Contaminated soil poses hidden lead threat inside homes

Partnering with community scientists, Rutgers researchers found that lead contamination in East Trenton creates hazardous indoor conditions even in houses without lead paint

Rutgers University

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Lead contamination in soil tracked inside homes can cause dangerous indoor lead dust levels even in residences with no interior lead-based paint, according to researchers with the Rutgers Environmental, Occupational and Health Sciences Institute in collaboration with community scientists from the East Trenton Collaborative.

 

The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, was conducted in the neighborhood of East Trenton, in Trenton, N.J., which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added to the Superfund National Priorities List in 2025 after determining there was lead contamination in soil from 19th-century pottery manufacturing plants.

 

They found 86% of 242 bare surface soil samples collected exceeded the EPA’s 200 parts per million residential soil lead hazard level and nearly 94% exceeded screening levels for multiple sources of lead exposure. “This is especially concerning because all samples were collected from bare soil at the surface, which is the most likely to be accessed by children or tracked into homes,” said Sean Stratton, a recent Rutgers School of Public Health PhD graduate and lead author of the study.

 

In homes without any interior lead-based paint, 80% of floor dust samples exceeded the safety threshold. “The research shows no significant difference in interior floor lead levels between homes with lead-based paint and those without, which confirms that outdoor soil tracking is a cause of indoor lead dust,” he said.

 

According to the EPA, lead poisoning can affect brain development in young children, damage vital organs and cause lasting behavioral and neurological damage. Partnering with the East Trenton Collaborative, a community organizing and development initiative in East Trenton’s North Ward, Rutgers researchers recruited and trained residents to collect soil samples from 122 homes in the designated area. From these, researchers used X-ray fluorescence analyzers to determine lead-based paint levels and then collected interior dust samples from floors, windowsills and window wells in 42 homes.

 

Indoor lead exposure in the United States historically has been attributed to flaking lead-based paint, which was used in houses before 1978, the year that the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paint. However, researchers noted, this study shows that the age of a house doesn’t mean lead dust is not present.

 

“The findings are significant because the thought was if there was lead in the dust, it’s coming from the paint on the walls and if a house was built after 1978 there was nothing to worry about, but that’s not always true,” said Brian Buckley, director of research with the Rutgers Environmental, Occupational and Health Sciences Institute and an author of the study.

 

The study builds upon the institute researchers’ previous collaboration with the Newark Water Coalition to engage community scientists to distribute 500 water testing kits to residents to test the efficacy of water flushing methods to reduce lead in the water system.

 

That study, published earlier this year in the Journal of Water & Health, revealed that lead was present across the surveyed homes and that flushing taps didn’t eliminate the danger. The experience working with the community and the results of the study helped the researchers establish trust in the East Trenton community, whose members approached them to test the soil and allowed them access to residences they otherwise might not have had.

 

“Our collaborative research in Newark demonstrated the power of citizen-led scientific data collection, which helped us engage the community in East Trenton to assist in the study,” said Stratton. “By demonstrating how members of the community were integral to understanding the environmental health threats in their neighborhood — and how it empowered citizens — it helped us engage with another community.”

 

Other Rutgers authors include Adrienne Ettinger and Zorimar Rivera-Núñez. Shereyl Snider, East Trenton Collaborative’s community organizer, was a co-author.

---

Journal

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology

DOI

10.1038/s41370-026-00949-5 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Lead soil contribution to dust loading in urban homes built before and after 1978, measured through a community academic partnership

Pesticides, cadmium, PFAS: France reckons with the hidden toxins in food (1/2)

EXPLAINER

Concern over pesticides, PFAS “forever chemicals”, cadmium and other contaminants has been on the rise since a March report revealed French residents are up to four times more likely to register unsafe levels of cadmium than their European counterparts. For many, reducing exposure to these chemicals has become a priority – but also a source of anxiety. We spoke to two women campaigning to raise awareness of toxins in food.


Issued on:  01/08/2026 - 
FRANCE24
By: Cyrielle CABOT

Members of the agricultural unions FDSEA 72 and Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA) farmer unions, remove from shelves goods containing some acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, during a protest operation at a supermarket in Mundolsheim, on August 20, 2025.

 © Frederick Florin, AFP

FRANCE 24 is launching a series of articles this week that examines the cocktail of contaminants increasingly found in everyday food.

A few months ago, Laura* was quietly scrolling through her social media feeds when a word she’d never heard before started to pop up: “cadmium”. “I’d never heard of it before,” recalls the 41-year-old Parisian, who works as a communications director. “When I realised what it was – a heavy metal that’s harmful to our health and found in lots of the foods we eat every day – I felt an immediate wave of anxiety.”

She said that literally overnight, all the packets of pasta, biscuits and rice that were in her kitchen cupboards – and that she had barely paid any attention to until then – had become “potentially harmful” to her, her husband and their three children.

