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Reports of bird flu in the Bahamas are exaggerated

Preliminary field reports on the investigation of unexplained death of birds on the island of Inagua in the Southern Bahamas were exaggerated.

6 Mar 2006

Poland latest on bird flu hit list

The first Polish case of H5 bird flu has been found in two swans found dead on the banks of the River Vistula in the northern city of Torun.

6 Mar 2006

Germans panic and dump their cats as Serbia joins the bird flu list

According to an animal welfare society in Germany, hundreds of cats are being left at animal shelters following the disclosure earlier in the week that a cat on the island of Ruegen had died from the deadly bird flu.

5 Mar 2006

Public health effects of exposure to toxic metals

Exposure to toxic elements leads to worrying health problems in many parts of the world, including Europe.

1 Mar 2006

New U.S. law on food safety labels causes controversy

If a new bill on the labeling of food becomes law in the U.S. as many as 200 state food-safety laws may be negated.

1 Mar 2006

Bird flu will soon be worldwide

Reports that bird flu has now been found in a cat in Germany has served to further fuel the panic spreading across Europe regarding the deadly virus.

1 Mar 2006

Russia sets up HQ to fight bird flu

The Russian government say it will set up a headquarters to combat the bird flu epidemic.

28 Feb 2006

French vaccinate millions of free range birds as farm becomes first victim of bird flu

A farm in eastern France has become the first domestic victim of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the European Union.

27 Feb 2006

India and Malaysia breathe sigh of relief as suspects cleared of bird flu

The news that people being treated for suspected bird flu in India and Malaysia, do not in fact have the virus will come as a relief to many and calm fear that the disease has spread to humans.

22 Feb 2006

World's poor at huge risk from bird flu

ActionAid International, one of the UK's charity largest development charities which works with over five million of the world's poorest people, has warned that when it comes to the fight against bird flu, in the developing world, making plans is not enough.

22 Feb 2006

Organic diet for children means less exposure to pesticides

In a new study researchers in the U.S. have shown that organic diets meant that children had less exposure to two common pesticides.

21 Feb 2006

Animals diseases jumping to humans faster than ever before

According to scientists in the U.S. and Scotland, 75% of the 38 species of harmful organisms and viruses identified in the past 25 years are believed to have "jumped" from animals to humans.

21 Feb 2006

Lack of progress in reducing children's exposures to pesticides

The lack of progress in reducing children's exposures to pesticides, despite passage in 1996 of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), will be highlighted during a symposium organized by The Organic Center on Sunday, February 19th at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

19 Feb 2006

Organic diets lower children's exposure to pesticides

Organic diets lower children's dietary exposure to two common pesticides used in U.S. agricultural production, according to a study by Emory University researcher Chensheng "Alex" Lu, PhD. The substitution of organic food items for children's normal diets substantially decreased the pesticide concentration to non-detectable levels.

19 Feb 2006

Death toll reaches 93 as bird flu hits India, France and Egypt

Health officials in India say they have found the country's first cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, following the death of chickens from the virus on poultry farms in the western town of Navapur.

19 Feb 2006

Science is bypassing poor people

Applying science and technology to build a Pluto-bound spacecraft that travels more than 10 times faster -- 47,000 miles per hour -- than a speeding bullet is a great achievement. But can we apply technology to feed the 800 million hungry people in the world whose plight isn't improving in a modern world?

17 Feb 2006

Advancing knowledge of diet-gene interactions

Josi Ordovas, PhD, director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University joined more than eighty other leading researchers in the fields of nutrition and genetics to co-author a report outlining their strategy for maximizing the impact of nutrigenomics research on global poverty and health.

16 Feb 2006

More wild birds threatened with slaughter as bird flu spreads across Europe

German officials have confirmed that two swans found on a beach on the Baltic island of Rugen have tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

16 Feb 2006

African countries should step up surveillance and border controls for bird flu

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus often spreads through the movement of affected birds, FAO/World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said.

13 Feb 2006

FDA affirms safety of Aspartame

The Calorie Control Council has stated that a rat study conducted by Italy's Ramazzini Institute is totally contradictory to the extensive scientific research and regulatory reviews conducted on aspartame. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has said they are not recommending any changes in the use of aspartame.

13 Feb 2006