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Sep 23, 2009 | 73
Population growth, now at roughly 78 million extra people per year, is the don't-go-there zone of modern environmentalism and political discourse.
But let's go there for the moment: The biodiversity crisis. The water crisis. The climate crisis. Lurking behind all these crises is at least one shared factor: human population. Species extinction? Think land clearing for agriculture to feed a growing population of 6.8 billion people. Water? The majority of water goes directly to growing that same food supply. And giving a helping hand to all these other crises as a result of all the fossil fuel burning needed to power our lives and lift billions out of poverty: anthropogenic climate change.
Mar 24, 2009
Drug regulators must make the morning-after pill available over the counter to girls as young as age 17, a federal judge in New York ruled yesterday, suggesting that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consider making the medication accessible to younger girls, as well.
U.S. District Judge Edward Korman said the FDA has 30 days to comply with his decision. He said that delays in approving the drug, Barr Pharmaceuticals’ Plan B, for non-prescription sale were “repeated and unreasonable,” and that the agency's decisions about the drug, including limiting it to women 18 and older, were “arbitrary and capricious.”
Feb 27, 2009 | 12
Reproductive rights groups are cheering President Obama's intention to rescind a "midnight regulation" issued in the waning days of the Bush administration that blocks federal funding of healthcare facilities that don’t allow their employees to bow out of medical procedures, such as abortion, to which they have moral objections. Advocacy groups last month sued the government over the so-called "right to conscience" rule, charging that it's unlawful.
The administration will publish a notice in the Federal Register next week announcing that it's planning to change the rule, the Associated Press reports.
Dec 19, 2008 | 11
Reproductive health and enviro activists are fuming over two more last-minute rule changes by the outgoing Bush administration: a new reg that allows heathcare workers to nix treatments to which they have moral objections, and another one that bars regulators from taking into consideration a power company's climate change–causing greenhouse gas emissions when applying for a license to build new coal-fired plants.
Both rules are set take effect a month from now—just hours before Pres. Bush vacates the White House and President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in to office on Jan. 20.
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