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Millennium Villages Project research yields positive results, but some researchers question methods used

"Death rates among children under five at the [Millennium Villages Project (MVP)] -- set up in Africa to demonstrate what is possible if health, education, agriculture, and other development needs are tackled simultaneously -- have fallen by a third in three years compared with similar communities, according to the project's first results," published in the Lancet on Tuesday, the Guardian reports.

10 May 2012

MSU researcher wins Grand Challenges Explorations grant for work on TB

For his work on developing new treatments for tuberculosis, a Michigan State University researcher has been named a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

10 May 2012

Plans to tackle growing waistlines and the obesity epidemic from the Institute of Medicine

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), obesity in America is a crisis that threatens national security and it demands urgent action.

9 May 2012

Humanitarian groups call on G8 to address food security at upcoming summit

Several humanitarian groups say that despite the G8's pledge made at the 2009 L'Aquila Summit to provide $22 billion over three years to improve agriculture and food security, "the commitment is about to expire" and "much more needs to be done to end hunger," VOA News reports.

8 May 2012

Stay safe and out of ER during Memorial Day Weekend

The unofficial "kickoff" to summer is only a few weeks away. While we hope everyone has fun this coming Memorial Day weekend, the nation's emergency physicians want everyone to stay safe and out of the ER.

7 May 2012

Options for improving antimicrobial use in food animal production

Today, U.S. regulators and representatives from national food production industries will meet to discuss "Improving Antimicrobial Use in Food Animal Production: Alternatives, Options and Incentives," in Washington, DC.

7 May 2012

New improved mosquito mass rearing technique

The requirement for efficient mosquito mass-rearing technology has been one of the major obstacles preventing the large scale application of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against mosquitoes.

7 May 2012

Reuters examines challenges related to estimating number of undernourished people worldwide

"Calculating the number of hungry people around the world at any given moment, let alone predicting how that number is likely to change in the future, is no easy task," Reuters reports in an article examining the numerous challenges of estimating the number of undernourished people worldwide and noting the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is expected to release new data and methodology in October "as part of its annual report on food insecurity."

4 May 2012

E coli detection in contaminated meat to be ‘sped up’ says USDA

The government is gearing up to speed up the process for tracking E. coli in meat, a move that will help authorities more quickly find the source of bacteria outbreaks and hasten recalls of contaminated food.

3 May 2012

Scientists determine structure of green pigment seen in nitrite-cured bacon, other meats

As with many concerned consumers, a team of University of Oklahoma researchers wondered if the green color sometimes seen in bacon is, in fact, harmful to human health. Recently, these OU scientists took an important first step in answering this question by determining the structure of the green pigment responsible for this 'nitrite burn.'

3 May 2012

Viewpoints: Romney's argument that health law would kill free enterprise; FDA's delay in cutting use of antibiotics in animals

In my column on Sunday, I quoted Mitt Romney's warning last week that President Obama's health reform law could doom the free-enterprise system in the United States. "With Obamacare fully installed," Romney said, "government will come to control half the economy, and we will have effectively ceased to be a free-enterprise society." Could that be true? Would "Obamacare," which relies mostly on free-enterprise health insurance companies, really turn America into a socialist state?

2 May 2012

FAO head calls on oil-, mineral-rich countries to establish fund to fight hunger in Sahel

Speaking at a conference in Brazzaville, Congo, on Friday, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva "appealed to oil- and mineral-rich nations to set up a fund to combat the food crisis gripping the Sahel desert region and other parts of Africa," Agence France-Presse reports.

30 Apr 2012

Dutch government grants export license allowing publication of controversial H5N1 study

"The Dutch government has agreed to grant an export license to allow Ron Fouchier, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical University in Rotterdam, to publish his work on H5N1 avian influenza in Science," Nature's "News Blog" reports (Owens, 4/27). "

30 Apr 2012

Farm Bill could do more to improve food aid

"The policy changes in the [Senate's draft Farm Bill] represent improvements to U.S. food aid policy, but we think Congress could do more," Kelley Hauser, a policy analyst with ONE, writes in this post on the Care2 blog.

30 Apr 2012

U.S. government made 'strong progress' in fight against world hunger, but much remains to be done, report says

According to the 2012 Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Agricultural Development (.pdf), released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Thursday, "[t]he U.S. government risks losing the gains it has made in fighting world hunger unless it maintains its effort of the last three years in improving global agricultural practices and food security," Reuters reports.

27 Apr 2012

Florida Senator Marco Rubio addresses future of U.S. Foreign Policy

"On April 25, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for a major address on the future of U.S. foreign policy," according to an event summary on the organization's website.

27 Apr 2012

USDA: Dairy cow in California tested positive for atypical BSE

This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that a dairy cow in California tested positive for atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The USDA also confirmed the cow did not enter the animal feed or human food supply

27 Apr 2012

Study of lean finely textured beef's fall from grace

The process for producing what has become known as "pink slime" actually seemed like a triumph of technology in an industry haunted by the specter of food poisoning and, at one point, even got rave reviews in the news media, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

26 Apr 2012

Draft farm bill includes 'promising' fixes to U.S. food aid system

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CDG) "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog," Connie Veillette, director of CGD's rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, comments on a draft farm bill released by Congress last week, which she writes "includes some promising fixes to the notoriously inefficient U.S. food aid system."

26 Apr 2012

Australian Government must take the lead in tackling antibiotic resistance: NPS Board Chair Dr Janette Randall address to the National Press Club

NPS Board Chair Dr Janette Randall today called on the government to take the lead on a cross sectoral approach towards tackling the antibiotic-resistance crisis facing the Australian community.

26 Apr 2012

Agriculture News and Research

Millennium Villages Project research yields positive results, but some researchers question methods used

MSU researcher wins Grand Challenges Explorations grant for work on TB

Plans to tackle growing waistlines and the obesity epidemic from the Institute of Medicine

Humanitarian groups call on G8 to address food security at upcoming summit

Stay safe and out of ER during Memorial Day Weekend

Options for improving antimicrobial use in food animal production

New improved mosquito mass rearing technique

Reuters examines challenges related to estimating number of undernourished people worldwide

E coli detection in contaminated meat to be ‘sped up’ says USDA

Scientists determine structure of green pigment seen in nitrite-cured bacon, other meats

Viewpoints: Romney's argument that health law would kill free enterprise; FDA's delay in cutting use of antibiotics in animals

FAO head calls on oil-, mineral-rich countries to establish fund to fight hunger in Sahel

Dutch government grants export license allowing publication of controversial H5N1 study

Farm Bill could do more to improve food aid

U.S. government made 'strong progress' in fight against world hunger, but much remains to be done, report says

Florida Senator Marco Rubio addresses future of U.S. Foreign Policy

USDA: Dairy cow in California tested positive for atypical BSE

Study of lean finely textured beef's fall from grace

Draft farm bill includes 'promising' fixes to U.S. food aid system

Australian Government must take the lead in tackling antibiotic resistance: NPS Board Chair Dr Janette Randall address to the National Press Club

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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