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cleaner
 
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safer
 
kids
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EnvironmentalWorking Group
annualreport 2008
 
We have only so much fresh water.
Just water — hold the lead, holdthe arsenic, hold the industrial andagricultural chemicals, radioactiveisotopes, pharmaceuticals and otherimpurities – is even harder to comeby. EWG has been working hard toconserve and protect our water supply.Our August 2008 report,
TheUnintended Environmental Impactsof the Renewable Fuels Standard:Time to Change Direction in BiofuelPolicy,
transformed the debate oncorn ethanol by showing that the 2007energy bill’s biofuels mandate wouldcost billions of gallons of water andworsen the Gulf of Mexico’s “Dead Zone.”Our October 2008 report —
Bottled Water Quality Investigation: 10Major Brands, 38 Pollutants
— wasfeatured in more than two dozennewspapers, including a New YorkTimes editorial and broadcastsreaching 12 million people.Our 7-year campaign for a nationwidecleanup of perchlorate, a rocket fuelcomponent and thyroid toxin, neared thetipping point. The Bush administration’srefusal to regulate perchlorate as awater pollutant outraged and mobilizedenvironmentalists, consumers, healthprofessionals and scientists – includingtwo EPA science advisory panels, whoissued rare public letters of protest.Our May 2008 analysis,
Without a Paddle: U.S. Law Powerless toProtect Colorado River From Mining,
 generated an outpouring of news andcommentary by unearthing a surgein mining claims for uranium, goldand other metals along the banks of the Colorado River, the drinking watersource for 25 million Americans.After we documented dozens of mining claims staked within fivemiles of the Grand Canyon, theHouse Natural Resources Committeeinvoked emergency authority to bannew mining claims on more than 1million acres around the Canyon.
‘ 08
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We have focused on ridding foodof chemicals that present subtlebut serious threats to publichealth. EWG research helpedgalvanize a nationwide movementto ban bisphenol A (BPA), a plasticcomponent and synthetic estrogen, inbaby bottles and foodpackaging.Our exposé of conflicts of interest withinthe National Toxicology Program (NTP)strengthened the hand of scientistsand led to a groundbreaking September2008 NTP declaration that BPA maybe toxic at current human exposures.Canada banned BPA in baby bottles,U.S. retailers pulled BPA-based babybottles from their shelves, majorsports bottle manufacturers switchedto BPA-free bottles, and federal, stateand local lawmakers drafted measuresto restrict the chemical’s use.The federal Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) still hasn’tregulated BPA as a food contaminant,but that may change. In October 2008,based on testimony from EWG andother scientists and health advocates,FDA’s outside Science Board issued ascathing critique of the agency’s stance,prompting FDA scientists to launch a newBPA review. The new assessment is using,among other evidence, EWG’s pioneeringstudy of BPA adulteration of canned food.On December 12, EWG made publicinternal government documentsdescribing a secret FDA plan to waterdown federal warnings that tunacontains mercury, a potent neurotoxinespecially dangerous to pregnantwomen and young children. Sen.Patrick Leahy, D-VT, denounced FDAfor “disregarding sound science.” TheFDA appears to have shelved the plan.EWG’s June 2008 analysis,
 America’sFood-to-Fuel Gamble
, correctly forecastthat bad weather and supply shortagesdue to diversion of corn to ethanoldistilleries would inflate food and feedprices. Two weeks after the reportappeared, Iowa flooded, and grainprices spiked — causing national debateover biofuels to intensify and EWG toemerge as a thoughtful and effectiveauthority on U.S. biofuels policy.
 Americans have a right to pure, safe food.
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