Recent News

By Region: North America

Health Advocates: Science on Antibiotic Resistance Is Clear

(Food Safety News) Citing an increased incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, public health advocates are again ratcheting up pressure on Congress to limit routine, subtherapeutic antibiotic use in agriculture. At back to back briefings on Capitol Hill late last week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Center Read More »

March 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
Share

Bird Flu: Any Information to Declare?

(Discover Magazine) The focus on information reflects how far synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and the Internet have all come in recent years. And there’s now a new twist on this information debate, reported in a Dutch newspaper and followed up on by CIDRAP.

March 14, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
Share

111 Organizations Call for Synthetic Biology Moratorium

(Science AAAS) Synthetic biology needs more oversight, and the government needs to put in place regulations specific for this field. That is the bottom line for 111 environmental, watchdog, and other organizations that released a report today with specific recommendations for managing new biological techniques for building and remaking organisms for research and commercial uses Read More »

March 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Biotechnology, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
Share

Post-exposure antibody treatment protects primates from Ebola, Marburg viruses

(US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) Army scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that antibody-based therapies can successfully protect monkeys from the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses. In addition, the animals were fully protected even when treatment was administered two days post-infection, an accomplishment unmatched by any experimental therapy for these viruses Read More »

March 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
Share

USDA Finally Ready to Adopt International BSE Standards

(Food Safety News) More than eight years ago, an adult Holstein cow on a cattle ranch near the edge of Washington state’s Yakima Valley became the first-ever diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on U.S. soil. BSE, or Mad Cow Disease, was an international issue long before that diseased Holstein turned up. Yet, U.S. import Read More »