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Bird-flu infection results in Germany's biggest bird cull ever
More than 160,000 geese culled in Germany after the deadly H5N1 bird-flu virus is found in a poultry farm near the city of Erlangen
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Poisonous puffer fish sold as salmon kill 15 in Thailand
California-based company imports puffer fish from China, mislabel them as “monkfish,” and sell them to Illinois restaurants; several people beome ill
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EU lifts ban on British meat, dairy exports
EU imposed ban three weeks ago after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in three U.K. farms; ban cost U.K. farmers about £10 million a week in lost sales
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WHO, China to discuss Chinese food safety practices
Faced with an embarassing wave of product and food-stuff recalls owing to inadequate safety regulations, and a growing number of contract cancellations by major U.S. and European importers, China arranges to discuss issue with UN health agency
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ImmuneRegen offers Homspera as anthrax vaccine
The administration erred in entrusting anthrax vaccine development to VaxGen; Arizona-based ImmuneRegen BioSciences believes it has a better solution
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World Health Organization diseases spread faster around world
U.N. health agency says one or more new diseases have been identified every year since the 1970s —a rate it says is “unprecedented”
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Video game offers clues to human behavior during pandemics
In 2005 the creators of World of Warcraft video game introduced a virulent, contagious disease into the game as a challenge to players; subsequent players’ behavior tells us much about human behavior during real pandemics
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Fruit bats found to be the source of Marburg virus
As is the case with Ebola, the Marburg virus casues deadly hemorrhagic fever; scientists now find that common fruit bats carry the virus
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Nasally administered anthrax vaccine shows promise
University of Michigan scientists treat the inside of test animals’ noses with a “nanoemulsion,” triggering strong immune response
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U.K. enlists Glaxo, Baxter in bird flu vaccine effort
U.K. awards the two companies a four-year, £155 million contracts; Glaxo, Europe’s biggest drugmaker, already has similar agreements with Switzerland, Iceland, and Denmark
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Flora, Mississippi, wants to be home to new national lab
Many were surprised to see Flora, Mississippi (population 1,546) among the five finalists for the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility; many in the city were surprised as well, but they are planning to fight for the lab
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Anxiety eases over U.K. foot-and-mouth outbreak
A zoo in Surrey and a farm in Kent have been given a provisional all-clear over foot-and-mouth disease after initial tests came back negative
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Sanofi Pasteur to open new flu vaccine plant
French company to open new plant capable of producing 100 million doses of vaccine for annual flu seasons; U.S. readiness for avian flu pandemic bolstered
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FDA warns of potential botulism risk from canned beans
Wisconsin producers voluntarily recall thousands of cases of French cut green beans after errors in processing leave consumers vulnerable to botulism
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Global food trade a target for terrorists
Food technologists offer gloomy assessment of the vulnerability of the global food trade, and the ease with which terrorist can use it as a weapon
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The long view
Plum Island, 1954-2026: A Requiem
Plum Island is an 840-acre island in the Long Island Sound, just off Long Island’s North Fork (New York), a short distance from Connecticut. It has been federally owned since the 19th century and was long home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), a research laboratory focused on foreign animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
Plum Island: A History
The history of Plum Island is rich and varied, with changing times, historical context, and national challenges changing the use of the island and its purpose.