The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping American tobacco companies promote their products overseas despite congressional restrictions banning such activity, according to a recent report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO). Congress, concerned about the government’s promotion of American tobacco products in foreign markets, passed legislation in the 1990s prohibiting agencies -- including the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) -- from funding tobacco export programs.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the leadership of the Bush administration, has misrepresented its record of criminal enforcement and overstated its successes in cracking down on polluters, according to an investigative report by the Sacramento Bee. Specifically, the agency has:

Just one day after the Environmental Protection Agency's public release of the 2001 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) the information is online and available for searching at the Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET), an online database service operated by OMB Watch. The TRI is a cornerstone environmental database that has become the prime example of informing the public about environmental hazards within communities. The 2001 TRI is the first year that information on releases of lead will be reported and possibly the last year that full waste data from mining companies will be reported.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing the 2001 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) today, June 30th, just one day shy of the July 1st reporting deadline for 2002 data. As part of the unveiling, EPA will also release their analysis of the latest TRI data and conduct various briefings for the press, congressional offices, environmental community and industry representatives. In addition to being the latest public release of TRI data the 2001 TRI also marks the first year that releases of lead will be reported and potentially the last year that mining companies report their toxic releases.