Green business news

While the "greening" of the consumer is a good thing for many of us, "green businesses" are a more recent a surprising phenomenon. More and more businesses are responding to consumer demand for environmentally responsible business practices. We at organic-nature-news.com find this to be a significant trend. We will provide ongoing information about green businesses here. Please bookmark this page, or include your own news story below. One website that we support is Greenbuzz. You can read their up-to-the-minute headlines below.



According to E-magazine, Dupont, the maker of Teflon, has announced that it will be phasing out the chemical PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) from production. PFOA is considered to be a "likely carcinogen" by the EPA Science Advisory Board. For more information about Dupont and teflon, check out our article the dangers of Teflon.

There's good news regarding alfalfa crops. A judge has ruled that the planting of genetically altered alfalfa crops is illegal, and has been banned. This is good news for organic alfalfa farmers and organic milk producers. Read the press release at the Center for Food Safety press release webpage.



Hydrogenated fats controversy continues
Trans fats labeling on processed goods will become mandatory after January 1, 2006. The company that has taken the most steps to eliminate hydrogenated fats from their products (including the Boca line, cookies, and crackers) has been Kraft Foods. As for fast food chains, only a few have eliminated trans fats from their products. They inclue Au bon Pain, Panera Bread, Jason's Deli, and California Pizza Kitchen. For the full story, go to the Center for Science in the Public Interest trans fats labeling page.

According to a recent New York Times article, the well-known shoe company Timberland will be including "nutrition labels" on its shoes. It will include information about the energy used in making the shoes, where they're made, etc. They're called "green index tags", and they will measure the impact on the environment on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 denoting the smallest impact (less than 4.9 kilograms of carbon equivalents). An average size refrigerator uses about 17 kilograms. Perhaps in the near future, nutrition labels will become standardized, allowing consumers to make more informed choices about everything they buy, from cars to shoes! For more information, visit Timberland.com.

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