• USDA sued over relaxation of downer cow rules

    One symptom of mad cow disease, and other serious illnesses, is the cow’s lack of balance and inability to walk (hence the name “downer”); after slaughterhouses were found to be forcing downers to walk so as to appear healthy, USDA banned downers from the food chain; under pressure from the meat industry, it has relaxed that rule, and is now being sued

  • ICx to develop battlefield biodetection device

    ICx will use the research and development capabilities of Mesosystems Technologies in New Mexico, a company it had acquired in 2005, to develop a biodetection system to be used on the battlefield; new device will be made for continuous air monitoring in outdoor settings

  • AMTRAK buys explosive detectors from Smiths Detection

    AMTRAK will use the SABRE 4000 to screen passengers, carry-on baggage at train stations and on trains for explosives

  • Infectious diseases on the rise around the world

    Researchers offer proof that there is distinct, measurable rise in infectious diseases around the world; most of these diseases, including SARS and the Ebola virus, originated in wildlife; antibiotic drug resistance has been cited as another culprit, leading to diseases such as extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB)

  • Cleaner water through nanotechnology

    As global warming causes more and more countries to have less and less fresh water for human consumption and irrigation, the purification and re-use of contaminated water becomes more urgent; Aussie researchers offer a nanotechnology-based method to purify water which is more effective and cheaper than conventional water purification methods

  • MIT researchers explain spread, lethality of 1918 flu

    The 1918 pandemic outbreak that killed at least fifty million people; MIT researchers explain that the lethality of the 1918 pandemic was the result of an influenza strain which developed two mutations in a surface molecule called hemagglutinin, which allowed it to bind tightly to receptors in the human upper respiratory tract

  • Indonesian girl contracts bird flu, possibly from relative

    A fifteen-year old Indonesian girl contracts H5N1; health authorities fear this is a case of human-to-human infection — signifying a dangerous development in H5N1 trajectory

  • San Diego measles outbreak

    A measles-infected seven-year old passenger on a plane from Switzerland infects other passengers; measles was widespread in the United States before a vaccine was developed in the early 1960s

  • Cost to Irish economy from bird flu outbreak: €2 billion

    Experts say that over a 15-week bird flu pandemic in Ireland, there would be a hospitalization rate of between 0.55 percent and 3.70 percent of the population, and among those hospitalized, a fatality rate of between 0.37 percent and 2.50 percent

  • CDC says influenza B strain does not match vaccine

    The U.S. flu season started out slowly, but activity has increased sharply, which is typically the case; the bad news is that most circulating influenza B viruses tested so far this season do not match this year’s vaccine, signaling that two of the three vaccine components are off-target

  • Materials used in plastic for baby bottles leach toxins

    Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen, is used to make hard polycarbonate plastic; 95 percent of all baby bottles on the market are made with BPA; studies find that BPA, even in small doses, can be harmful by disrupting development

  • China dumpling factory cleared

    Inspectors clear Chinese dumpling facility of deliberately poisoning food exported to Japan; Chinese now blame nationalist activists opposed to improving Chinese-Japanese relations

  • Chinese dumplings sold in Japan poisoned on purpose

    Japan claims that made-in-China frozen dumplings which caused ten Japanese to fall ill, were contaminated on purpose with a highly toxic organophoshate pesticide methamidophos; Japan, China investigate

  • UDT signs China distribution agreement

    Universal Detection Technology, developer of bioterror and infectious diseases detection technologies, signs up a Chinese distributor with good connection with the central and provincial governments

  • New method for anthrax decontamination developed

    Yellow Jackets, SMD researchers develop an X-rays and UV-C light-based method for anthrax decontamination; it is rapid and nondisruptive, and also less expensive than currently available decontamination methods; it kills anthrax spores — even those hidden in crevices and cracks — within two to three hours without any lingering effects