FDA Bans Chemicals in Soap

Triclosan, mostly used in liquid soap, and triclocarban, in bar soaps, are the most common of the 16 chemicals that the FDA most recently banned. However, the ruling applies only to consumer products, not antibacterial soaps used in hospitals and food service settings. The FDA asked companies which market the benefits of their soap as more effective than simple soap to prove their claims, and specifically, that the benefits of these chemicals outweigh the risks over the long term.

G20 Summit Reports Bad Behavior

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has been the undeclared secretariat for the international forum, Group of Twenty (major economies), since it was first established in 1999. The G20 economies account for about 85% of the gross world product and two-thirds of the population. Leaders of state or government confer annually to review high-level policy issues pertaining to international financial stability, along with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In 2009, initial efforts were made to reduce the support for fossil fuels, however, many concerned parties believe there has been no concrete action seeing that investments are still fervent among the G20 in 2016. However, considering gravely the risks of climate change to business and society as a whole, the IMF and insurance giants (like Aviva) are telling the G20 to stop their support and no longer distort the ‘real costs’ of damage of oil and coal through subsidiary programs and tax breaks. For environmental groups, the Paris agreement reached last year to reduce worldwide carbon emissions and increase investment in clean, renewable energy was a great achievement. Hopefully, the G20 will continue that momentum, embrace the shift necessary and stop subsidizing fossil fuels!

Beijing Officiates Better Poultry Standards

The guidelines are not mandatory, but are as commercially driven as they are by animal welfare. The leading producer of chickens in China is Shandong and has issued claims that the damage to the chickens, including ‘blod clots and broken limbs’ has decreased their productivity. The poultry company now follows certain guidelines in order to maintain a higher level of efficiency, and includes rules that animal welfare groups are happy about. Though the reason might be to increase exports back up to where they used to be, the guidelines include more ‘humane practices’.