• Avalanche of drugs, scarcely any oversight, I

    More and more drugs are imported by U.S. drug makers from China, then re-labeled and sold in the United States; even when the drugs are made in the United States, more and U.S. drug makers purchase the drug ingredients in China; trouble is, the FDA does not have the resources to inspect these Chinese manufacturers to see whether they adhere to U.S. safety standards; the result: U.S. consumers become ill and die

  • Congress urges companies to do more on food safety

    There are 303,556,795 million people in the United States, according the U.S. Census Bureau (the figure is accurate for yesterday, 3 March); of these, 76 million people — that is, 25 percent — get sick every year with some sort of foodborne illness; 5,000 die; as food imports increase, these grim figures increase apace; Congress wants industry to be more diligent

  • Worrying about wrong threat weakens U.S. bioterrorism preparedness

    Science writer says that the worry about man-made pathogens (or “designer” pathogens) is misplaced; preoccupation with artificial germs has led the government to de-emphasize “one-bug-one-drug” strategy in favor of “broad spectrum technology” aiming to boost the body’s innate, or general, immunity; experts question wisdom of strategy

  • U.S. growing dependence on corn increasingly worries economists

    The U.S. economy’s dependence on corn — to feed dairy cows and egg-laying hens; fatten cattle, hogs, and chicken; make sweet soda; and meet ethanol mandates — leads economist to warn of a “corn shock” in case of a drought across the Midwest

  • MPRI to help CDC prepare for disasters

    Simulation and virtualization are becoming more popular as tools for preparedness; MPRI, a subsidiary of L-3 company, will use its simulation and training expertise to help CDC prepare for all-hazard disasters, including bioterrorism and pandemic outbreaks

  • RFID technology to help track donated blood

    Donated blood passes through many hands between donation and patient; to date, there is no good way to track donated blood “vein-to-vein,” with the result being many blood transfusion-related problems; RFID technology will help

  • 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