Do you believe that the safety systems for chemicals, genetically modified foods and prevention of the spread of disease are good enough where you live?

European Commission Seeks Chemical Testing

The European Commission is to introduce new legislation, the REACH bill (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals). This hotly-contested bill would require manufacturers to test some 30,000 chemicals for safety. The manufacturers say it would cost too much and make them uncompetitive. Environmentalists say that existing legislation does not go far enough to protect health.

EU Is Confident in Biotech Safeguards

The European Union (EU) is still confident in its regulation of genetically altered products, even though there have been unauthorized imports from the United States of Syngenta AG BT10 biotech corn. The U.S. federal and regulatory agencies are investigating and the EU has asked them for more information.

NASA Turns to Mexican Lake for Clues to Alien Life

NASA scientists are studying the stromatolites - rock structures including layers of ancient algae - in lakes in the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico for clues to the conditions in which life might thrive on other planets.

North Atlantic Right Whale Has Baby Boom

Twenty-seven whales were born to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales during the season that has just ended, but there are still only 325 to 350.

Experts Fear Bad Wildfire Season in West

The Northwest has had a very dry winter, so is expecting a bad wildfire season. The Southwest, on the other hand, has had a very wet winter and expects the resultant lush growth to dry out in the summer, posing a major fire risk.

World's Biggest Iceberg Begins Moving

A huge iceberg, B15A, which has been stuck in the McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic for nearly three months has become free and is moving again. It was large enough to block sea access for supply ships and for penguins coming and going from feeding grounds, threatening starvation for many Adele penguin chicks.

Bird Flu Has Cost Asia an Estimated $8-12 Billion

The outbreak of bird flu in Asia is said to have cost about $8 billion to $12 billion already, according to a report by an investment bank. The H5N1 strain has already killed 49 people. The report predicts a pandemic, though it is not clear where it would start. There is believed to have been a recent outbreak in North Korea. There is concern for the economic effects in Asia.

Do you believe that the safety systems for chemicals, genetically modified foods and prevention of the spread of disease are good enough where you live?