Daily Roundup

Here's a sample of some of the best environmental journalism published today:

* Consuming large amounts of acrylamide--a chemical commonly found in French fries, cakes, snacks and even coffee--appears to raise the risk of kidney cancer, Health Day News reports. This is from a study by Dutch researchers that appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

* Newsweek magazine asked dozens of thinkers for their solutions to fix the planet, from 300 mpg cars to using enormous kites to help pull ships. Meanwhile, the magazine reports that with food prices rising, the bloom is going off organics, which face the same pressures that have driven up the cost of plain old white bread. But while everyone's talking about the rising costs of food, the reality for most Americans is that things really aren't so dire.

* Many parents are taking the better-safe-than-sorry route and switching to bottles without bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that can leach out of hard, clear plastic containers such as a toddler's sippy cup, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

* Researchers report that the common weedkiller atrazine may be able to disrupt hormonal signaling in humans, according to this audio report from NPR. The herbicide is the second-most-applied weedkiller in the U.S.

* The U.S. Agriculture Department said the combination of a shrinking corn crop and the ethanol-fuel industry's swelling appetite for it will keep the price of the nation's largest crop in record territory into 2009, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required).

-- Scott Streater