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U.N. member states elect countries to serve on U.N. women board

U.N. Member States on Wednesday voted on the countries that would have a seat on the board of U.N. Women, the new agency tasked with promoting equality and women's rights, Public Radio International's The World reports.

11 Nov 2010

Dead litigant’s family bullied by tobacco company

In 2002 Jamie McCabe’s mother Rolah won a landmark legal battle against British American Tobacco and alleges that the family is still being harassed by the tobacco giant. Ms McCabe became the first Australian to successfully sue a tobacco company. She won $700,000 in compensation after Justice Geoffrey Eames, in the Victorian Supreme Court, found the tobacco company had destroyed potentially relevant documents about the damaging effects of smoking.

11 Nov 2010

NIST develops new Vaccinium berry suite of standard reference materials

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have developed new certified reference materials for measuring amounts of organic acids in dietary supplements formulated with Vaccinium berries-cranberries, blueberries and bilberries. As described in a recent paper, manufacturers and researchers can use this new suite of standard reference materialsTM (SRMs) as quality assurance tools.

11 Nov 2010

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force expected to announce open positions shortly

The agency that oversees the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is likely to announce soon that it will accept nominations for open positions until Nov. 29.

10 Nov 2010

Cannabis “scratch & sniff” cards to stop illegal plantations

In a novel method to uncover illegal urban cannabis plantations nearly 30,000 Dutch households are to receive marijuana-scented scratch cards. According to authorities in Rotterdam and The Hague they are distributing the cards to help people recognize what cannabis smells like.

8 Nov 2010

Water purification woes

According to an expert desalination plants that are built close to sewage outflows risk contaminating drinking water. An Australian National University professor of infectious diseases and microbiology Peter Collignon said that membrane technology is not fool proof when it comes to screening bugs. This comes coincidentally just after a “reporting error” by Sydney Water that showed E.coli had been found in processed drinking water at its $1.9 billion Kurnell desalination plant in Sydney's south. The plant's intake, which collects water to supply 1.5 million Sydney homes, is about 2.5km north of the Cronulla near-shore sewage outflow.

8 Nov 2010

'New framework' needed to reduce slum expansion, new UN-HABITAT head says in speech outlining priorities

Joan Clos, the newly elected executive director of the U.N. Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), on Tuesday urged the international community to focus on improving the lives of slum dwellers worldwide and take steps to reduce the expansion of slum areas, Xinhua/People's Daily Online reports.

8 Nov 2010

Fast food restaurants to display calorie counts

As Australia reels under the weight of obesity and related diseases one of the first steps towards prevention could be forcing fast food restaurants to display kilojoule counts on their menus said NSW Premier Kristina Keneally.

7 Nov 2010

Global food prices continue upward trend, but relatively stable cereal prices could prevent riots, FAO economist says

Global food prices rose in October and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index increased "for the fifth month in a row, the FAO said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

4 Nov 2010

Study confirms human excrements contribute to water pollution

Every person emits the equivalent of approximately two tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from the time food is produced to when the human body excretes it, representing more than 20% of total yearly emissions. That is what a study by the Universidad de Almer-a says, confirming for the first time that human excrements contribute to water pollution, primarily with nitrogen and phosphorus.

3 Nov 2010

Salty issues for Australian food co’s

At present health authorities are depending on education and a voluntary approach to cut down on dietary salt. From now on they are urging the government to set mandatory salt limits for food. According to a study from the University of Queensland there are more than one ways to tackle the dietary salt problem which is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease in Australia.

2 Nov 2010

GEN co-sponsored roundtable discussion on Gulf Oil Spill

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News announced that on Thursday, October 28th, they co-sponsored a roundtable discussion on new ways to use biological solutions to assist in environment cleanup after manmade or natural disasters.

2 Nov 2010

Alcohol - the worst drug!

A new study shows that alcohol abuse is by far the worst habit to have when compared to other recreational drugs like crack or heroin. Neuropharmacologist David Nutt, of Imperial College London who is also a former British government drug advisor and his team rated 20 different drugs on a scale that takes into account the various harms caused by a drug. Drugs are rated on the nine harms a drug causes to an individual and seven harms a drug causes to the society. The scale was developed by a panel of experts called the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ICSD), ranges from 0 (no harm) to 100 (greatest possible harm). It is weighted so that a drug that scores 50 is half as harmful as a drug that scores 100.

1 Nov 2010

Dr Sartori’s contentious alternative therapy: inquest date set

The Medical Practitioner's Board of Western Australia is looking into the case of a doctor and her role in an alternative cancer therapy program. Five cancer patients have died after apparently being given industrial solvents and dangerous minerals as a part of an alternative therapy program by Alexandra Boyd, a well-known Mosman Park breast cancer specialist. She along with two registered nurses administered the concoctions to the people in question.

1 Nov 2010

Understanding flirting key to positive romantic interactions

A little self-awareness can help people struggling in the world of relationships, says Jeffrey Hall, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas.

1 Nov 2010

Author of The Sedona Method releases new video on political atmosphere

Hale Dwoskin, author of The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-being, has released a new video. This video, entitled "Highest and Best Good for the Planet," tackles the question of what if we simply stopped the fighting, both in everyday lives and in the all-too-often combative political atmosphere.

30 Oct 2010

$700,000 worth of adulterated food seized by U.S. Marshals in Georgia

U.S. Marshals, acting under a court order sought by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, today seized an estimated $700,000 worth of rice and other packaged food products from a rodent-infested warehouse in East Point, Ga. The FDA-regulated food products were stored in a warehouse operated by Sun Hong Kai Holding Inc., which does business as United Food Service.

30 Oct 2010

OVC to award three years funding to Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), in the Department of Justice's Office for Justice Programs, plans to award up to $750,000 over three years in funding dedicated to helping American victims of domestic violence overseas. This is the first year OVC awarded the funding.

30 Oct 2010

Global agriculture production must increase 70% by 2050 and adapt to climate change, FAO report says

Agriculture production worldwide needs to increase 70 percent by 2050 to meet global food demands, yet "billions of dollars in additional annual investment" are required to meet this goal and reduce the negative effects on the environment, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report (.pdf) on Thursday, Reuters reports.

30 Oct 2010

U.S. government report says U.S. aid effort in Afghanistan is poorly coordinated

An audit of U.S. projects to rebuild Afghanistan found a 'confusing labyrinth' of agencies and contractors in a poorly coordinated aid effort that cannot easily demonstrate how money is being spent, a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

29 Oct 2010