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Canadian company shoulders blame for food poisoning outbreak

The Canadian meat company linked to the deaths of 15 people in Canada from listeriosis food poisoning says it will take full responsibility for the outbreak.

28 Aug 2008

Inorganic arsenic may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Inorganic arsenic, commonly found in ground water in certain areas, may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

19 Aug 2008

Researchers create synthetic heparin

Robert Linhardt has spent years stitching together minuscule carbohydrates to build a more pure and safer alternative to the commonly used and controversial blood thinner heparin. At the national conference of the American Chemical Society on August 17, 2008, Linhardt announced that his research team may have accomplished this task by building the first fully synthetic heparin. Their creation is the largest dose of heparin ever created in the lab.

17 Aug 2008

Obsessive compulsive disorder linked to activity in lateral orbitofrontal cortex

Cambridge researchers have discovered that measuring activity in a region of the brain could help to identify people at risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

19 Jul 2008

2.5 billion live with poor sanitation, 1.2 billion practise open defecation

Every day, over 2.5 billion people suffer from a lack of access to improved sanitation and nearly 1.2 billion practise open defecation, the riskiest sanitary practice of all, according to a report issued today by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. The programme is the official UN mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Target 7c on drinking water supply and sanitation.

17 Jul 2008

FDA food protection plan shows improvements

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Protection Plan Progress Report, released today in conjunction with the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety Action Plan Update, shows significant areas of activity to further improve the safety of America's food supply since unveiling its Food Protection Plan in November 2007.

2 Jul 2008

Disease-detecting lab-on-a-chip

Detecting food-borne diseases such as campylobacter and salmonella long before they enter the food chain would help ensure that the dinner on your table is safe to eat.

1 Jul 2008

Salmonella outbreak in the U.S. gives health officials the run around

An outbreak of salmonella poisoning in the U.S. appears to have health authorities running around in ever decreasing circles.

1 Jul 2008

Brits told to boil tap water

Britons living in the north of England have been warned that they must boil tap water before using it because the water is contaminated with a potentially serious stomach bug.

25 Jun 2008

New antimicrobial wash to tackle food contamination

University of Georgia researchers have developed an effective technology for reducing contamination of dangerous bacteria on food

24 Jun 2008

Salmonella tomato outbreak spreads in the U.S.

According to officials in the U.S. a salmonella outbreak linked to tainted tomatoes has expanded to five more states and the district of Columbia.

17 Jun 2008

Death rate linked to comtaminated heparin almost doubles

The drug watchdog in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have updated the number of deaths in patients who took the drug heparin.

17 Jun 2008

Roche chlamydia test approved in Europe

Roche has announced that its new test for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis has received CE Mark certification, allowing it to be sold for clinical use in the European Union.

15 Jun 2008

Administration proposes additional funding for FDA for fiscal year (FY) 2009

HHS Secretary Leavitt today announced that the Administration is amending its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2009 to include an additional $275 million for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He called on Congress to act quickly on this budget amendment and pending Administration legislative proposals to strengthen FDA.

9 Jun 2008

Antimicrobial wipes can spread pathogens after first use

A new study by a team of researchers at the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Wales, UK, has found that antimicrobial-containing wipes currently used to decontaminate surfaces in hospitals can spread pathogens after first use.

3 Jun 2008

New, single-exposure imaging tool puts biomedical imaging in palm of hands

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a narrowband filter mosaic that will expand the uses and functionality of multispectral imaging-a technology that enables subsurface characterization.

20 May 2008

Lotion which glows under ultraviolet light lights up nasty bacteria

A team of Canadian scientists using a lotion which glows under ultraviolet light have shown that up to a third of patient toilets are not properly cleaned. Their findings, published in BioMed Central's journal, BMC Infectious Diseases, also show that spores from the nasty bacteria Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) linger in the loo even when it has been thoroughly wiped down.

11 May 2008

Chemical in plastic baby bottles worrying Brits

Concerns raised by scientists in the U.S. last month about Bisphenol A, a controversial chemical found in most plastic baby bottles has led to calls from groups in Britain for all baby bottles to be clearly labelled.

7 May 2008

Computer keyboard five times filthier than the toilet seat!

According to scientists in Britain your computer keyboard could contain a virus which threatens more than just what is on the screen - they say it poses a considerable health risk which equates to those presented by a toilet seat.

6 May 2008

Mould in the home

Surely your bathroom is fungus-free once you've wiped the mould off the tiles? Not according to a study by French scientists in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Journal of Environmental Monitoring. They report that almost one in five rooms studied with no visible mould was in fact "highly contaminated" by fungus which could aggravate conditions such as asthma.

30 Apr 2008