• Senate panel approves food safety bill

    The Senate last week passed a new food safety bill which would impose user fees, allow mandatory recalls, set performance standards, and impose civil penalties; some business associations are uncomfortable

  • Governments worry about more cases of drug-resistant H1N1

    Health officials in the United Kingdom and the United States report the likely person-to-person spread of a drug-resistant strain of H1N1; most patients thus far infected with the strain have already been immune-deficient

  • Demands grow for improved global food supply chain

    New study: “Food can become contaminated at many different steps in the supply chain. Experience in conducting food-borne disease outbreak investigations suggests that improved product tracing abilities could help identify products associated with disease more quickly, get risky products off the market faster, and reduce the number of illnesses associated with food-borne illness outbreaks”

  • Gene synthesis companies establish measures to counter bioterrorism

    The five largest synthetic DNA companies will establish common security measures to prevent the use of synthetic DNA by bioterrorists; among other things, the “Harmonized Screening Protocol” will screen gene sequences against a regulated pathogen database

  • Preparing for agroterror attacks in Wisconsin

    FDA awards funds to states’ program aimed at making the food supply chain better protected against agroterror attacks; the Wisconsin program will use the money to fund a computer program using licensing and inspection information to develop computer maps that track where contaminated food may have been distributed

  • Possible costs of tougher U.S. food safety bill worry small farmers

    Small farmers worry about a rewrite of the U.S. food safety regulations expected to be debated by a Senate committee this week; in particular, small farmers say rules designed to prevent transmission of food-borne illnesses by large growers and packers will overwhelm small growers

  • Bioterrorism poses new challenges for the health care systems worldwide

    A new book points out to one of the essential challenges bioterrorism poses: Nations’ primary health care system must be prepared properly to cope with cases of exceptional morbidity due to uncommon generators

  • New book argues for change in biodefense policy

    The 2001 anthrax-letter mailings following presented Americans with an unsettling possibility: What if the resources spent to safeguard American citizens against terrorism have only made them more vulnerable?

  • Anticipating new diseases, bioterror methods

    The 150 researchers at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute work to anticipate and respond to new diseases and old ones — such as tuberculosis and cholera — that can turn into new threats or make a comeback

  • FDA releases updated Food Code

    The Food and Drug Administration has released the updated FDA Food Code; there are more than 1 million restaurants, retail food stores, and vending and food service operations in institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and child care centers in the United States; the Food Code provides all levels of government with practical, science-based guidance regarding regulation of these food-handling organizations, and with manageable, enforceable provisions for mitigating known risks of food-borne illness

  • UIC to develop antibiotics against potential bioterrorism agents

    The University of Illinois at Chicago receives $4 million in stimulus package funds to develop new antibiotics to treat anthrax, tularemia and plague

  • Ricin antidote ready for production

    U.K. scientists develop the first antidote to ricin poisoning; security experts say ricin — roughly 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide — could be used in a bio-terror attack; what worries experts about ricin is not only its toxicity, but its ready availability: Ricin is extracted from castor beans, which are processed throughout the world to make castor oil; the toxin is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made

  • NIAID allocated $208 million to fight emerging infectious diseases from bioterrorism

    Using its own research funds, augmented by stimulus package money, NIH awarded $208 million to two programs that support research better to understand the human immune response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including those that may be introduced into a community through acts of bioterrorism

  • SRI opens Virginia facility

    SRI International opened a new facility for its Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE); scientists at the new facility will work on developing vaccines, more quickly diagnosing infections, and developing new treatments

  • FDA to host traceability meeting

    FDA, USDA to hold a day-long conference to discuss the core elements of product tracing systems, gaps in current product tracing systems, and mechanisms to enhance product tracing systems for food in an effort to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and trace forward operations