“I’d heard about pesticides, endocrine disruptors and so on, but I didn’t really pay much attention to them. Cadmium was a real eye-opener,” she says. “I began to take a serious interest in food contamination and realised the scale of the risk and how important it is to choose our food carefully for the sake of our health.”

READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil

In recent years, there has been a spate of food controversies: mercury in tuna, cadmium in pasta, potatoes and chocolate, hexane in certain oils, pervasive organic pollutants (PFAS) in seafood, pesticides in fruit and vegetables. These are all things Laura now tries to be mindful of.

Christine, a single mother and childcare worker from Savoie, started paying closer attention to what was on her plate when her first daughter was born six years ago. “I wanted to make sure I was giving her the best, both during breastfeeding and afterwards,” she says. “I tried to avoid ultra-processed foods and opted for organic products where possible, to avoid pesticides.”

Like Laura, she was shocked by the revelations about cadmium. “All this time, I’d never paid any attention to pasta, rice or bread. I had no idea.”
Radical dietary changes

Keen to rid their diets of as many contaminants as possible, Laura and Christine set themselves the same mission: to be extra vigilant about what they and their families eat. But having to shake up their eating habits has caused huge headaches when it comes to day-to-day grocery shopping.

As a first step, the women banned the most harmful foods from their shopping lists, even if it meant fewer foods actually made it onto their shopping lists compared to their “banned” lists.

At Christine’s house, salmon is off the menu due to mercury contamination, as is chocolate from Africa and pasta made in France because of cadmium. Instead, they opt for lentils and other pulses, fruit and vegetables bought from local producers, and meat that is, where possible, locally sourced.

READ MOREFrench population overexposed to cadmium through food, health agency says

Secondly, they have tried to prioritise products they consider healthier. When shopping, the women follow the same well-rehearsed routine. Smartphone in hand, they wander the aisles and compulsively scan every label using the Yuka app, which rates food and beauty products based on nutritional quality, additives and whether ingredients are organic. Products from different brands are meticulously compared; the “least worst” option is almost always chosen, and anything classified as red or orange – which is considered “harmful” – is immediately placed back on the shelf.

“And whenever possible, I make things from scratch,” says Laura. “Because that’s the best way to be sure of what we’re eating.”

The third step in their strategy has involved balancing all this against another important factor – price. Although Laura admits she’s fairly well-off, “with five mouths to feed, every penny counts”. She estimates that her food budget has increased by around €350 a month since she decided to change her habits.

“In the end, I find myself buying some food from organic shops, some from the supermarket, and certain fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer,” Laura says. “I base everything on the best value for money. It takes ages.”

She acknowledges that, despite her best efforts, the increase in household expenditure is having an impact on daily life.

“We’ve had to cut back on holidays. We’ll be going away for a shorter time this summer. And we’ve cancelled our annual weekend away over the May bank holidays.”

For lower income households with even tighter budgets, eating better sometimes means compromising on both quality and quantity. “I live alone with my two daughters. And eating well is expensive. So, unfortunately, sometimes I have to settle for ‘lower-quality food’ because I can’t afford the best,” Christine says. “But I try as much as possible to prioritise quality over quantity, even if it means I don’t get to eat enough.”
‘The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat’

Eating without risk of exposure to harmful chemicals has become a top priority for many consumers. According to the study “La France à table”, published in June 2025 by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, 40 percent of French people believe that the quality of food products has deteriorated over the past five years while 22 percent feel it has deteriorated substantially.

By no means a new trend, the results nevertheless reflect declining consumer confidence in food, says Sophie Thiron, a food sociologist and senior lecturer at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse.

“It is rooted in a long history of food controversies from the past. As early as 1905, the media was blowing the whistle on the dairy industry, which was selling adulterated milk as pure milk. In more recent times, there was mad cow disease in 1996 and the horse meat scandal of 2013,” Thiron notes.

WATCHFrance overexposed to heavy metal cadmium due to food

“The revelations about cadmium, like those about pesticides before them, simply add to an already fertile ground of consumer concerns about what ends up on our plates,” she says. “And, in this case, it’s been further amplified by the widespread media coverage and health warnings from the scientific community.”

But Thiron believes that, at its root, all this wariness stems from the same problem: “The agri-food industry is distancing us from what we eat. We have less and less information about the origins or ingredients in our food. This gives the impression that we are not in control.”

Today, she acknowledges, there are several other factors exacerbating the situation. “Beyond the health aspect, more and more people are also thinking about their diet in terms of its impact on the environment or animal welfare.”

Added to this, she says, is the growing difficulty of “making sense of it all”.

“People are bombarded with messages – particularly from influencers – about what they should and shouldn’t eat, with information that is sometimes completely contradictory. It’s becoming very difficult to sort through it all, and everyone is overwhelmed.”
Anxiety and mental strain

For Laura and Christine, the constant need to weigh up every purchase has also become a source of anxiety.

“But all this anxiety is mainly linked to my daughters,” Christine explains. “Sometimes it keeps me awake at night. I feel as though I’m constantly thinking about it. I’m afraid of exposing them [to these contaminants] without even realising it,” she says.

