"In the U.S., even chicken that has passed all federal food safety requirements still can make people sick."

'Irradiated,' a special report published today by McClatchy, offers an unprecedented look at the costs of war and the risks of a strong defense, using federal records to chronicle the deaths of at least 33,480 nuclear workers who helped the U.S. win World War II and the Cold War."

"Food companies are mounting an aggressive year-end push to head off mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods."

"With their work in the crosshairs of a political ideology, climate scientists find themselves under attack via the Internet."

"Byron Vaigneur watched as a brownish sludge containing plutonium broke through the wall of his office on Oct. 3, 1975, and began puddling four feet from his desk at the Savannah River nuclear weapons plant in South Carolina."

"Both chambers of Congress are expected to pass a continuing resolution [Friday] to ward off a government shutdown as negotiations over an omnibus spending measure and tax extenders package continue."

"U.S. sales of medically important antibiotics approved for use in livestock rose by 23 percent between 2009 and 2014, federal regulators said on Thursday, fueling concerns about risks to humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

"Under a lawsuit settlement, all Washington children covered by Medicaid will be eligible for lead-poisoning testing if their parents request it — or if they live in old buildings, are recent immigrants or face other exposure risks."

"Labels on Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice and four of its brand siblings will begin carrying early next year an increasingly familiar certification — the butterfly seal conferred by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that verifies products as being free of genetically engineered ingredients."

"Dow Chemical and DuPont agreed to combine their operations into one company that will subsequently split into three, marking one of the largest mergers in the history of business."