Most of the U.K.'s biggest supermarket chains are falling short on measures to reduce the use of antibiotics in the production of the meat and animal products they sell, campaigners have warned, with potentially harmful impacts on human health.

In early 2016, agri-business giant Monsanto faced a decision that would prove pivotal in what since has become a sprawling herbicide crisis, with millions of acres of crops damaged.

Violations of the federal Clean Air Act can lead to hefty fines, and even heftier spending on improvement plans, as ExxonMobil was reminded last week: The company settled with the Department of Justice, the EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for a civil fine of $2.5m and an agreement to spend approximately $300m on air pollution improvements.