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Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

Filipinos are "struggling to live in flooded suburbs or crowded shelters one month after devastating rains began pounding the Philippines, and officials warn no quick fix is in sight," Agence France-Presse reports. According to the WHO, 1.43 million people, "mostly in and around Manila, continue to endure a dangerous existence living in flooded districts" (Morella, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

Obama Administration applauded for highlighting importance of offering dairy products in schools

The International Dairy Foods Association applauded Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the Obama Administration for highlighting the importance of offering more low fat milk and dairy products in schools.

24 Oct 2009

FDA to standardize front-of-package criteria, Smart Choices Program postpones active operations

The Smart Choices Program announced today that it will voluntarily postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the logo at this time by either new or currently enrolled companies.

24 Oct 2009

USDA to have 'important but modest role' in U.S. global agriculture initiative, undersecretary says

As U.S. plans to fight world hunger take shape, the USDA is gearing up for an "important but modest role," in which the agency will follow directions from the State Department and developing countries, Rajiv Shah, undersecretary in charge of the USDA's research arm, said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

23 Oct 2009

ADA supports IOM’s proposal on school nutrition programs

The American Dietetic Association welcomes a report issued Wednesday, October 21, by the Institute of Medicine encouraging federal school meal programs to adopt standards that increase the nutrition content and limit the calories in meals served to schoolchildren.

23 Oct 2009

ZyGEM and Phthisis Diagnostics to develop products for detecting infectious pathogens

ZyGEM Corp. Ltd. and Phthisis Diagnostics today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop products enabling the detection of infectious pathogens in complex samples, such as stool, blood and water.

23 Oct 2009

Ethiopia requests emergency food aid for 6.2m people

Ethiopian Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Mitiku Kassa on Thursday asked the international community for more than $121 million for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, the Associated Press reports (10/22).

22 Oct 2009

BioCube completes initial phase development of environmentally safe decontamination system

Spring Creek Capital Corporation (OTCBB: SCRK), a Nevada corporation, announced today that one of its portfolio companies, BioCube, Inc., has completed the initial phase of the development of an environmentally safe decontamination system, utilizing an aerosol-based delivery method of aqueous solution.

22 Oct 2009

SMOS satellite to study two parameters of complex climate system

As preparations for the launch of SMOS and Proba-2 continue on schedule, the engineers and technicians at the Russian launch site say goodbye as both satellites are encapsulated within the half-shells of the Rockot fairing.

22 Oct 2009

Ohio ranks fourth in bioscience industry

While other states jockeyed for position on Business Facilities Magazine's second-annual Biotechnology Strength Report, Ohio defended its ranking as best in the Midwest and No. 4 in the nation for its strengths in the bioscience industry.

22 Oct 2009

Widely used ssqPCR assay is not reliable, say researchers

In the course of doing research on the mosquito-borne pathogens chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and o' nyong-nyong virus (ONNV), Virginia Tech researchers have discovered an inconvenient truth about an assay, strand-specific quantitative real-time PCR (ssqPCR), increasingly being used to detect and measure replicating viral RNA in infected cells and tissues. The method most labs are using for ssqPCR is unreliable.

22 Oct 2009

Emerging Pandemic Threats program to combat newly emerging diseases of animal origin

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is launching an Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program that builds on the successes of the Agency's long-standing programs in disease surveillance, training, and outbreak response, particularly those addressing avian and pandemic influenza.

22 Oct 2009

FAO plans broad reforms for World Food Security committee

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Committee on World Food Security (CFS) agreed Tuesday to "wide-ranging" reforms in an effort to make the committee the most "comprehensive international and intergovernmental platform dealing with food security and nutrition," Xinhua reports (10/20). "The CFS reforms are designed to focus the Committee's vision and role on the global coordination of efforts to eliminate hunger and ensure food security for all," according to an FAO press release (10/20).

22 Oct 2009

U.S. food aid policy to be more flexible, Clinton, Vilsack say

"The Obama administration wants more flexibility in how it allocates food aid dollars to complement its new strategy to help small farmers in poor countries boost their food production," according to a conference call Friday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Reuters reports.

21 Oct 2009

Summit to highlight multi-system interoperability and transparency for safer US food supply chain

Colorado-based Traceability Institute announced today the dates of the first executive summit designed to initiate consensus to achieve multi-system interoperability with the goal of accomplishing a more sustainable and safer US food supply chain.

21 Oct 2009

Monsanto enters into a collaboration with Huazhong Agricultural University

Monsanto Company and Huazhong Agricultural University have entered into a collaboration to further the development of novel traits such as higher yield, drought resistance and nitrogen use efficiency. Monsanto will evaluate and advance certain technologies developed by Professor Qifa Zhang's research team at Huazhong Agricultural University in China.

21 Oct 2009

Innovative way to keep produce and flowers fresh for longer periods of time

Did you know that millions of tons of fruits and vegetables in the United States end up in the trash can before being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture?

21 Oct 2009

Campaign seeks to hold governments accountable to meeting MDG targets

Inter Press Service examines the Stand Up Take Action campaign, which took place October 16-18 to highlight the Millennium Development Goals' [MDG] 2015 deadline.

19 Oct 2009

More nutrition guidance needed to build good eating habits in growing children, says Nestle FITS survey

Parents and caregivers are hearing and following the feeding guidance for infants, yet continued work needs to be done to help them also build good eating habits for their growing children, suggests data from the Nestle Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) released today at a symposium at the American Dietetic Association's Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo.

19 Oct 2009

Inaccurate body temperature readings can harm the entire health care system

As we head into a flu season where the 2009 H1N1 swine flu is expected to cause increased sickness, hospitalization and deaths across the U.S., something as simple as inaccurate body temperature measurements may lead to social and economic turmoil – and may cause many more deaths.

19 Oct 2009

Agriculture News and Research

Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

Obama Administration applauded for highlighting importance of offering dairy products in schools

FDA to standardize front-of-package criteria, Smart Choices Program postpones active operations

USDA to have 'important but modest role' in U.S. global agriculture initiative, undersecretary says

ADA supports IOM’s proposal on school nutrition programs

ZyGEM and Phthisis Diagnostics to develop products for detecting infectious pathogens

Ethiopia requests emergency food aid for 6.2m people

BioCube completes initial phase development of environmentally safe decontamination system

SMOS satellite to study two parameters of complex climate system

Ohio ranks fourth in bioscience industry

Widely used ssqPCR assay is not reliable, say researchers

Emerging Pandemic Threats program to combat newly emerging diseases of animal origin

FAO plans broad reforms for World Food Security committee

U.S. food aid policy to be more flexible, Clinton, Vilsack say

Summit to highlight multi-system interoperability and transparency for safer US food supply chain

Monsanto enters into a collaboration with Huazhong Agricultural University

Innovative way to keep produce and flowers fresh for longer periods of time

Campaign seeks to hold governments accountable to meeting MDG targets

More nutrition guidance needed to build good eating habits in growing children, says Nestle FITS survey

Inaccurate body temperature readings can harm the entire health care system

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