“Especially as we know that no matter how hard we try, it’s impossible to protect ourselves completely. There are too many sources of contamination. There’s a saying, ‘We live to eat’. But I feel as though, whatever we do, we ‘eat to die’.”

WATCHToxic beginnings: Babies exposed to pesticides in the womb

“And beyond the logistics, constantly having to think about the best option when you want to eat something takes so much mental energy. It’s exhausting,” Laura says.

Although concerns about food safety cut across all demographics, women – particularly young mothers like Christine and Laura – appear to be especially affected. "Unfortunately, this reflects a broader societal issue: the responsibility for their children's health – and often that of their partners – still falls disproportionately on women," Thiron says.

This was highlighted when FRANCE 24 invited readers to share their experiences for this article and received responses exclusively from women.

"Contrary to popular belief, this anxiety affects the middle class just as much as the working class," Thiron adds. "It simply manifests itself differently. Middle-class households are more likely to respond by changing their purchasing habits in every way they can. Lower-income households, meanwhile, are often more inclined to distance themselves from the issue because they know they have fewer options.”
Grassroots campaign

Over time, however, the anxiety and frustration both women felt gave rise to a shared determination to push for political change.

"What we can do as individuals quickly reaches its limits. We need [collective] action so that politicians finally take this issue seriously and make it a priority," Christine says.

Laura admits that, until relatively recently, she "wasn't the slightest bit eco-conscious". She now describes herself as having made a "complete U-turn".

"I realised this was the root of the problem. Now I regularly hand out leaflets with environmental groups to raise awareness about pesticides and cadmium in particular," she says.

WATCHNew French bill aims to teach children how to eat better

Their campaigning has already gained political traction. On June 3, following months of public pressure, France’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to cadmium. The legislation, however, was adopted against the government’s advice and must still be approved by the Senate before becoming law.

Looking ahead, both women say policies to reduce exposure to food contaminants will be a key factor in how they vote in France’s upcoming presidential election. Laura says that, if little changes, she has even considered leaving the country.

“To the Nordic countries? Elsewhere? In any case, somewhere where there’s a clear political commitment to tackling these contaminants and [where the government] is more proactive. My children’s health is at stake.”

* Names have been changed

This article is an adaptation from the original in French by Nicole Trian.

How can you keep yourself safe from forever chemicals and cadmium in food? (Part 2/2)

LONG READ

Food-related health warnings have become increasingly frequent in recent years, to the point where maintaining a diet free of contaminants can seem almost impossible. So what’s the best way to limit your exposure, and will there ever be a way to fully remove these harmful pollutants from our blood? FRANCE 24 breaks it down in part 2 of our 2-part series.


Issued on: 01/08/2026 
FRANCE24
By: Cyrielle CABOT

PFAS and cadmium: How to avoid ingesting (too much) poison. © Studio graphique France Médias Monde


Cadmium, forever chemicals… these contaminants poison the food we eat. From the anxieties these chemicals breed in the public mind and the best practices to adopt to avoid the worst impacts to the small towns struggling to decontaminate their drinking water, FRANCE 24 has prepared a three-part series to break down these mounting food scandals. You can read part 1 here.

In the beginning, there were pesticides. Then came PFAS: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances quickly dubbed “forever chemicals” for their uncanny endurance in soil, water and living flesh. Most recently, it’s been cadmium.

Each time, health authorities issue variations of the same warning: all of these contaminants do us harm, and they are everywhere – even in our tap water.

While the most meaningful measures to fight against these contaminants are found in the realm of political action, there are still some things that individuals can do to reduce their risk. What foods should you avoid, and what should you be eating more of? FRANCE 24 draws together some of the best practices to follow to limit your exposure.

When it comes to cadmium, be careful with cereals

Along with tobacco, food is a main cause of cadmium poisoning, a vast study released by the France's National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) revealed in March. Being mindful about what exactly is on your plate is therefore an effective way to keep yourself safe from this heavy metal, which builds up in the liver and kidney and raises the risk of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

But to do this, you need to look at two different factors: not just which ingredients are the most commonly contaminated, but also – most importantly – how often you’re eating them.

In 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) analysed 144 food groups to measure their exposure to cadmium. That study remains one of the most detailed on the subject to date, and it created a list of the most highly contaminated foodstuffs.

READ MORE‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil

Among them, seaweed, oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, mushrooms, animal organs, molluscs – especially oysters, mussels and clams – frog legs, dark chocolate and crustaceans all have cadmium concentrations in excess of 10 micrograms per kilogram, considered a high contamination threshold. The first step, it would seem, would be to limit consumption of these foods.

That being said, unless one is an avid consumer of frog legs and oysters, these foods make up a relatively small proportion of the population’s overall exposure – most people eat them only very occasionally, and then in small amounts.

