"Whistleblowers say the US Environmental Protection Agency has been falsifying dangerous new chemicals’ risk assessments in an effort to make the compounds appear safe and quickly approve them for commercial use.
Over the past five years, the EPA has not rejected any new chemicals submitted by industry despite agency scientists flagging dozens of compounds for high toxicity. Four EPA whistleblowers and industry watchdogs say a revolving door between the agency and chemical companies is to blame, and that the program’s management has been 'captured by industry'. The charges are supported by emails, documents and additional records that were provided to the Guardian.
'The depth of it is pretty horrifying,' said Kyla Bennett, New England director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a non-profit whose attorneys are representing the four scientists. 'I don’t sleep at night knowing what I know from the whistleblowers.' ”
-->Readers of the NYT will not be losing any sleep over this story. Our newspaper of record didn't think this "capture" of the EPA warranted a story. This could be because the NYT board of directors is heavily weighted by corporate fat cats, who are busy capturing other federal agencies for their business interests.
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Common Dreams:
"Just as US corporate news media 'discovered' Afghan women's rights only when the US was angling for invasion, their since-forgotten interest returned with a vengeance as US troops exited the country.
After September 11, 2001, the public was subjected to widespread US news coverage of burqa-clad Afghan women in need of US liberation, and celebratory reports after the invasion. Time magazine (11/26/01), for instance, declared that 'the greatest pageant of mass liberation since the fight for suffrage' was occurring, as 'female faces, shy and bright, emerged from the dark cellars' to stomp on their old veils. In a piece by Nancy Gibbs headlined 'Blood and Joy,' the magazine told readers this was 'a holiday gift, a reminder of reasons the war was worth fighting beyond those of basic self-defense' (FAIR.org, 4/9/21).
The media interest was highly opportunistic. Between January 2000 and September 11, 2001, there were 15 US newspaper articles and 33 broadcast TV reports about women's rights in Afghanistan. In the 16 weeks between September 12 and January 1, 2002, those numbers skyrocketed to 93 and 628, before plummeting once again (Media, Culture & Society, 9/1/05). ... Now, as the US finally is withdrawing its last troops, many corporate media commentators put women and girls at the center of the analysis, as when Wolf Blitzer (CNN Situation Room, 8/16/21), [referred] to 'the horror awaiting women and girls in Afghanistan.' "
-->Yes, the empire has used women's rights as the new "white man's burden" in the Middle East. How many liberal Americans believed this propaganda, and even used these stories to support the US invasion and occupation?
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Common Dreams:
"Human Rights Watch said Monday that the Israeli military's May bombings that leveled four high-rise buildings in Gaza were 'apparently unlawful' and possibly amount to war crimes.
The organization—which noted that those strikes represented 'just a small fraction of the Israeli military's attacks in Gaza' in the May 10 to May 21 fighting—cited in its new analysis a lack of any evidence to back up Israeli authorities' claims that the buildings were being used by Hamas for military purposes. The report also noted the disproportionate harm to civilian property caused by the Israeli attacks. For its latest analysis of attacks during the 11-day assault, HRW reviewed video and photo evidence of the aftermath of the bombardments and conducted interviews with victims and eyewitnesses. ...
'Human Rights Watch found no evidence that members of Palestinian groups involved in military operations had a current or long-term presence in any of the towers at the time they were attacked,' the group said. What's more, 'even if there were such a presence, the attacks appeared to cause foreseeably disproportionate harm to civilian property.' "
-->None of the major media covered this story. War crimes by Israel always gets a pass when it comes to mainstream news, including the NYT.
