Unacceptable death rates of laboratory animals have forced a New Zealand government research agency to end its experimental program on cloning of agricultural animals.

"Air pollution triggers more heart attacks than using cocaine and poses as high a risk of sparking a heart attack as alcohol, coffee and physical exertion, scientists said on Thursday."

As federal and state agencies ponder a regulatory crackdown on raw milk, small dairy producers and natural food advocates worry about their rights.

"A federal judge [Wednesday] appeared reluctant to ask the Obama administration to reconsider whether the polar bear should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act."

"As lawmakers struggle to pass a spending bill before current federal funding runs out next week, observers warn that a government shutdown could severely hamper land management agencies and the people and businesses they support."

After a December 2008 spill of toxic coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant, EPA vowed to bring the ubiquitous waste under regulation. First, industry got to the Obama White House to sandbag the effort. Now, GOP lawmakers heavily funded by electric utilities have slipped a rider into the House stopgap spending bill to quash EPA's effort to protect the public altogether.

The debate in Maine and the US at large over BPA, an estrogen-disrupting chemical common in plastics, may be shaped by a comment of Maine's newly elected, Tea Party-backed GOP governor, Paul LePage. "The worst case is some women may have little beards," he said.