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.

Chronically Underfunded Public Defense System Goes On Trial In New York

New York state’s public defense system — underfunded, overwhelmed — goes on trial for failing to provide adequate legal representation to the state’s poor. With other states’ defense systems in similar shambles, what happens in New York could have huge implications.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON --- A landmark trial will get underway in the New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday, giving a formal hearing to decades’ worth of complaints that the state’s public defense system is illegal and even unconstitutional. Interest in the case goes well beyond New York, however, given the chronic funding problems that public defenders in

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FDA Accused Of Fuelling Record Painkiller Addiction “Epidemic”

Opioid abuse in America is a well-documented and tragic epidemic. While the FDA has intervened to add abuse deterrents to some narcotic pain relievers, it’s also approved a new drug that lacks such deterrents and could be much more lethal if abused.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
OxyContin pills are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013.

WASHINGTON --- President Barack Obama on Tuesday proclaimed October to be Substance Abuse Awareness Month, but a rising tide of public health specialists is warning that his administration is failing to combat an epidemic of painkiller addictions and related deaths. Medical practitioners, addiction specialists and others gathered in Washington

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Dietary Guidelines Revisions Offer “Unprecedented” Sustainability Opportunity

Potential revisions to U.S. dietary guidelines could encourage Americans to eat in a way that is both healthier and more environmentally sustainable. Health experts and green advocates applaud the possible move, but not everyone shares their enthusiasm.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Food and Farm Refugee Farmers

WASHINGTON --- For the first time, the federal committee that oversees the official Dietary Guidelines for Americans is explicitly considering issues of sustainability while drafting new recommendations. Public health and environmental advocates say this constitutes both a significant change and opportunity, so long as any reforms roll back the

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Growing Business Role In Climate Debate Prompts New Concerns

Instead of government setting goals and rules for emissions reduction, the private sector — including multinational oil giants — is increasingly dictating to governments how companies can be “supported” to make changes.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Obama

WASHINGTON --- As global leaders came together this week in New York to unveil commitments on cutting carbon emissions and to try to inject fresh energy into climate discussions, focus on the private sector took on a prominent new role – both inside the United Nations headquarters and outside, among protesters. At the U.N. Climate Summit on

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Obama Action On Antibiotic Resistance Decried As Soft On Agricultural Use

Some 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are for agricultural use, mostly given at low doses to animals that are not ill — the perfect conditions for building up antibiotic resistance among bacteria. Action to end this practice is unfolding most aggressively at the city level.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON --- President Barack Obama took long-awaited action Thursday in response to rising concerns over antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But public health experts say he failed to move decisively against a key driver of this resistance: the widespread, unnecessary use of antibiotics on industrial farms. Meanwhile, a new wave of action on the

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Federal Government Turning “Blind Eye” To Procurement-Related Rights Abuse

At $350 billion to $500 billion a year, U.S. government spending on goods and services doesn’t just influence markets — it creates them. A new study urges the U.S. government to leverage its vast spending power to effect change along the supply chain.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
ICAR

WASHINGTON --- The federal government is failing to put in place rules and safeguards to ensure that its massive annual procurement spending does not facilitate human rights abuses and environmental destruction, including child labor and even worker deaths. The U.S. government is the world’s single largest purchaser, yet new research warns that

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Tobacco Growers’ Reform On Child Labor An “Important Step”

In the aftermath of a landmark report on child laborers in the tobacco industry, one tobacco growers’ association in the U.S. has pledged not to hire anyone under 16.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON --- Rights advocates are tentatively cheering new pledges from a major association of U.S. tobacco growers not to employ children under 16 years old, in response to longstanding concerns over the particularly harmful effects of this work on the health of young people. In July, the Council for Burley Tobacco passed a resolution stating

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