Unfortunately, most contamination comes largely from products that many people eat every day – cereals such as pasta, bread or biscuits, as well as potatoes and certain vegetables. Despite the fact that the amount of cadmium found in these foods remains relatively low, they’re things that are consumed regularly in many populations – even multiple times a day.

The foods the most and least contaminated by cadmium. © Studio graphique FMM

Without going so far as to push for the removal of baguettes and bucatini pasta from menus, Pierre Souvet, a cardiologist, president of the French Health and Environment Association and the author of a guide on minimising cadmium intake, advises “varying your diet as much as possible”.

If you’re already eating pasta for lunch, “you can replace breakfast cereals or cakes and biscuits as an afternoon snack with fruit compote and yogurt”, he suggests. “And regularly choose dishes made with legumes instead of pasta.”

And to choose these alternatives wisely, you can opt for the least-contaminated foods: dairy products, eggs, citrus and other types of fruit and legumes such as beans and lentils.

He also advised varying where in the world you’re buying your food from.

"We know that cadmium levels in food depend in part on where the food comes from, because some soils are rich in cadmium," he explains. This is the case with chocolate from South America, for example, which is often more contaminated than its African counterpart.

Souvet had one final piece of advice for those wanting to limit their cadmium exposure: watch out for possible deficiencies in iron, zinc or calcium, which increase the body’s risk of absorbing the heavy metal. In this area, he said, women tend to be more at risk than men.

READ MOREPesticides, cadmium, PFAS: France reckons with the hidden toxins in food (1/2)
When it comes to forever chemicals, watch out for fish

As with cadmium, food is the main way that the French, and likely many other, populations are exposed to certain forever chemicals – in particular, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the EFSA warns. Despite this, there has long been a dearth of information about just how present these harmful substances are in food.

In 2025, environmental NGO Générations Futures sought to change that by analysing the official data that was available on thousands of samples tested in France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands for substances from the broader PFAS family – PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS and PFNA.

The results showed that 69 percent of fish, 55 percent of molluscs and animal organs, 39 percent of eggs, 27 percent of crustaceans, 23 percent of dairy products and 14 percent of meat were contaminated with at least one of the four regulated PFAS.

In France, where the data were limited to fish, animal organs and meat, contamination rates reached 88 percent, 56 percent and 35 percent, respectively. On the other hand, red meat and poultry (14 percent), vegetables (14 percent) and fruit (three percent) seemed to be the least affected.

The foods the most and least contaminated by PFAS. © Studio graphique FMM

Given these results, it might then be recommended to limit your consumption of freshwater fish, animal organs, molluscs, crustaceans and animal milk, instead seeking out fibre-rich foods like vegetables, fruit and legumes.

But Générations Futures spokesperson François Veillerette said these findings remained very general.

“In reality, PFAS concentrations can vary enormously within the same food category,” he says.

Among fish, for example, perch and eels contain high levels of PFAS, while sea bream and salmon contain very little.

“Even from one food to another, PFAS concentrations can vary widely,” he adds. “For example, some eggs may have high levels of PFAS, especially if they come from an area where a chemical plant is located. Others may have none at all.”

WATCH MOREEU moves to tighten rules on harmful pollutants: The invisible danger of 'forever chemicals'

"Unfortunately, though, there is often a lack of transparency regarding the origin of these products. Most of the time, we never know if our eggs come from a farm near a chemical plant, for example," he says.

As with cadmium, he adds, "the best thing to do is therefore to vary not only the types of food, but also the sources and brands for similar products”.

“In short, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

It’s also important to note that the NGO’s study only focuses on four substances among a vast array of forever chemicals.

For example, it has nothing to say about the presence or absence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is considered harmful to childbearing. When it comes to our understanding of just how present forever chemicals are in the food we eat, there’s a great deal of work left to be done.

Drinking water

Beyond what we put on our plates, drinking water is also often at the centre of the debate around PFAS pollution.

To keep an eye on the contamination levels of the tap water you drink during meals, Générations Futures launched an interactive map for the French population called "Dans mon eau" (“In My Water”). This citizen-driven tool collects and updates official data in real time, allowing people to find out the quality of the water coming out of their tap at home. It could serve as a model for other countries.

To reduce your exposure to tap-water-borne forever chemicals, you can use a water filter pitcher or – much more effective, but much more expensive – filtration systems that can be professionally installed under your sink.
Going organic

Whether it came to forever chemicals, cadmium or pesticides, both specialists had one broad recommendation in common: opt for organic produce.

"Organic foods are significantly less contaminated with pesticide residues and other pollutants,” Souvet says. “For example, a 2014 meta-analysis estimated that organic foods contained, on average, 48 percent less cadmium.”

A study titled BioNutriNet also shows that choosing an organic diet can be better for your health in general. The study found that eating organic food is associated with a reduction in a number of health risks, including cancer (-25 percent) – particularly breast cancer in postmenopausal women (-36 percent) and lymphoma (-75 percent). There is also a reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes (-35 percent) and obesity (-31 percent).

Will we be able to de-contaminate?

