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WFP, FAO warn food security worsening for millions in South Sudan, call for action

The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "warned Wednesday that millions of people in South Sudan are facing worsening hunger and called for urgent action to improve food security through adequate food aid and projects to boost agricultural production," the U.N. News Centre reports,

10 Feb 2012

Now on stands - Inhaled caffeine

A Harvard professor has come up with a device that helps people inhale their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product, called “AeroShot,” is not without its risks. The product went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and is also available in France. A single unit costs $2.99 at convenience, mom-and-pop, liquor and online stores.

9 Feb 2012

Major international event focuses on responses to global sustainability challenges

The forthcoming Planet under Pressure conference is a major international event focusing on responses to global sustainability challenges.

8 Feb 2012

U.N. says famine has ended in Somalia but emergency conditions remain for millions

"Famine conditions have ended in war-torn Somalia six months after they were declared, but the situation remains dire with a third of the population needing emergency aid, the U.N. said on Friday," Agence France-Presse reports.

4 Feb 2012

Officials meet to discuss L'Aquila agreement on Global Food Security

More than "50 food security officials from 30 countries, and international and regional organizations" are meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security, which was endorsed at the 2009 G8 Summit and "marked a turning point for international efforts to achieve sustainable global food security," according to a State Department media note.

4 Feb 2012

BiOWiSH helps communities improve wastewater treatment operations

A novel technology named BiOWiSH is helping communities in emerging markets improve their wastewater treatment operations without building or expanding infrastructure, according to the findings of a new case study.

1 Feb 2012

Mystery teen neurological illness followed up by Erin Brockovich meets resistance

Famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich’s team faced resistance as they tried to test the area around an upstate New York school for clues to a case involving more than a dozen teens plagued by mysterious Tourette's-like symptoms and seizures. One neurologist who has seen most of the affected girls has diagnosed their illness as psychological in origin, but some parents and members of the community have disputed that diagnosis.

30 Jan 2012

India's proposed Food Security Act would help but not solve country's food insecurity

In this Al Jazeera opinion piece, Stan Cox, a senior scientist at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, reports on a proposed Food Security Act in India and examines whether the measure could help solve the country's food insecurity.

30 Jan 2012

Access to food must be considered in talks focused on global financial crisis, WEF participants say

Business and political leaders meeting in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday agreed that the focus on the global financial crisis "won't matter unless people have one basic thing: Enough food to eat," the Associated Press reports.

30 Jan 2012

Financial Times examines global food security issues

This Financial Times analysis examines food security, writing, "Climate change, ill-judged policies, protectionism, urbanization and plain greed have all conspired to reignite Malthusian prophesies of a growing world population unable to feed itself."

27 Jan 2012

Libya: Detainees tortured and denied medical care

Detainees in the Libyan city of Misrata are being tortured and denied urgent medical care, leading the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières to suspend its operations in detention centres in Misrata, MSF announced today.

26 Jan 2012

Latest attacks in Jonglei, South Sudan, perpetuate a pattern of extreme violence, says Médecins Sans Frontières

In the state of Jonglei in South Sudan, civilians continue to bear the brunt of inter-communal fighting. Wounded patients are still arriving at the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Pibor, three weeks after the violent attack on the town and outlying villages in Pibor County. Many were injured in the bush, where thousands have remained, afraid to come out of hiding. Médecins Sans Frontières medical teams are now treating serious wound infections, some several weeks old. Since re-launching emergency medical activities in Pibor on 7 January, Médecins Sans Frontières has treated 47 patients with gunshot wounds – 16 women and 8 children. A further 43 patients have so far been treated for stab wounds, beatings or wounds sustained while fleeing in the bush.

24 Jan 2012

Moral imagination helps dirty workers to overcome profession-related stigmas

There are some jobs ("dirty work", in Anglo-Saxon terminology) that, because of their characteristics, produce a certain amount of social rejection towards the people who perform them, due to the fact that they are subjected to moral conflicts and ethical decisions related to performing those duties.

24 Jan 2012

Drought threatens Africa's Sahel region; Aid agencies worry about donor fatigue

"For the third time in the past decade, drought has returned to the arid, western shoulder of Africa, bringing hunger to millions," and "aid agencies are warning that if action is not taken now, the region known as the Sahel could slip into crisis," the Associated Press reports.

24 Jan 2012

Lives lost in Horn of Africa because of late response to famine early warnings, report says

"Scientists and aid organizations gave the world plenty of time to prepare, but a late response by the world's donor nations cost 50,000 to 100,000 lives during last year's drought in the Horn of Africa region," the Christian Science Monitor's "Global News Blog" writes about a report released on Wednesday by Save the Children and Oxfam.

20 Jan 2012

World must overcome psychological, organizational, political barriers to heed early famine warnings

Psychological, organizational and budgetary factors contributed to why governments did not respond sooner to early famine warnings in the Horn of Africa, Hugo Slim, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at the University of Oxford, says in this Guardian opinion piece.

19 Jan 2012

U.S. ambassador to U.N. food agencies, Ertharin Cousin, appointed to head WFP

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva on Tuesday announced the appointment of Ertharin Cousin, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.'s Rome-based food agencies, to head the U.N. World Food Programme, the Associated Press/CBS News reports.

19 Jan 2012

Smoking to be banned at University of California campuses

The University of California is banning cigarettes and all other tobacco products from its campuses over the next two years. This drastic step is designed to both protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and prevent young people from developing the bad habit. Students and staff alike will be prohibited from smoking anywhere on a UC campus - including outdoor spaces, parking lots and private residences. There won't be any designated smoking areas.

16 Jan 2012

Kangaroo on cigarette packs outrages Australian authorities

According to Attorney-General Nicola Roxon the government is helpless to prevent the use of Australia’s most prized icon – the kangaroo on the packets of cigarettes in France. An image of a kangaroo and the phrase “An Australian Favorite” are on packets of Winfield being sold in France.

15 Jan 2012

Orange juice fungicide contamination scare

The United States has temporarily halted shipments of imported orange juice from all countries and said it would destroy or ban products containing even low levels of a banned fungicide.

12 Jan 2012

Miscellaneous News

WFP, FAO warn food security worsening for millions in South Sudan, call for action

Now on stands - Inhaled caffeine

Major international event focuses on responses to global sustainability challenges

U.N. says famine has ended in Somalia but emergency conditions remain for millions

Officials meet to discuss L'Aquila agreement on Global Food Security

BiOWiSH helps communities improve wastewater treatment operations

Mystery teen neurological illness followed up by Erin Brockovich meets resistance

India's proposed Food Security Act would help but not solve country's food insecurity

Access to food must be considered in talks focused on global financial crisis, WEF participants say

Financial Times examines global food security issues

Libya: Detainees tortured and denied medical care

Latest attacks in Jonglei, South Sudan, perpetuate a pattern of extreme violence, says Médecins Sans Frontières

Moral imagination helps dirty workers to overcome profession-related stigmas

Drought threatens Africa's Sahel region; Aid agencies worry about donor fatigue

Lives lost in Horn of Africa because of late response to famine early warnings, report says

World must overcome psychological, organizational, political barriers to heed early famine warnings

U.S. ambassador to U.N. food agencies, Ertharin Cousin, appointed to head WFP

Smoking to be banned at University of California campuses

Kangaroo on cigarette packs outrages Australian authorities

Orange juice fungicide contamination scare

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

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