Plastic additives known as phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are odorless, colorless and just about everywhere: They turn up in flooring, plastic cups, beach balls, plastic wrap, intravenous tubing and-according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-the bodies of most Americans.
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Marinalg International, the organization supporting sustainable seaweed farming and the seaweed based hydrocolloid industry, agrees with the Proposed Rule by the National Organic Program of the United States Department of Agriculture to renew the approval of carrageenan, a common food stabilizer, as an ingredient in American organic foods.
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It's been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases. But in recent years, the list of animal pharmacists has grown much longer, and it now appears that the practice of animal self-medication is a lot more widespread than previously thought, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.
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Banning the use of trans fats in the preparation of foodstuffs is one of the most effective ways to prevent some of the world’s biggest killer diseases, but many governments are not taking such action because they do not think these bans work, according to a University of Sydney study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization today.
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Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, recently mobilized its Food Safety Response Center (FSRC) to develop a method to test for the presence of the veterinary drug phenylbutazone in horsemeat. Phenylbutazone, also known as “bute,” is a potent painkiller banned in any horsemeat intended for human consumption.
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Food Security in a Rapidly Urbanizing World, the first international conference examining the critical link between urbanization and food security, will be held at the University of Pennsylvania from Wednesday, March 13, through Friday, March 15, 2013.
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The Guardian describes a program being run by Soil (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) in Haiti, in which human waste is being collected and recycled "into fertile soil, simultaneously helping to fight cholera and deforestation, and revive food production."
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It's no secret that China is faced with some of the world's worst pollution. Until now, however, information on the magnitude, scope and impacts of a major contributor to that pollution - human-caused nitrogen emissions - was lacking.
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Joachim Messing, among the world's top experts in molecular genetics, became famous for developing a genetic engineering technique used in laboratories to create plants that have produced disease-resistant crops considered vital to feeding the world's population.
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People from low socio-economic positions in Britain eat more salt than the well off, irrespective of where they live, states a paper led by Warwick Medical School published on Tuesday in the BMJ Open journal .
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Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, writes in a Guardian opinion piece, "In order to support investment in agriculture, governments have ... come to rely on private sector investment and development aid -- and increasingly a partnership of the two," and he notes "the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.S. Agency for International Development and launched in May 2012, will draw more than $3 billion of private sector investment into food security plans in Africa."
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IRIN summarizes a discussion among "agriculturalists, scientists, businessmen, lobbyists, and policymakers convened in London's Chatham House this week to debate how to feed the planet's growing population without degrading the earth's resources -- if such a thing is even possible."
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Are you allergic to peanuts and worried there might be some in that cookie? Now you can find out using a rather unlikely source: your cell phone.
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Connecticut's social services safety net and its public colleges and universities took the brunt Wednesday of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's first effort to whittle down a $363 million state budget deficit.
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The Financial Times examines "a complex cocktail of demographic, economic, and policy changes that can be blamed for increased pressure on the food supply."
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"There has been an increase in staple food production in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the second year running, but undernutrition persists for nearly three million people, according to a new United Nations assessment released" Monday, the U.N. News Centre reports.
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Insights into the genetic code of pigs that reveal how the species evolved could improve the health of animals in future.
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Researchers at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment are leading a five-year, $4 million study of disparities in access to healthy food across the state.
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With health problems like obesity and diabetes on the rise due to changing diets in emerging economies, Malaysia is forging new linkages between domestic and international scientists and institutions in hopes of mitigating the problem.
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Noting a recent U.N. study showed that, despite progress on tackling child mortality globally, sub-Saharan Africa "is trailing far behind," David Dominic, a consultant for non-governmental organizations, writes in this Huffington Post U.K. opinion piece, "The more we look, the more it seems that the U.K. aid system, with regards to sub-Saharan Africa, is carefully designed to control and exploit the region, with scant regard for the impacts upon the poor. That is, aid seems to be used as a tool of modern imperialism."
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