Right now the EPA is moving to let sewage sludge laced with PFAS “forever chemicals” keep being spread on the farmland that grows our food, and the deadline to speak up is September 4.

The EPA’s own research found these chemicals can cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near fields where sludge is spread, or who drink the milk, eat the beef, and other foods produced on them, including kidney and liver cancers, decreased birth weight, increased cholesterol, and diminished immune function. 

Now the agency is scrapping that assessment, just as it recently walked back its limits on PFAS in drinking water.

TAKE ACTION BY SEPTEMBER 4: Tell the EPA to Ban Toxic Sludge From Farmland!

READ MORE: Ban Toxic Sludge from Farmland

Next week, watch for a review written by John Stauber, co-author of the Toxic Sludge is Good For You on the newly released eye-opening film, The Sludge War Documentary.

by Mónica Quinzo, Gut Microbiota for Health:

“At its heart, One Health is the recognition that the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems is closely linked and interdependent. While we may often think of ourselves as individuals, science now shows we are ‘holobionts’,  complex collectives of human cells and trillions of microbes intimately connected to and co-evolving. Bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea, are not just passengers. They are active participants in our health, influencing everything from digestion and immunity to mood and metabolism.

These microorganisms also connect us to the world around us as they are the common denominator of life on Earth. Subsets of microbial communities are constantly cycling through our shared habitats. They move from soil and water into plants and animals and ultimately into our bodies before returning to the environment. By functioning as the planet’s invisible engineers, these microbes bridge the health of the entire biosphere.

Our gut microbiota is far from a closed system. Instead, it continuously interacts with the microbial diversity in our surroundings.”

Learn more

by David Gillum & Peter A. Carr, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

“The advent of synthetic cells has promoted speculative concern about future risks—cells that can outcompete natural life, say—but, for now, the technology raises more immediate questions: How long can such cells persist in the environment? Will they affect ecosystems or the human microbiome?

Although the US government is engaged in the process of modernizing biosafety policies, current oversight practices remain ill-suited to regulating the production of synthetic cells. The technology will straddle scientific areas like chemistry and biology and regulatory domains such as environmental protection and human health.

Could a synthetic cell system persist longer than intended? Could it spread beyond a target site? Might it produce unexpected byproducts or affect surrounding ecological processes?”

These are the questions that may matter more than slotting a synthetic cell system into an established regulatory category.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Lawmakers To Ban Genetically Engineered Frankenfoods Made With Synthetic Biology (Precision Fermentation, Cell Cultures, and Synthetic Cells)!

Deb Kavis, Tasting Table:

“While economic stress has turned many modern day home cooks towards old-school frugal recipes, there are other retro dining trends staging a comeback. Those seeking social options beyond drinking and clubbing have rediscovered a vibrant vintage dinner tradition that celebrates food and leisure. The post-pandemic landscape has brought the supper club back to the forefront for younger generations. 

Among other vintage entertaining trends that deserve a comeback, supper clubs have returned in a DIY format. The general sentiment is that this experience makes space for younger diners to re-engage with their communities and socialize in a more low pressure (and low cost) way. Rather than struggling to be heard over the cacophony of a bar or club, supper clubs offer a quieter and more wholesome setting for in-person gatherings.”

Modern iterations of the old-school concept have taken a more cost-effective approach, with younger diners opting to host their own supper clubs at home.

McGill University:

“A person’s posture appears to affect their emotions and decision-making ability more than they realize, according to new research from McGill University. In a recent study, participants sitting upright performed better at a risk-taking task and reported more positive feelings than did their peers in the slouching or control groups.

Though the effects were modest and observed in a laboratory setting, the results highlight the body’s influence on our mood and behaviour, said Jorge Armony, professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at McGill and senior author of the study.”

Findings raise interesting questions about the impact of everyday features of our environment, such as workplace ergonomics.

Melissa Matthews, Real Simple:

“You’ve probably heard all the typical ways to keep your brain healthy, for example, learning a new skill or completing a puzzle. But you may not know that clean air helps keep your mind sharp too. In fact, using a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter may combat the effects of indoor pollution and help improve cognition, according to an April 2026 study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

There’s no debate that we want to avoid air pollution as much as possible, and doing so may be one of the most important things you can do for your health. ‘The World Health Organization (WHO) considers air pollution to be the greatest environmental risk to health,’ says Marissa Sobolewski, Ph.D, associate professor of Environmental Medicine and Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Unfortunately, pollutants are pretty impossible to avoid.”

