The Poison Detectives

What does the ordinary person do to protect themselves when regulators fail? How can you know what is safe to eat – or safe to eat just a little – or safe to eat if you wash it?  There are groups trying to fill in the gaps left by poor regulation. The Environmental Working Group in Washington publishes a list of the Dirty Dozen – fruits and vegetables most contaminated with pesticides.&n...

For more than thirty years, scientists, regulators, and one of the world’s most powerful chemical companies have been locked in a battle over the active ingredient in Roundup -- a chemical called glyphosate. A battle fought over the soil itself -- and over what we believe keeps us safe. Episode eight tells that story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Industry capture can happen when a regulator has too few resources and relies on industry analysis of studies on a product up for review. It can happen when the culture of the government agency is to support industry and ensure speedy approvals. It can happen because Industry has paid lobbyists who spend a lot of time calling and meeting with regulators to push their products. &nbsp...

Pesticides for Dinner reveals how trust in Canada's food system is damaged by a regulatory system that works too closely with the industry and often fails to act when science uncovers the health dangers of approved pesticides. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, everyone has given up on the regulators, who move slowly if at all. Lawsuits are filed by Diane Cotter’s husband Paul and his colleagues. The union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, sues the National Fire Protection Association, which sets the safety standards for firefighting equipment. And lawyer Rob Bilott files a class action suit, which includes every person in...

We learn about the contamination of military bases in the U.S. and Canada from PFAS chemicals in firefighting foam. And how the foam residue has poisoned drinking water sources in both countries. We hear about one community in Quebec that was faced with a big problem finding a new source of drinking water. And a group of firefighters who decided to create a safe alternative to the foam. But becaus...

Lawyer Rob Bilott completes the promise he made to his grandmother and has to decide if he will go back to corporate law or continue to fight the multinational company, Dupont. He tries to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over the fight but gets nowhere. And a high-level U.S. government scientist explains how regulation really works. Still, Bilott manages to get Dupont to pay f...

It begins with a memorial ceremony in Colorado for fallen firefighters. It used to be that firefighters died in fires or from inhaling toxic smoke. Today the majority die from cancer. We meet a firefighter from Newfoundland who attended the ceremony. We meet a union rep whose job is to reduce or eliminate the new risks, and a former union rep who points out how the top union brass failed fire...

It begins with an unlikely detective. Diane Cotter wasn’t a researcher, a scientist, a journalist or a sleuth. But she became all of that after her firefighting husband got cancer. Then, dozens of his firefighting colleagues also got cancer. Diane suspected it was more than just occupational risk that caused these cancers. She set out to answer questions of how and why and found herself pulled int...

A firefighter’s wife and a corporate lawyer in different parts of the U.S. get pulled into solving separate mysteries. Something was making cows die and deer haemorrhage to death in West Virginia. That same something could also be giving firefighters cancer – all over the country. When the lawyer and the firefighter’s wife met, they found out they were working on the same mystery. The my...