Given the lack of encouraging global warming developments coming out of the G8 summit, it’s nice to have good news on other topics:

• After a two-year boycott by doctors, authors, and healthcare and peace advocates, Lancet publisher Reed Elsevier has agreed to end its involvement in weapon sales – Grrl Scientist at Living the Scientific Life has the details.
• Revere at Effect Measure notes that, in addition to this piece of good news, Chiquita management has agreed to work towards re-hiring workers who were fired for complaining about exposure to a toxic nematicide and to address plantation working conditions. 
• From Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog, we learn that U.S. heart disease mortality fell by 50% between 1980 and 2000, due equally to medical treatment and reductions in risk factors.

Also, did you know that today is World Ocean Day, and that June is National Oceans Month in the U.S.? CR McClain at Deep-Sea News has practical tips for reducing our use and consumption of plastic (far too much of which ends up in the oceans), and Carnival of the Blue has a wealth of ocean-related links.

Elsewhere:

Alex at Enviroblog has the story of the New Jersey reporter who was arrested for taking a soil sample from the grounds of a local middle school.

Consumers Union is tackling Teflon and nanotechnology; Angry Toxicologist and Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science provide commentary and additional details.

At Gristmill, David Roberts provides an overview of carbon tax and cap-and-trade policy prospects, while Kate Sheppard warns of another consequence of global warming: out-of-control cat breeding.

Matt Madia at Reg Watch reviews the EPA’s new risk assessment on endocrine disruptors and concludes it wasn’t worth the wait.
 
Rachel Nugent at Global Health Policy provides highlights from the 34th International Conference on Global Health, which included discussions of condom distribution, female genital cutting, vaccination successes, and drug-resistant TB.

Naina Dhingra at RH Reality check reports on Congressional efforts to eliminate abstinence-only requirements from PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). (RH Reality Check also has posts on domestic abstinence-only program funding and contraception access that are worth reading.)

Bloggers have also continued to weigh in on topics featured in last week’s roundup: Tim Lambert at Deltoid and Merrill Goozner at GoozNews continue to respond to attacks on Rachel Carson; Revere at Effect Measure defends the XDR-TB-infected air traveler; and Rachel Nugent at Global Health Policy warns of the dangers of casting infectious diseases like TB as national security issues.