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Georgia Becomes 2nd State to Shield Maker of Roundup Weed Killer From Some Cancer Claims
In a victory for global agrochemical maker Bayer, Georgia has become the second state to shield pesticide manufacturers from some lawsuits claiming that they failed to warn customers of potential dangers. The legislation signed Friday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is designed to protect Bayer from lawsuits claiming that it failed to tell customers that its popular weed killer Roundup could cause cancer. It’s written broadly enough to provide legal protection in Georgia to any pesticide manufacturer that follows federal labeling requirements.
North Dakota’s governor signed the first such law last month, and similar measures have been considered this year in at least nine other states. Bayer, based in Germany, acquired Roundup with the 2018 purchase of St. Louis-based Monsanto. But it quickly was hit with an onslaught of lawsuits alleging that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
More than 67,000 of a total 181,000 claims involving Roundup remain outstanding, but a Bayer spokesperson said Monday that he didn’t have specifics about how many of those are in Georgia.
Golf Course Proximity Linked to Higher Parkinson’s Disease Risk
Barrow Neurological Institute and Mayo Clinic-led researchers report an association between living near golf courses and increased Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk in a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Residents within 1 to 2 miles of a golf course demonstrated nearly triple the odds of having PD, with the greatest risk identified among those in water service areas with a golf course situated in regions susceptible to groundwater contamination. Environmental risk factors, including pesticide exposure, have been identified as contributors to PD risk. Golf courses in the U.S. are treated with pesticides at levels up to 15 times higher than those in Europe, raising concerns about potential environmental contamination.
Earlier reports have proposed that proximity to golf courses may increase PD risk through groundwater and drinking water contamination. In the study, “Proximity to Golf Courses and Risk of Parkinson Disease,” researchers conducted a population-based case-control study to assess the relationship between proximity to golf courses and PD risk.
Maryland Residents Demand Perdue Stop Discharging PFAS That Pollutes Their Water
Residents of a Maryland community afflicted with contamination from harmful chemicals are demanding that a local soybean processing plant immediately stop releasing toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into their drinking and groundwater in violation of a federal law that governs the disposal of hazardous waste.
Attorneys representing two residents of Salisbury, Maryland, on April 29 sent a letter to Perdue Agribusiness as well as state and federal regulators, warning that they intend to sue the company in 90 days if it continues violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Notice of Intent to sue calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment to enforce the law.
By allegedly continuing to release and improperly dispose of these PFAS from its facility, Perdue’s actions “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment,” says the letter.
The notice comes on the heels of a class action lawsuit filed last October in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of six residents of Salisbury, a city of about 33,000 people in Maryland’s Eastern Shore region, who live down the road from the facility. Perdue Farms, the parent company of Perdue Agribusiness, was founded in Salisbury 105 years ago and currently has 21 facilities across the U.S.
Plastics in Everyday Objects May Disrupt Sleep in Same Way as Caffeine, Study Finds
Chemicals in everyday plastics may disrupt the body’s natural 24-hour sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm in a way similar to coffee, which increases the risk of sleep disorders, diabetes, immune problems and cancer, new in vitro research shows.
The study looked at chemicals extracted from a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) medical feeding tube and a polyurethane hydration pouch, like those used by long-distance runners. PVC and polyurethanes are also used in everything from kids toys to food packaging to furniture.
The findings showed for the first time how plastic chemicals probably wreak havoc on cell signals that regulate the body’s internal clock, throwing it off by up to 17 minutes.
The internal clock is “incredibly important for physiology and overall health”, though more research is needed to know the precise consequences of exposure, said Martin Wagner, a study co-author and plastic chemical researcher with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“This study adds to the increasing body of evidence that plastics contain compounds that cause a wide range of toxic effects,” the authors wrote in the peer-reviewed study published in Environmental International. “A fundamental shift in the design and production of plastics is essential to ensure their safety.”
Nighttime Flaring at Shell Plastics Plant Lit up Beaver County ‘Like Dawn’
Driving home from work late on April 25, Leah Thomas noticed the sky over Beaver County was glowing red. “At first I thought maybe it was a fire, or that something was burning,” she said. As she got closer, she realized the light was coming from the Shell ethane cracker plant, a huge plastics manufacturing site that sits along the Ohio River about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe how bright it was,” said Thomas, who lives about three miles from the plant. “My entire yard was lit up almost like it was early morning, like dawn.”
For some residents of Beaver County, the Shell plant’s light, noise and air pollution has disrupted their daily lives ever since it officially began operations in the fall of 2022. Although Shell paid $10 million in fines for air quality violations in 2023, people living near the plant say the pollution has only gotten worse since then — and it’s been especially bad in the last few weeks. The increased activity hasn’t translated into more communication from the company or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, further alarming residents.
The Misleading Accounting Behind Your ‘Recycled’ Plastic
Imagine you’re filling up 100 bags of coffee. You’re using beans from a few different providers — 10% of the beans they sent you are decaffeinated and the rest are caffeinated. However, you mixed them all together, so each bag is an even blend of 10% decaf, 90% caffeinated coffee beans.
It’s a shame, though, because in this hypothetical, decaffeinated coffee is in high demand. People will pay a premium for bags of 100% decaf coffee. So instead of labeling each bag as a 10/90 blend of decaf/caffeinated coffee, you decide to label 90 bags as regular, fully caffeinated coffee beans, and the remaining 10 as “100 percent decaf.” You can now charge much more for those “decaf” bags.
It’s a misleading strategy, at best, and one that could cause rioting among coffee drinkers. But it’s not just a thought experiment. Plastic companies are using an even more convoluted version of this accounting technique in order to make it seem that their products have more recycled content than they really do.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi Sued for Allegedly ‘Misleading’ Consumers
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are being sued by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands over “misleading” customers with their recycling claims. Both soda companies and their distributors have claimed that their plastic bottles are recyclable. However, the Virgin Islands say the bottles are single-use and are overwhelming their waste management systems and the islands’ environment.
Newsweek has contacted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo via email for comment.
The lawsuit is intensifying the legal focus on global brands and their responsibility for plastic pollution, particularly in island territories where waste management infrastructure is limited. The outcome of the lawsuit could have major implications for how multinational corporations communicate environmental claims about their products and for efforts to reduce single-use plastic waste in the United States and globally.
The case also draws attention to the specific vulnerabilities of small island communities — especially ones that rely heavily on environmental tourism — to plastic pollution, establishing a legal test for holding manufacturers accountable outside the U.S. mainland.
