Recent News

By Region: North America

Virus-Hunting In Africa

(Wall Street Journal) Global health is big business nowadays. The sums can be enormous, but the health problems in the developing world are even larger, often seeming intractable. Health care everywhere involves stark economic and political choices, but in the developing world these may involve such basic questions as whether to build a hospital or Read More »

June 6, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Map issues not holding back GOP hopefuls

(Hutchinson News) Jenkins, local officials, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and many GOP state legislators would like to keep Manhattan and the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility site in the 2nd District. But one bipartisan legislative proposal — approved by the Senate and rejected by the House — would have expanded Huelskamp’s 1st District of western Read More »

June 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, and Policy & Initiatives
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The dangers of dual-use research going public

(Galveston County Daily News) While intently working to solve the mysteries of the universe, scientists need to consider whether their work is a security risk. The question is especially relevant in life science research where new developments can improve human health but also could be misused for bioterrorism. This type of research is called dual Read More »

June 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Censored H5N1 Bird Flu Studies: Much Ado About Nothing?

(TakePart) Why we might have all freaked out for the wrong reasons. You may have heard the hubbub surrounding two different studies on H5N1 —aka Bird Flu—recently conducted in Wisconsin and The Netherlands. The researchers in both cases put the virus through a series of mutations in order to better understand how it may eventually Read More »

June 6, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Canada should ban off-label antibiotic use in agriculture

(Canadian Medical Association Journal) Canada should ban off-label use of antibiotics in farm animals because it contributes significantly to antibiotic resistance in humans, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Off-label use means using antibiotics for purposes other than those indicated on the label.