Current Feed Content from 18 Aug 08 10:32

• Ivory Coast toxic sites still a threat: U.N. expert

  Tens of thousands of people in Ivory Coast are still suffering serious health problems two years after toxic waste was dumped there, a United Nations human rights expert said on Friday. Okechukwu Ibeanu, an independent U.N. investigator, said in a statement the seven sites around the commercial capital Abidjan had still not been decontaminated, with dire consequences for those living around them.

• Is Your Organic Food Really Organic?

  When you buy food with a "USDA organic" label, do you know what you're getting? Now is a good time to ask such a question, as the USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China.

• Researchers find cancer-inhibiting compound under the sea

  University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests, a finding they hope will fuel the development of new drugs to better battle the disease.

• Water Advocates Speak Out for Improved Sanitation

  The Ganges is proof that even the holiest of nature's creations can fall victim to the destructive powers of pollution.

• Mystery killer disease may be spread by vampire bats

  A mysterious illness has killed at least 38 people in a remote patch of South American rain forest in recent months. Most, if not all, of the dead are Warao, an indigenous tribe native to north-eastern Venezuela.

• Malaria cannot be halted on its own

  Concentrating efforts on malaria alone is unlikely to sustain malaria control or achieve its eradication, say Peter J. Hotez and David H. Molyneux in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. They suggest an integrated approach, linking malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Together malaria and the seven most common NTDs cause two million deaths a year.

• The Death of the Globalization Consensus

  The world economy has seen globalization collapse once already. The gold standard era—with its free capital mobility and open trade—came to an abrupt end in 1914 and could not be resuscitated after World War I. Are we about to witness a similar global economic breakdown?

• Azerbaijan: Energy Rich, Healthcare Poor.

  Azerbaijan may have the mega-energy revenues needed to build roads and to refashion its military, but when it comes to regional healthcare, the country’s attention appears to be focused elsewhere. Like many rural Azerbaijanis, Intigam Mammadov, a resident of Imamgulubayli village in southern Azerbaijan’s Agdam district, feels shortchanged by the situation.

• Chinese Take 50% Of All Cars Off Beijing Roads To Improve Air Quality For Olympics

  Scientists will study this for years to come; China has ordered 50% of all cars off the roads off Beijing to make sure air quality is okay for the upcoming Olympics. The measures might be perhaps the world's most measurable traffic pollution reduction effort ever. What's more, they've launched an airquality forecast tool online.

• RUNNING FOR WATER

  As a fundraising platform, the Blue Planet Run Foundation creates epic endurance events that showcase human commitment, passion and stamina. These are all qualities absolutely essential for solving the drinking water crisis.

• Odiferous Overcrowded Dairy Farms Not Just A Problem for Cows

  Vegetarians and concerned carnivores alike have long protested the way livestock is raised at many large farms. But it's taking some time for Americans to view this not only as an animal-mistreatment issue but one that directly affects human health. The Union of Concerned Scientists has taken the issue up, and is driving its point home by citing a recent event in which rural Minnesotans actually fled their homes as a result of animal crowding's side-effects.

• Global warming may raise kidney stone cases: study

  One more unwanted consequence of global warming may be an increase in cases of kidney stones in areas with rising temperatures, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

• It's a long road to a H5N1 vaccine stockpile

  Several measures must be put in place to ensure an adequate vaccine stockpile in the event of a H5N1 avian influenza pandemic, write Tadataka Yamada, Alice Dautry and Mark Walport in Nature. H5N1 could kill up to 80 million people, according to recent data models — with 95 per cent of deaths in the developing world.

• Population boom will pressure forests: reports

  Booming demand for food, fuel and wood as the world's population surges from six to nine billion will put unprecedented and unsustainable demand on the world's remaining forests, two new reports said on Monday.

• Invest in water for farming, or the world will go hungry

  Super crops won't be enough — the planet will run short of food by 2030 unless we invest to avoid an imminent world water crisis, says Colin Chartres.

• Researchers say popular fish contains potentially dangerous fatty acid combination

  The researchers say the combination could be a potentially dangerous food source for some patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other allergic and auto-immune diseases that are particularly vulnerable to an "exaggerated inflammatory response." Inflammation is known to cause damage to blood vessels, the heart, lung and joint tissues, skin, and the digestive tract.

• Flooding, After the Deluge, and the Politics of Toxic Mold

  For days now, a swollen Mississippi River has menacingly roamed far from its banks, devouring large swatches of picturesque river towns and some of the Midwest's best farmlands. While countless news organizations chronicle both the courage of those fighting 'Big Muddy's' assault and the anguish of those wounded by it, another battle is about to begin. This battle will go all but unseen, for the struggle will be one of individual households against mold, mold that is both toxic and dangerous, though there are those who insist otherwise.

• Where's the global food crisis taking us?

  In five years' time, we could be living in a world where millions are dying in famines with no food aid to hand, regular storms and droughts wipe out acres of crops, and skyrocketing food prices have created global political panic, food experts say.

• Some 1.5 bln people may starve due to land erosion

  Rising land degradation reduces crop yields and may threaten food security of about a quarter of the world' population, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday.

• Use of nanomaterials in food packaging poses regulatory challenges

  Engineered nanoscale materials (ENMs), which contain novel properties that offer potential benefits for use in food packaging, raise new safety evaluation challenges for regulators and industry, according to a report released today by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).