Articles

Our love affair with convenience culture extends to a reliance on convenience ‘cures’ for minor complaints. In the first article of a new series, The Ecologist’s Health Editor Pat Thomas says that self-medication isn’t the same as self-help. Achieving ‘good health’ is one of the single biggest preoccupations in modern society. But if pressed, most […]

It has spawned a dozen urban legends. It gets praised and reviled by bloggers. And it tastes like carbonated cough syrup. But does Red Bull do you any good? Pat Thomas reports The global energy crisis isn’t just a problem for cars. Humans across the globe are also suffering a chronic lack of vim and […]

The Environment Agency (EA) is within weeks of letting Monsanto escape its liability for dumping thousands of tonnes of cancer-causing chemicals – including all the ingredients of the DDT defoliant Agent Orange – in two quarries in Wales. Jon Hughes and Pat Thomas report. Unless a claim and ‘adversary action’ is lodged with the US […]

In his final State of the Union address, George Bush announced his support for the adoption of biofuels on a massive scale. But is the plan such a good idea? By Pat Thomas There is an old saying: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. In the current scramble to face […]

We didn’t want GM on your table, but the crucial question now is, will we allow it in our tanks? Robin Maynard and Pat Thomas report In recent years, as horror headlines about genetically modified (GM) crops have vanished from the mainstream media, it may have seemed as if those battling to stop them being […]

The key message for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2007 – “Be comfortable in your genes. Wear jeans that fit the REAL you.”  NEDAW, in its 20th year, is gung-ho in its mission to convince the world that eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are “serious illnesses, not choices” and that “while environmental factors […]

The Ecologist’s year-long Read the Label campaign comes to an end this month. Pat Thomas looks back on its impact and looks forward to a healthier and more beautiful 2007 The interest in and demand for natural and organic beauty products has grown tremendously in the past few years. A recent survey in the US, […]

As doctors can tell you, the best remedy for colds and flu is the traditional one: rest, warmth, fluids – and time. Drug manufacturers want you to believe otherwise. But, as Pat Thomas reports, pharmaceutical ‘cures’ may be more than just a waste of money Most of believe there are only four seasons; but actually […]

Many mainstream toiletries’ incompatible ingredients require chemicals to bind them together. Pat Thomas considers the alternatives to this unholy alliance Many of the ingredients in commercial toiletries are uneasy bedfellows: none more so than water and oil. Anybody who has ever made a salad dressing or sauce knows these two don’t combine well unless you […]

The bird is now bones, the gravy glue, the roast veggies are on their way to becoming a source of winter fuel and as soon as everyone’s dinner has gone down a bit, it will be time to do the washing-up. If you are one of the 64 per cent of households in the UK […]