"Unfortunately, all these efforts and best practices can, at best, help us adopt a low-risk approach," Veillerette says. "It seems unrealistic today to think that we can completely protect ourselves from any form of contamination."

In the face of this bitter truth, a vital question emerges: will we ever find a way to fully rid our bodies of these harmful substances?

Researchers have in recent years begun looking for ways to speed up the process, given that both PFAS and cadmium can endure for years in our bodies.

In Australia, for example, a team of researchers is currently studying the use of blood transfusions to decontaminate people heavily exposed to PFAS – which primarily bind to proteins in the body, particularly in the blood and liver.

Some 285 firefighters received blood or plasma transfusions every six weeks for one year. In both cases, these transfusions helped lower their PFAS levels.

Danish researchers have opted for a different approach, trying to intervene during the digestive process itself, during which certain PFAS are absorbed into the body instead of being evacuated.

To this end, they are studying the properties of cholestyramine, a drug normally used to lower cholesterol.

The drug was administered to residents of the town of Korsor, Denmark, identified as one of Europe’s main PFAS contamination “hot spots”. Within 12 weeks, their PFAS levels had decreased by 60 percent.

When it comes to cadmium, clinical trials are currently underway to study the effects of hemodialysis – that is to say, removing a patient’s blood and passing it through a filter outside their body to cut out toxic pollutants. As you might expect, it’s a treatment as invasive as it is costly – but one that could prove a necessary solution for people suffering from extreme contamination.

While these results may be promising, there’s a great deal of research still to be done to confirm their effectiveness – and assess their concrete effects on the patients’ long-term health.

“For now, the best course of action is to prevent contamination,” Souvet says.

And, both experts agreed, that means putting into action public policy measures that reduce contamination at the source.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

Protesters demand a better Albania on 41st day of 'Flamingo Revolution'

Protesters fill the broad Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard outside the prime minister's office. / IntelliNewsFacebook

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By Clare Nuttall in Tirana July 11, 2026

Thousands of Albanians marched through central Tirana for a 41st consecutive evening on July 10, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and calling for the removal of the country's entire political establishment, in a protest movement that has grown far beyond its environmental origins.

Gathering shortly after 7pm in the city’s central Skanderbeg Square, demonstrators carrying Albanian flags and banners marched to the prime minister's office, where speeches, music, drumming, whistles and chants continued for more than two hours before protesters walked through the capital's streets.

The protesters repeated demands they have made throughout the past six weeks, including the resignation of Rama's government, the formation of a technical administration and the replacement of what they call the country's old political class.

Among the loudest chants were calls of “Revolution” and “Rama in prison, [opposition leader Sali] Berisha in prison", reflecting frustration not only with the government but also with Albania's traditional opposition parties.

Many of the protesters gather night after night, while others come as often as they can, with larger numbers turning out at weekends.

“I’m here because our prime minister has sold the country," one woman told IntelliNews as protesters gathered on Skenderbeg Square.

A member of Albania’s diaspora said she had returned from Florence with her daughter to take part in the protests.

“This is the first step, and the most important thing is that it is in the right direction,” she said.

"I think things will change for our daughters, if not for us," she added.

Several protesters stressed that the demonstrations are peaceful, blaming a handful of violent incidents on paid provocateurs. They also highlighted the coming together of Christians and Muslims, old and young. Close to where demonstrators gathered, sheets of paper and crayons had been laid out for children to draw.

Clashes in Zvërnec

The protests, which organisers have dubbed the "Flamingo Revolution", began on May 30 near the village of Zvërnec after environmental activists tried to halt construction linked to a luxury tourism development near the Vjosa-Narta wetlands, one of the Mediterranean's most important protected coastal ecosystems and a habitat for hundreds of bird species including flamingos. The development has been linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner through his investment firm Affinity Partners.

Since the initial clashes between protesters and private security guards in Zvërnec, demonstrations have spread to Tirana and other cities including Vlora, Durres and Korca, while members of Albania's large diaspora have organised solidarity protests abroad.

What began as opposition to a single development project has evolved into a broader movement against corruption, environmental degradation, economic inequality and weak governance.

Arben Kola, a tour guide and environmental activist who has campaigned on conservation and anti-corruption issues for more than a decade, said the movement had rapidly expanded beyond its original cause.

"First of all, it started because of the flamingos, the lagoon, Zvërnec and Sazan Island," he told IntelliNews.

"But after a few days it was clear that people on the street were not just there for the lagoon and the flamingos. They were against corruption.

"So the revolution of the flamingos has become a revolution of eagles," he added. "The flamingos teach us how to fly together, but the eagles teach us how to protect Albania because they fly very high above the sky."

Kola argued that the protests had already achieved significant results by drawing international attention to the situation in Albania.

"On the international stage this has become big news," he said. More important than international recognition, however, had been the psychological impact inside Albania. "What we have achieved is that a lot of people have killed the fear. The fear was inherited from communism and then reinstalled by what I call the neo-communist oligarchy state or narco-state. At least everybody is not scared any more."

