Carey L. Biron

Carey L. Biron is a former Washington correspondent for MintPress and for Inter Press News focusing on issues of equity and accountability, environmental and corporate regulation, and international development and governance from Capitol Hill.

With New Standards, Global Beef Industry Takes Contentious Step Toward Sustainability

Do new standards represent a genuine move towards boosting the sustainability of one of the world’s greatest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, or do they miss the mark by steering clear of specific standards and binding enforcement mechanisms?

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Food Prices Beef

WASHINGTON --- Last month, for the first time, a significant cross-section of the global beef industry agreed to a set of broad principles aimed at nudging the sector toward greater sustainability. Yet some prominent watchdog groups say the new criteria are overly broad, and worry they will allow products to be marketed as “sustainable” without

Read Full Article

Two Years On, Bangladeshi Garment Workers Still Awaiting Compensation From Major US Brands

“These workers paid with their lives to make cheap clothes for Western brands,” a global labor union tells MintPress, calling on the factory’s largest customer, Wal-Mart, “to take responsibility and pay up.”

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Bangladesh Factory Fire

WASHINGTON --- Survivors of a major fire at a Bangladeshi garments factory in 2012 are still calling for adequate compensation from some of the most well-known brands in the United States. These companies include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., reportedly the largest buyer at the Tazreen factory, as well as The Walt Disney Co., Sears Holdings Corp. and

Read Full Article

First Phase Of Global Fracking Expansion: Ensuring Friendly Legislation

Multinational oil and gas companies are engaged in a quiet but broad attempt to prepare the groundwork for a significant global expansion of shale gas development, according to a study released Monday.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON - Multinational oil and gas companies are engaged in a quiet but broad attempt to prepare the groundwork for a significant global expansion of shale gas development, according to a study released Monday. Thus far, the hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) technologies that have upended the global gas market have been used primarily in

Read Full Article

America Steps Up Investment In Global Cluster Bomb Trade

Cluster bombs release hundreds of smaller “bomblets” meant to significantly expand the amount of damage inflicted by an attack. As other countries move to condemn such munitions, US financial institutions are increasing funding to their manufacturers.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Hillary Rodham Clinton

WASHINGTON --- Global investments in the manufacture of cluster bombs and related munitions rose over the past year, despite the existence of an international convention against the use or production of these weapons. More than half of the institutions involved in those investments are based in the United States. From 2011 to 2014, an estimated

Read Full Article

‘Tis The Season To Be Greedy: America’s Largest Companies Pay CEOs More Than They Pay In Taxes

America’s largest companies are using a wide variety of loopholes to bring their collective tax bills into negative digits. The heat is currently on in Washington to extend the lives of some of these tax tricks — especially ones that help big business.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
CEO Pay Top 10

WASHINGTON --- Out of 30 of the largest companies in the United States last year, nearly a quarter paid more to their chief executive than they did in federal taxes, according to new research. That proportion appears to hold true for a larger sample of U.S. companies, as well. Of the country’s 100 top-paid CEOs last year, 29 received more in

Read Full Article

Worldwide, Tobacco Regulators Monitoring Philip Morris Lawsuit Against Uruguay

The tobacco giant’s lawsuit against Uruguay is a key example of the growing trend of multinational companies using trade agreements and mechanisms to circumvent national legislation — even legislation meant to protect public health.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Uruguay Tobacco

WASHINGTON --- A lawsuit that some say began as an attempt by a multinational company to intimidate a small Latin American country has instead drawn the attention of major players in global health, civil society and philanthropy circles. Further, the legal action – brought by the tobacco giant Philip Morris International against the government

Read Full Article

Proposal For International Anti-Corruption Court Seeing “Significant” Momentum

“In the developed world we can make the mistake of seeing corruption as merely stealing money, but in fact political corruption kills more people than war and famine put together – 140,000 children a year.”

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 2014 - The key U.S. advocate of a proposal to create a multilateral body mandated to investigate allegations of political corruption says the idea is receiving significant interest from civil society, politicians and major business leaders. Mark L. Wolf, a U.S. federal judge, first proposed the idea of an International

Read Full Article