientifically and legally baseless. The key question now is whether EPA uses this new opportunity to follow the science and protect the public from this incredibly dangerous pesticide.”

Press Release March 17, 2023

Agriculture, Food, and Land-Focused Organizations Support SEC on Scope 3 Emissions Disclosure

Eighteen organizations submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission to express their support for the SEC’s proposed rule on climate disclosure, including its provisions on Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions

An industrial hog facility in North Carolina. Hog feces and urine are flushed into open, unlined pits and then sprayed onto nearby fields. The practice leads to waste contaminating nearby waters, and drifting as "mist" onto neighboring properties.
(Photo courtesy of Friends of Family Farmers)
Press Release March 9, 2023

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Hear Testimony Friday on Abuses at U.S. Factory Farms

The expansion of CAFOs, commonly known as factory farms, has caused a range of human rights abuses in the United States and across the American continents

Press Release: Victory March 1, 2023

In Response to Lawsuit, EPA Announces Timeline for First Revisions to Slaughterhouse Water Pollution Standards in Nearly Twenty Years

EPA agrees to strengthen standards for the nation’s largest industrial source of phosphorus pollution — and second-largest industrial source of nitrogen pollution — by 2025

feature February 27, 2023

From the Ground Up: A Petition to Protect New York City’s Community Gardens

By protecting community gardens through CEA designation, New York City can help to ensure that the gardens continue to strengthen and transform neighborhoods for decades to come.

Press Release February 3, 2023

Earthjustice Applauds Legislation to Rein In Factory Farms and Protect Farmworkers and Consumers from Harmful Pesticide Exposure

Earthjustice urges the Senate to hold the industry accountable and ensure consumer and worker safety at all levels of our food supply chain

Press Release January 25, 2023

FDA Can Curtail Antibiotic Crisis by Ending Misuse in Livestock Animals, Say Health Advocate Groups in New Lawsuit

The misuse of these medicines has contributed to the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — a growing public health crisis responsible for 35,000 deaths and over 2.8 million cases of illness each year in the United States

Document January 25, 2023

Alliance of Nurses v. FDA: Complaint

To protect the safety of consumers, meat processing workers and farming communities, a coalition of public health advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and its Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), challenging the refusal to phase out unnecessary uses of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

(Samantha Lee / Earthjustice)
Article January 20, 2023

How’s Biden Doing on the Climate Crisis?

Earthjustice’s attorneys and policy experts rated his administration’s progress.

Press Release January 18, 2023

Legal Arguments Begin in Case Challenging EPA’s Decision to Authorize Medically Important Antibiotic as Citrus Pesticide

Farmworkers, Public Interest Groups Argue EPA’s Approval of Streptomycin for Use in Citrus Grove is Risky, Unlawful

Industrial livestock facilities are the largest polluters of the deadly gases ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
(Shutterstock)
From the Experts December 22, 2022

It’s Time to Put an End to Industrial Agriculture’s Relentless Pursuit of Secrecy

Big agriculture is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and yet several bills have been introduced to hide the industry’s pollution.

Press Release December 21, 2022

EPA to reconsider the use of bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor

Court allows the use of the pesticide while review proceeds

Press Release December 20, 2022

Earthjustice Sustainable Food and Farming Program Statement: New York State Climate Action Council Final Scoping Plan

While necessary action in reducing emissions from food production and food waste were included in the Final Scoping Plan, transformative strategies such as methane emissions limitations were left on the table

Document December 20, 2022

Comments: NYS Climate Action Council Draft Scoping Plan

Comments filed on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) Draft Scoping Plan. The attached comments were written by a coalition of environmental, environmental justice, labor, and economic justice groups across New York State.

Document December 19, 2022

Sustainable Food and Farming Program: NYS CAC Comments 2022

Agriculture & Forestry Chapter of the Comments on the Climate Action Council Draft Scoping Plan

From the Experts December 13, 2022

Pollution from the Largest, Dirtiest Meat- and Dairy-Production Facilities Worsens Injustice. We’re Calling for Change.

EPA’s current approach to CAFO permitting exposes millions of people to harm, in violation of the Clean Water Act, as well as executive orders aimed at advancing environmental justice.

Press Release December 13, 2022

International Coalition Urges Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Investigate Abuses from Industrial Meat, Egg, Dairy Facilities

The thematic hearing request is supported by 243 organizations, including petitioning groups from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, and the United States. The request urges the commission, which monitors human rights within the Organization of American States, to investigate human rights abuses resulting from the unchecked expansion of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, across the Americas.

Document December 13, 2022

CAFO Hearing Request: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The objective of the hearing would be to present detailed information on the harms to human rights caused by industrial meat-, egg-, and dairy-production facilities—commonly known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)—in the Americas, with an emphasis on human rights abuses from CAFOs in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and the United States. Because CAFOs hold up to hundreds of thousands of poultry, swine, dairy cows, or other animals in close confinement, they pose serious threats to human health and the environment.