He pointed to the presence of women and children as evidence that demonstrators were determined to maintain peaceful tactics. "You can see kids and women here," he said. "Even though there were groups, sometimes financed to cause trouble or create clashes with the police or the government, we have managed to keep it peaceful because this is the only way we can succeed."

European scrutiny

The protests have coincided with growing scrutiny from European politicians. Environmental organisations and members of the European Parliament argued during a webinar on July 6 that the project inside the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape could establish a precedent for large-scale construction in Albania's protected coastal areas following legislative changes adopted by the parliament.

The dispute has become increasingly significant for Albania's European Union membership ambitions because environmental protection forms part of Chapter 27 of the accession negotiations covering climate and environmental standards.

Public anger intensified on July 10 following the government's decision to allocate around €4mn in support for a Kanye West concert planned in Tirana. Critics argue the money should instead be spent on public services and other pressing needs in one of Europe's poorer countries, while the government says the event will promote tourism, attract international attention and strengthen Albania's events industry.

BALKAN BLOG: Albania's bird symbolism takes flight in political battle

With the latest wave of protests, the flamingo has joined a long list of feathered metaphors deployed in Albanian public life. / IntelliNewsFacebook

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By Clare Nuttall in Tirana July 10, 2026

Every evening, protesters gather outside Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's office carrying banners, chanting slogans and demanding his resignation. But among the placards denouncing corruption, living standards and a controversial luxury tourism development, one image has come to define the movement: the flamingo.

The pink migratory birds, which flock each year to the protected Narta Lagoon near the southern city of Vlora, have become a symbol of resistance against plans for a luxury resort backed by a group of international investors that includes Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

Initially, demonstrators focused on fears that the development could damage one of Albania's most important wetland ecosystems. As the nightly protests have continued, however, the agenda has broadened to include corruption, education and the cost of living. Protesters call each night for Rama to step down.

In a country where birds occupy a prominent place in folklore, national identity and political rhetoric, the flamingo has joined a long list of feathered metaphors deployed in public life.

Albania's national symbol is the double-headed eagle, which dominates the country's red flag and gives the country its Albanian name, Shqipëria, or ‘Land of the Eagles’. Albanians often refer to themselves as Shqiptarë, commonly interpreted as "sons of the eagle", reflecting the bird's association with courage, freedom and national unity.

The golden eagle, once widespread across Albania's mountains, also remains a national icon even as conservationists warn that habitat loss, poisoning and illegal hunting have caused its numbers to decline sharply.

Other birds carry darker meanings. In Albanian folklore, crows and ravens are associated with ill fortune, death and malicious gossip, while the call of an owl is traditionally regarded as an omen of misfortune.

Politicians have long exploited those cultural associations. Rama has repeatedly described opponents of his government as "crows and ravens", suggesting they spread pessimism and disorder.

Defending the Zvërnec tourism project at the end of June, he contrasted protesters with supporters of his government.

"Flamingos and crows and ravens are separated by the same divide that separates peace from violence. The former want a better, fairer and cleaner Albania, while the latter want an Albania of hooliganism, violence and filth," he wrote on Facebook.

He added: "The flamingos will get what they seek, while losers of this protest will receive what crows and ravens deserve."

The imagery resurfaced this week as Rama defended €4bn of government support for a Kanye West concert, arguing it would generate tourism revenue and international publicity.

"Now the crows and ravens of the social channels are full of glasses making perverse accounts of unscrupulous manipulators," he wrote, accusing critics of spreading misinformation about public spending.

He went further, accusing unnamed opponents of attempting to "stop and take Albania back" through "violence of arbitrariness, insults, accusations and threats.”

On July 8, the head of the ruling Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, posted a picture on Facebook of two protesters who accosted him on a visit to Strasbourg, with the caption “here are two crows”.

Birds have featured in Albanian political battles before. Ahead of the 2025 parliamentary election, Rama repeatedly mocked opposition Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha by portraying him as a "swamp owl" in a series of social media videos.

Berisha responded by appearing at a press conference carrying a plush white owl. "You cannot insult me by calling me an owl," he declared. "The owl has been the symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and decision for millennia."

Rama responded within hours, saying: ”What did you say today? 'I am an owl'? It's a good start that you admitted it.”

The exchange amused many Albanians but also prompted criticism that political debate had descended into theatrical exchanges while more pressing economic and social issues remained unresolved.

The flamingo protests have taken the symbolism in a different direction. Rather than being imposed by politicians (though Rama’s Facebook page now has a flamingo header), the bird was adopted organically by demonstrators seeking to protect the Narta Lagoon, whose wetlands host thousands of migratory birds every year and are recognised as one of Albania's most important habitats.

In a country where birds have long carried meanings extending far beyond the natural world, the latest political contest has once again taken flight.

Cocaine-cash investigation entangles Ivanka Trump's Albanian resort spot: reports

Bennito L. Kelty
July 11, 2026 

RAW STORY


Ivanka Trump attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

A Miami businessman wanted in Albania for alleged drug money laundering is suspected of faking deeds to the land where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner hope to build a multi-billion-dollar resort, new reports show.

