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U.S. to examine ways better to monitor imports from China
Stories about contaminated and defective imports from China abound, and the administration is studying ways to keep such imports safe
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USDA evaluates zNose for detecting contraband food products
The current inspection systems for contraband food products has come under criticism; USDA augments inspection by testing zNose
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Kansas State University wants to house high-level biolab
Thde city of Dunn, Wisconsin, is relieved to be taken off the list for future high-security biolabs; the debate in Manhattan Kansas, begins
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Biolab bid loser U Missouri supports Kansas State
University of Missouri-Columbia failed to make the finalists list for the national biolab; it joins a consortium of university and business interests pulling for the lab to be built at Kansas State University
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Joint Kentucky-Tennessee bid for biolab fails
Kentucky and Tennnessee had an idea: Why not bid jointly for DHS’s biolab? The scattered nature of the proposed research facilities, however, and lack of workers with experience in high-security doomed the effort
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Private sector can deal with Chinese product safety problems
The list of unsafe and tainted Chinese prodcuts is long and worrisome; Congress is considering protectionist measures in response; WSJ says private sector can deal with the problem
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Bird flu pandemic plans lacking in U.S.
Experts worry that the U.S. public, and managers of companies, have become complacent about the risks of avian flu and its economic reprcussions
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The number of accidental infection at biolabs grows
There are now 20,000 people at 400 sites around the United States working with bioweapons germs; the number of accidental infections grows
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One-fifth of Chinese products are substandard
Chinese government inspectors report that nearly one-fifth of the products they examined — including food products — were substandard.
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Multivalent vaccine botulinum toxin shows promise
Bolulinum toxin is an extremely strong neurotoxin that causes fatal paralysis in its victims; Florida company reports initial success of its multivalent vaccine
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Missouri's cattlemen's group opposes BioDefense lab
Major agricutlrual associations in Missouri split over merit, risks of building national bio- and agro-defense lab in the state
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France, Germany raise bird flu threat level
In Germany, wild birds are found dead in Thuringia, Saxony, and Bavaria; in France, three dead swans found in Moselle; both countries raise bird flu alert levels
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Renewed worries about safety of biodefense research
Critics argue that universities, fearing loss of biodefense research funds, do not report infections, other problems
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CDC suspends A&M research on infectious diseases
In spring 2006, Aggies researchers were infected with Q fever and Brucella, but the school failed to report the cases to CDC; CDC pulls Texas A&M license
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CDC probes A&M bioweapons infections
Researchers’ exposure to weapons agents not reported promptly
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The long view
Vaccine Myths That Won't Die and How to Counter Them—Part 1
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has spent decades promoting vaccine skepticism. He has replaced scientists at different HHS such as CDC and NIH with vaccine skeptics and anti-vaccine activists. They have polluted the information environment with, and base their policy changes on, myths about the supposed risks of vaccines. Each of these myths has been studied extensively. Each has been refuted. And yet each persists, because misinformation travels faster than correction and because these myths tap into fears that are genuinely human.
Vaccine Myths That Won’t Die and How to Counter Them—Part 2
This article and its Part 1 catalogue the debunked myths driving the vaccine skeptics who now run HHS. These myths share four fundamental errors: First, the conflation of temporal association with causation. Second, the confusion of regulatory paperwork with the totality of scientific evidence. Third, the demand for impossible standards. Fourth, the selective citation of evidence. The current political moment has given unprecedented platforms to vaccine skepticism. But politics cannot change biology.