In The News / Dec 5

• Free trade with US? Europe balks at chlorine chicken, hormone beef.

  On a velvety green patch of the French countryside, organic farmer Jean Cabaret gave a little shudder. A looming trade deal with the United States, he fears, may make his worst culinary nightmare come true: an invasion of Europe by American "Frankenfoods." Washington Post

• EU deal gives countries opt-out on growing approved GM crops.

  The European Union agreed a compromise on growing genetically-modified crops on Thursday that gives nations the option to ban them, even if EU authorities have approved them for cultivation. Reuters

• California drought the worst in 1,200 years, new study says.

  The last three years of drought were the most severe that California has experienced in at least 1,200 years, according to a new scientific study published Thursday. San Jose Mercury News, California

• Dry fracking could be a water-saving game changer.

  Companies in drought areas have begun looking at liquefied petroleum gas gel for hydraulic fracturing as a way to reduce dependence on already-scarce water supplies. Greeley Tribune, Colorado

• A decade after Asian tsunami, new forests protect the coast.

  The tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004 obliterated vast areas of Aceh province. But villagers there are using an innovative microcredit scheme to restore mangrove forests and other coastal ecosystems that will serve as a natural barrier against future killer waves and storms. Yale Environment 360

• Indian leader, favoring growth, sweeps away environmental rules.

  Indian industries have often complained that convoluted environmental regulations are choking off economic growth. As a candidate, Narendra Modi promised to open the floodgates, and he has been true to his word, moving with remarkable speed to clear away regulatory burdens for industry, the armed forces, mining and power projects. New York Times

• Dirty deeds: Soil degradation costs African farmers $68 billion yearly.

  Soil degradation holds back African farmers, costing them $68 billion annually and threatening to stall vital food production, a leading agriculture expert says. Climate change, the depletion of mineral nutrients, desertification, improper use of fertilizer and a lack of infrastructure are compounding the problem. Reuters

• Mining proposal threatens Arizona town's water supply.

  Scattered throughout the mountains cradling Patagonia, Arizona, are abandoned mine shafts and tailings from the town’s not-too-distant past. And new plans are afoot to revive the industry on an even larger scale: an open pit mine 4,000 feet wide and 1,500 feet deep, just six miles southeast of town. High Country News

• Detroit pollution case leads to rare arrest of manager.

  You don't see mugshots like Henry Kijanka's too often — not that there's anything special about the picture itself. Environmental issues that end up in litigation rarely move out of the civil arena into the criminal courts. Detroit News, Michigan

• US EPA fighting order to decide on Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' rule-making.

  The U.S. EPA wants the federal appeals court in New Orleans to overturn an order that forces the EPA to decide whether federal rules are needed to curb the flow of pollutants into the Mississippi River, ultimately feeding a low-oxygen "dead zone" along Louisiana's coast. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana

• Two hours of Oxford Street's pollution could cause respiratory problems.

  Shopping on Oxford Street could damage your health according to new research by the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. Scientists found that healthy people exposed to the fumes of buses and taxis for just two hours suffered damage to their arteries. London Daily Mail, United Kingdom

• Livestock antibiotic poses signifcant threat to human health, report finds.

  One of the world's most potent and widely used antibiotics poses a more significant threat to human health than previously known and could outweigh the drug's effectiveness, a new Reuters report claims. Headlines and Global News