Albania's anticorruption prosecution service is investigating whether Artur Shehu transferred land to Albania Land Development, a Kushner-linked company, with forged deeds and falsified titles, according to reporting by Al Jazeera and Reuters.

"Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funnelled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money’s origin, and have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126m) tied to the sale in a notary’s account," Al Jazeera reported.

Shehu’s lawyer Kujtim Cakrani denied the allegations to Reuters.

“Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu’s character is true,” he told Reuters. "Mr Shehu is aware of the allegations made by the Albanian prosecution. These allegations do not concern him because he maintains that the truth is entirely different from what the prosecution claims."

A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson declined Reuter's request for comment.

Ivanka and Kushner's announcement that they plan to build a $1.6 billion luxury resort on Sazan Island, a protected nature preserve on Albania's largest island, already sparked mass protests. However, it hasn't stopped the couple from moving forward with the deal and snapping up coastal land.

Shehu sold a strip of pristine Albanian coastline to Kushner's company in April, according to reporting by Reuters.

"Reasonable suspicions are formed, based on evidence, that the above-mentioned assets were acquired through the use of forged documents," according to case files reviewed by Reuters.

Reuters also reported that an Albanian organized crime-fighting agency issued a warrant seeking Shehu's arrest for laundering money for South American cocaine traffickers shipping drugs into European ports.

"Shehu's lawyer Cakrani, confirming that Shehu was a target, said he was unconcerned about the arrest warrant," Reuters reported, "as it was 'widely believed' that Albanian prosecutors operated under the influence of politicians and business figures."

Big Oil Takeover ‘Now Complete,’ Watchdog Warns as Exxon Lawyer Joins Trump DOJ

“The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet.”


US President Donald Trump shakes hands with ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods during a meeting in the East Room of the White House on January 9, 2026.
(Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Jul 07, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

The executive counsel at the fossil fuel behemoth ExxonMobil is leaving his role to join the Trump Justice Department’s newly renamed Energy and Natural Resources Division, a move one watchdog organization said shows that “Big Oil’s capture of the US government is now complete.”

Robert Levy, who worked at Exxon for 17 years, announced in a recent LinkedIn post that he is departing the company, whose profits surged amid the Trump administration’s illegal war on Iran. Levy will reportedly serve as senior counsel at the DOJ’s Energy and Natural Resources Division, which the Trump Justice Department renamed last month from the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement Monday that “the new so-called Energy and Natural Resources Division at the Justice Department explicitly aims to abuse emergency powers to drive oil and gas production, override state environmental enforcement, and generally serve at the beck and call of Big Oil.”

“Nothing could make that more clear than the naming of Robert Levy, ExxonMobil’s former executive counsel, a position that had him leading the company’s legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice, to run the division,” said Weissman. “The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet.”

US President Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 on delivering massive, climate-destroying wins for the oil and gas industry, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support the president’s White House bid and the campaigns of his Republican allies.

Fossil fuel giants have received a significant return on their investment. As Owen Bacskai of the Brennan Center for Justice noted, Trump’s “signature legislative package—which one executive deemed ‘positive for us across all of our top priorities’—gives oil and gas firms $18 billion in tax incentives while rolling back incentives for clean energy alternatives.”

Trump has also “placed fossil fuel allies in charge of the agencies that oversee the industry and fast-tracked drilling projects on public lands,” Bacskai wrote. “In just his first 100 days back in office, Trump took at least 145 actions to undo environmental rules—more than he reversed during his entire first term as president. Before Trump even reentered the White House, the industry was reportedly pre-drafting executive orders for him to issue.”

Perhaps the biggest gift to Big Oil was the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision earlier this year to repeal the “endangerment finding” underpinning climate regulations.

Critics expect more of the same industry-friendly actions from the Trump DOJ’s Energy and Natural Resources Division, which last week touted its role in defending “Trump’s executive orders on unleashing American energy, reinvigorating the clean coal industry, and declaring an energy emergency.”

“The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet,” said Weissman of Public Citizen.

Last year, Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project released an analysis showing that the Trump administration has installed dozens of former fossil fuel industry employees, executives, and lawyers across the federal government, positioning Big Oil allies to advance “the massive expansion of polluting energy, the destruction of public lands, and the sabotage and suppression of renewable energy.”

“This is nothing short of a Texas oil industry takeover of the US government at the expense of consumers, the climate, public health, and public lands and waters,” Alan Zibel, a research director at Public Citizen, said at the time of the report’s release. “To execute his extreme, reckless, backward-looking fossil fuel agenda, Trump has stocked his administration with fossil fuel staffers and ideologues.”

‘Trump’s Name Written All Over It’: Supreme Court Sides With Monsanto Over Roundup Cancer Victims

“People who were exposed, workers who were never warned, consumers who trusted a label—they now have fewer tools to use to fight back. And the corporations responsible for that harm have more protection than ever.”