If you live in an area with heavy pollution, it’s worth considering a HEPA filter to reduce air pollution in your home—especially if you’re over 40. 

Julie Zenderoudi, The New Lede:

“Less than three months ago, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Jess Kramer outlined a series of promises dubbed ‘PFAS OUT,’ aimed at eliminating a family of toxic compounds from drinking water, and touted the Trump administration’s wider commitments to protecting Americans from contamination by the chemicals.

In a May 18 press conference, Kramer, who serves as the EPA’s assistant administrator for water, spoke alongside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, about a range of actions aimed at tackling per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) across the ‘full life cycle’ of the chemicals. Zeldin noted that PFAS are linked to serious health effects, and said that addressing PFAS contamination is ‘essential to making America healthy again.’”

Read about how “they’re saying one thing, and then they’re doing something completely opposite.”

The industrial, factory farm, GMO monoculture agricultural model was always intended to benefit a shrinking number of big corporations, mostly chemical and junk food companies.

Monsanto’s claims about “helping farmers” or “feeding the world” have been nothing more than carefully crafted public relations messages, unfounded and ungrounded in reality.

Tyson’s practice of locking farmers into contracts, then walking away when it suits the company, benefits only Tyson, not the chicken farmers who borrow millions to build the facilities Tyson demands, and are then left holding the debt when Tyson shuts a plant down. And certainly not the consumers who get cheap, drug and antibiotic contaminated chicken.

This degenerative food and farming model, built on “heedless self-interest,” is little by little, lawsuit by lawsuit, being exposed for what it is: a model that has failed consumers, failed the environment, failed economically for all but a few greedy corporations, failed to deliver anything but unhealthy food, polluted waterways, degraded soils.

Who will help build the model founded on traditional organic regenerative farming practices?

Farming practices that work with the Earth’s natural systems, instead of against them? A model that works economically for farmers and local communities, not the Monsanto and Tyson types?

Organic, regenerative farmers already working with the land instead of against it, and the conscious consumers who choose to support them instead of Big Ag.

That’s the model worth funding, and worth voting with your dollars for.

Can you help us move this model forward?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Have you considered making a gift from your IRA?

by Mass General Brigham Communications, Harvard Medical School:

“A culturally tailored meal program rooted in traditional Diné (Navajo) foods significantly reduced hospitalizations and emergency department visits among heart failure patients in rural Navajo Nation, according to a new randomized clinical trial led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, and Gallup Indian Medical Center in New Mexico.

‘Food heals in many ways: through good nutrition, culture, identity, and connection,’ said senior author Sonya Shin, HMS associate professor of medicine, part-time, at Brigham and Women’s. ‘This intervention demonstrates that culturally grounded approaches are not only respectful but also clinically effective.’”

Hospitalizations alone were cut by more than half (12.3 percent vs. 26.0 percent), and heart failure-specific hospitalizations were markedly lower (3.8 percent vs. 13.0 percent). 

by Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace, MPR:

“So it would be logical to assume increasingly cash-strapped consumers would be doing anything and everything to cut back on their food spending, including avoiding some of the most expensive grocery items, like higher-priced organic products.

These items carry the USDA organic certification, which limits the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and mandates eco-friendly soil treatment and livestock rearing practices.

But it turns out that far from cutting back, American consumers are doubling down in the organic department — buying and spending more, even as the cost of their overall food basket keeps going up.”

That oftentimes means that they might choose something like an organic over a conventional item, buying something that aligns with their values and what their family needs.

‘Kids Are Actually Eating the Food’: State Expands Lunch Program That Pairs Schools With Farms
California just made its Farm to School program permanent, and it’s grown to cover 500 school districts and nearly 600 small farms. The state has poured over a billion dollars into the effort, and researchers say every dollar spent generates about two dollars in local economic activity. Read the full story at KQED.

Common Pesticides Damaged DNA in Human Gut Cells — Even at Very Low Doses, New Study Finds Researchers exposed human gut cells to ten commonly used pesticides, including glyphosate, and found DNA damage even at doses considered safe by regulators. The study also tested realistic pesticide mixtures, since most people are never exposed to just one chemical at a time. Learn more at Sustainable Pulse.

Anger Over Data Centers Is Fueling a New Political Movement A backlash is building against the AI data center boom, led in part by Tennessee lawmaker Justin Pearson, who’s been fighting Elon Musk’s xAI facility in Memphis. Local estimates put its pollution output at over 2,500 tons of smog-forming chemicals a year, in a neighborhood that already struggles with asthma. Read more at Politico.

