Thousands of negotiators and observers representing most of the world's nations are gathering in the Canadian city of Ottawa this week to craft a treaty to end the rapidly escalating problem of plastic pollution. Each day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers and lakes. People are increasingly breathing, eating and drinking tiny particles of plastic. Some at the talks thinks there should be less plastic produced. Oil and gas companies and some countries rich in these resources disagree. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Inger Andersen, at the UN, says it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix something everyone knows must be fixed.
More than 200 chemical plants nationwide must reduce toxic emissions likely to cause cancer under a new Environmental Protection Agency rule. Officials say Tuesday's rule advances President Joe Biden's commitment to environmental justice with health protections for communities burdened by industrial pollution from chemicals. The rule applies to facilities in Texas, Louisiana, the Ohio River Valley, West Virginia, the upper South and elsewhere. The rule benefits a majority-Black Louisiana town EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited in 2021. Denka Performance Elastomer in LaPlace, Louisiana, is the largest source of chloroprene emissions in the U.S. and will have to reduce emissions. Denka says it has complied with air permitting requirements and opposes the EPA's action.
Anti-smoking groups are suing the U.S. government over a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, which has been stalled at the White House for months. The lawsuit filed Tuesday aims to force federal officials to publish a rule banning menthol cigarettes, which are mostly used by Black smokers and young people. Health officials under President Joe Biden initially targeted last August to publish the rule. Then the date slipped until late 2023 and then March this year. Three anti-smoking groups filed the lawsuit in California after the White House missed the latest deadline. The Food and Drug Administration has stated that banning the minty flavor could prevent hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths.
By SETH BORENSTEIN, DAVID KEYTON, JAMEY KEATEN and SIBI ARASU Associated Press
Negotiators at United Nations COP28 climate talks agreed Wednesday that the world must transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels. It was a significant step toward shifting how the world is powered but one filled with questions about how soon and who will pay for the transition. COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber gaveled through the text at a plenary session in Dubai after more than two weeks of discussions that saw nations try and figure out a way for the world to stay in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. Countries were split between those wanting strong language on a phase-out of fossil fuels and others who wanted a way to continue burning oil, gas and coal.
Former Vice President Al Gore says don't trust the oil and gas industry to report their actual carbon pollution and he adds that the man running United Nations climate talks runs one of the dirtiest oil companies out there. In an interview with The Associated Press, the Nobel Prize winning climate activist, author and filmmaker blasts Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the United Nations climate talks, who is also president of the national oil company of the host nation, United Arab Emirates. Gore says al-Jaber's ADNOC is one of the largest and one of the dirtiest oil companies in the world.
More drugmakers are seeking to harness the medical potential of psychedelics for treating depression, addiction and other hard-to-treat conditions. In this crowded field, Vancouver-based Filament Health has a unique approach: extracting drugs from natural sources, including mushrooms, rather than synthesizing the ingredients in a laboratory. Filament is studying its drugs for use in treating addiction. And more than a dozen other companies and academic centers are using the company's products in trials. Filament CEO Benjamin Lightburn spoke with The Associated Press about the case for using naturally derived psychedelics.