“The People v. Poison” protesters gather at the US Supreme Court on April 27, 2026 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jun 25, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


Public health advocates, legal experts, and members of Congress were among those outraged on Thursday by the US Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Monsanto—and, effectively, against thousands of people who argue that its weedkiller Roundup caused their cancer.

Jay Feldman, executive director of the organization Beyond Pesticides, blasted the 7-2 decision as “a tragic setback for public and environmental health, allowing companies that produce toxic pesticides to evade the most basic of responsibilities, warning consumers that their products may cause cancer and other deadly diseases.”

“In an age of deregulation, the ability of farmers, farmworkers, and consumers to hold chemical manufacturers accountable for hazard warnings is the keystone to minimum protection of public health, as demand in the market for the safest possible products grows daily,” Feldman said in a statement.

The closely watched case stems from a state-level lawsuit and a resulting verdict in favor of John Durnell, a Missouri man who argued that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, which is in remission after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. A jury agreed the herbicide’s label should have had a cancer warning.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans over a decade ago, but the US Environmental Protection Agency and Bayer still insist it is safe. In a majority opinion penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the country’s high court agreed with the company’s argument that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim under state law.

In a dissent joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that “the majority reads into FIFRA a labeling requirement that does not exist, and it reads out of FIFRA the statute’s ongoing prohibition on misbranding. This interpretation cannot be squared with the text of FIFRA or our precedents. Ultimately, the effect of the majority’s interpretation is both remarkable and regrettable, for it unjustifiably closes the courthouse doors to state tort plaintiffs like Durnell.”

Bayer—which bought Monsanto in 2018—similarly noted in a Thursday statement that the ruling “should help significantly contain the Roundup litigation after nearly a decade of legal battles,” which the company also said that it will keep trying to resolve by seeking final approval of its proposed $7.25 billion class settlement.

“This case was never just about Bayer,” Environmental Working Group president and co-founder Ken Cook emphasized Thursday. “It was about whether states retain the authority to provide stronger protections for their residents when federal regulations fall short, and whether ordinary Americans can hold powerful corporations accountable when their pesticides cause harm.”

Despite returning to office with a promise to “Make America Healthy Again” alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s administration “didn’t sit on the sidelines—it lobbied the Supreme Court to strip Americans of their right to sue. And its tactics worked,” Cook pointed out. “When a president uses the vast power of the federal government to protect a pesticide company from accountability—instead of the people he swore to serve—our system is no longer working for ordinary Americans.”

“The ultimate losers are the American people,” Cook concluded. “People who were exposed, workers who were never warned, consumers who trusted a label—they now have fewer tools to use to fight back. And the corporations responsible for that harm have more protection than ever.”



Federal lawmakers who have fought against GOP efforts to pass a legislative “liability shield” for pesticide companies, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joined Cook in ripping the ruling, as did Earthjustice senior attorney Patti Goldman, who said that it “allows Monsanto and other chemical companies to avoid responsibility when their labels leave people unprotected from serious harm.”

As Farm Action president Angela Huffman also warned that the ruling “sets a dangerous precedent for other corporations seeking similar immunity,” Sarah Starman, senior food and agriculture Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, took aim at the Supreme Court for issuing a decision that “sells out farmers, gardeners, and rural communities to multibillion-dollar pesticide corporations.”

Food & Water Watch legal director Tarah Heinzen, also condemned the decision, declaring that “once again, the Supreme Court has sided with big business over people and the environment.”

“Today’s ruling is a disaster for public health—and it has Trump’s name written all over it,” said Heinzen. “If one needed any further proof that the president’s feigned mission to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ was a farce, today’s decision is all the evidence needed. Trump has been all too willing to endorse Bayer’s crusade to pollute with impunity, while the administration doubles down on a failed pesticide regulatory scheme.”

“Industrial agriculture is poisoning America,” she stressed. “The fight against toxic pesticides does not end here. Congress must pass the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act to safeguard access to justice for all harmed by these toxic chemicals, and a Farm Bill that finally puts public health first. Until then, the Supreme Court has shut the courthouse doors to tens of thousands of sick and suffering Americans.”



Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, also called out Trump for dispatching US Solicitor General D. John Sauer to argue the case on the side of Bayer and its legal team.

“First Donald Trump signed an executive order plowing the field for increased glyphosate production despite the known health risks to help grow profits for his chemical industry donors,” Hancock said. “Then Trump dispatched his [US Department of Justice] lawyers to help Big Chemical secure blanket immunity from at least 100,000 glyphosate-related liability claims.”

“Sadly, the Supreme Court agreed to give glyphosate makers a free pass to poison Americans without warning,” she added. “Donald Trump always has and always will prioritize big money corporate interests that benefit him, even if it means marginalizing the MAHA movement and concerned moms. And whenever Trump sells out public health to the highest industry bidder, there’s no bigger apologist than his phony health secretary, RFK Jr.”