Why You Should Never Drink the Bottled Water You Left in Your Car A plastic bottle sitting in a hot car can hit 110 degrees in under half an hour, and that heat pushes BPA and microplastics straight into the water. Doctors point to hormone disruption and digestive issues as concerns with repeated exposure, and recommend switching to steel or glass instead. Read the full story at The Independent.

Scientists Tested 17 Human Artery Samples – And Found Microplastics in Every Single One Every one of the 17 artery samples researchers checked contained microplastics, and the arteries clogged with fatty plaque had the highest concentrations. Animal studies have already tied these particles to artery disease, and scientists suspect they trigger inflammation that raises the risk here too. Learn more at ScienceAlert.

Neuroscientist Says Your Brain Needs One Thing Before You Can Sleep Cognitive neuroscientist Yousuf Aslam says your brain simply won’t power down for sleep until it feels safe, shifting out of the stress signals that keep it on alert. His fix is a short nightly writing habit, three things you’re grateful for and four things you like about yourself, those practices are meant to talk your nervous system down before bed. Read more at Newsweek.

Judge Rules Trump Administration Must Stop Terminating USDA Grants A federal judge ruled the administration can’t cancel USDA grants just because it’s decided the program no longer fits its priorities, only the original contract terms count. The ruling stops future terminations tied to local food systems and climate smart farming, though, it won’t bring back funding already taken away from farmers. Read the full story at Civil Eats.

Sugar Coated: Now Available for Pre-Order (at a discount!) Marion Nestle’s new book with Lisa Sutherland focuses on how the food industry dresses up ultra processed products as healthy, using breakfast cereal as the running case study. It hits shelves September 8, and it’s currently up for pre-order at 30 percent off with the code UCPSAVE30. Learn more at Food Politics.

Insights Into Bee Biology Could Ease U.S. Rules for Organic Honey Cornell researchers tracked where honeybees actually forage and found they travel about 750 meters, far short of the four mile buffer zone USDA currently requires around organic hives. That gap could open the door for U.S. beekeepers to finally compete in the organic honey market, which right now is dominated by imports. Read more at Phys.org.

Documentary Explores Why U.S. Mothers Lack Support Systems Found in Other Countries The new documentary “No Country for Mothers,” from Reshma Saujani and Tan France, looks at why the U.S. still has no universal childcare or paid leave while other wealthy countries do. The filmmakers argue it comes down to culture war politics getting in the way, leaving mothers stuck choosing between career and family. Watch the segment at PBS NewsHour.

Amid National PFAS Frenzy, the ‘Maine Model’ Shows States How to Stop ‘Forever Chemicals’ at the Source While most states are still playing cleanup, Maine banned PFAS from consumer products before they’re even manufactured and stopped sewage sludge from being spread on farmland. The state also set up emergency funds for farmers whose land was already contaminated, which is part of why advocates are calling it the gold standard that other states should copy. Learn more at The Revelator.

ACP’s Supplement Crackdown Would Put FDA Between You and Your Vitamins The American College of Physicians is pushing for supplements to go through the same premarket approval process as prescription drugs, arguing weak oversight puts people at risk. Natural health advocates and supplement makers are pushing back hard, warning it would slow or block access to basic vitamins and herbs that have nothing to do with pharmaceuticals. Read the full story at ANH-USA.

Conscious Kitchen Wants to Bring Organic Food to 6 Million California Schoolchildren Founded by Judi Shils back in 2013, Conscious Kitchen works district by district to connect schools directly with organic farms and pool their buying power to bring costs down. It’s already working with more than 100 districts and 50 farms, with its sights set on eventually reaching every public school kid in California. Read more at Civil Eats.

We Launched a War on Nature. Now We Are in a Climate War Zone. Rebecca Solnit writes that the wildfire smoke and record heat gripping Europe and North America this summer aren’t random disasters, they’re the bill coming due for how we’ve treated the natural world. She points to the thousands of heat related deaths already logged this year as proof that summer has quietly turned from a season people look forward to into one they dread. Read the full piece at The Guardian.

U.S. Conventional Honey Producers Can’t Compete With Illegitimate Organic Imports A group of US honey producers is suing the USDA, claiming the agency has been letting honey imported from Brazil carry the organic label without actually meeting the standard. Their attorney argues USDA built a “foreign only loophole” by handing oversight to foreign agribusiness groups, letting cheap imports undercut American beekeepers while consumers get misled. Learn more at OrganicEye.