The Gaia Reports

By Theodora Filis US citizens were appalled when the Japanese government attempted to conceal vital information from the rest of the world in order to save face and maintain the status quo. Last week, ABC World News reported, “A subcontractor urged workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to put lead around radiation detection devices in order to stay under a safety threshold for exposure.” Does the US have the right to be shocked or angered by TEPCO's cover-up, or by the Japanese government knowingly, and seemingly without regard, concealing the horrible fate of many Fukushima plant workers? Not if you consider the disregard for human life that has been going on for decades by industry leaders and our own government. o Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) took action against the use of asbestos in many consumer products, asbestos is still not banned and is still widely used today in consumer and industrial products in...

By Theodora Filis European Member states could be given the right to ban genetically modified crops on environmental grounds under proposals put forward this week by the European Parliament's Environment Committee. Members voted to add “environmental impacts” to a list of grounds on which European Union (EU) countries could either ban or restrict genetically modified organisms (GMOs) usage. At present, EU member states are only able to restrict genetically modified GMO crop cultivation under strict conditions, as authorization licenses are valid across the 27-country bloc, in accordance with the principles of the EU's single market. France's Corinne Lepage, draftswomen for the rules,  said it sent a clear signal to the commission. "The EU authorization system should be maintained but it should be acknowledged that some agricultural and environmental impacts, as well as socio-economic impacts linked to contamination, can be cited by member states to justify a ban o...