In The News

Long, Cruel Road to the Slaughterhouse

Emily Dugan February 14, 2008
Ten major animal charities investigated the global trade in livestock, documenting the cruelties that live animals endure on journeys that last thousands of miles, from countries like Australia and Brazil to Europe and the Middle East. “Thousands of animals die en route from disease, heat exhaustion, hunger and stress,” reports Emily Dugan for the Independent. Low transportation costs encourage...

The Battle for Food, Oil and Water

Gideon Rachman January 30, 2008
Uncertainty pervades the global economy, and the world’s most powerful leaders, bankers and industrialists admit that the complexities of the global financial system present many unknowns. As bankers study the financial connections, politicians examine the challenges confronting the world’s poorest people, including shortages and rising costs of water, food and energy. Population growth...

Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie

Jennifer 8. Lee January 18, 2008
Fortune cookies are popular in Chinese restaurants the world over, everywhere but China. Japanese researcher Yasuko Nakamachi theorizes the absence is because the cookies originated in Japan, as evidenced by references in Japanese literature and art decades before the early 1900s. California restaurants with Japanese owners introduced the dessert between 1907 and 1914, reports author Jennifer Lee...

Malawi's “Free Trade” Revolt

Benjamin R. Barber January 14, 2008
“Free trade” conditions accompany foreign aid, forcing the poor farmers in developing countries to compete with subsidized crops produced by powerful wealthy nations. In following the strict conditions to secure aid, Malawi had to battle starvation. Frustrated, Malawi defied World Bank policy in recent years by subsidizing fertilizer and seed programs for its farmers, allowing crops to expand...

World Food Stocks Dwindling Rapidly, UN Warns

Elisabeth Rosenthal January 10, 2008
Extreme weather events, a growing population, increasing affluence adding more meat to diets and diversion of grain crops for subsidized biofuels have led to depleted food reserves and soaring prices reserves. High oil prices add to the complications of transferring food aid to the most vulnerable developing nations. Wealthy nations can compensate by reducing tariffs and importing more grain,...

2007 DMN Texan of the Year: The Illegal Immigrant

January 4, 2008
Undocumented immigrants are no longer a rarity in the US, representing a hefty and growing percentage of workers in the cleaning, agriculture, food-processing, landscaping, restaurant and construction industries. US immigration rates since 2000 have exceeded those from previous historical periods, and government enforcement has essentially vanished. The Dallas Morning News, in naming a "...

Slave Labor That Shames America

Leonard Doyle January 3, 2008
The agricultural sector keeps costs low by relying on immigrant labor to harvest fruits and vegetables quickly and efficiently. Employers confront rising energy costs and consumers balk at higher prices. With a political environment that encourages public resentment over illegal immigration, many employers take advantage of the vulnerable illegal workers, reducing pay and imposing brutal work...