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Despite the Spread of Bird Flu, Lawmakers in Some States Are Pushing to Legalize Raw Milk
In the last four weeks, Iowa, Louisiana and Delaware have either passed legislation or are in the process of moving bills that would legalize the commercial sale of raw milk for human consumption within their borders. The commercial sale of raw milk in California is legal, although not all stores choose to sell it.
State lawmakers pushing for raw milk access say they are more concerned about “food freedom” and the potential benefits that would come to dairy farmers — i.e., being able to charge more money for their product — than a problem they don’t see discussed in the news.
“There is very real evidence to say that this space is safe… and I haven’t seen those deaths… across folks that use raw milk,” said Delaware state Sen. Eric Buckson, who was the author of a bill that would allow consumers to purchase raw milk from farms. “Certainly, there are those that can get an upset stomach or get sick from it. They recover rather quickly from it.”
Because of uncertainty about how widespread the infection is within U.S. dairy herds, and the announcement of the third human case of H5N1 earlier this week, officials are warning people to avoid raw milk and products made from raw milk.
Buckson, the Delaware lawmaker, said he understands the concern, but when he looks around, “we know that 30-plus states actively permit the use of raw milk, and we do not have a pervasive breakout or outbreak of avian influenza,” he said.
Baby Formula Recall Updates With Warning of Potentially Fatal Infection
An updated recall announcement shared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that a potentially deadly fatal bacteria has been found in baby formula.
Dairy Manufacturers Inc. of Prosper, Texas, originally announced that its Crecelac and Farmalac infant formula products had “not been evaluated by [the] FDA to determine whether they meet U.S. food safety and nutritional standards” in a recall issued on May 24.
A press release issued by the company on Monday and shared on the FDA website on Tuesday warned consumers that batches of Crecelac Infant 0-12 formula that were distributed in Texas only had tested positive for the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii.
Judge Cuts Bayer $2.25 Billion Roundup Verdict to $400 Million
A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday slashed a $2.25 billion U.S. verdict against Bayer (BAYGn.DE) to $400 million for a Pennsylvania man who said he developed cancer from exposure to the company’s Roundup weedkiller.
A jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas found that John McKivison’s non-Hodgkins lymphoma was the result of using Roundup for yard work at his house for several years, and it ordered Bayer to pay $250 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages.
Judge Susan Schulman granted some of Bayer’s post-trial motions challenging that verdict, reducing compensatory damages to $50 million and punitive damages to $350 million.
Bezos Earth Fund Opens Sustainable Protein Center in North Carolina
The Bezos Earth Fund is confident that its new Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at North Carolina State University will become a ‘biomanufacturing hub for dietary proteins that are environmentally friendly, healthy, tasty, and affordable.’
The new facility opened at the university at the end of May, with $30 million (€27.7 million) set to be invested in the site over the next five years. The Bezos Earth fund is the brainchild of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Funding will focus on three core areas — plant-based products; precision fermentation to produce proteins and nutrients that can be used in food formulations; and cultivated meat grown from animal cells.
This announcement builds on the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion grant commitment to help transform food and agricultural systems around the world, without impacting the planet.
On Farms, ‘Plasticulture’ Persists
In 1948, E.M. Emmert, a horticulturist at the University of Kentucky, was tinkering around with how to build a cheap greenhouse. He decided to use polyethylene sheets in lieu of the glass sides, bending the plastic film around a wooden frame. The plants thrived in the new environment; the plastic lets in enough light while trapping in warmth.
This is commonly regarded as the first introduction of plastic into agriculture, a move that would transform modern farming — and inadvertently deposit an untold amount of plastic in the soil.
In the decades that followed, this cheap, pliant material spread through farms across the U.S. and the world, becoming so widely used that plastics in agriculture gained its own name: plasticulture.
Little did Emmert know that this plastic was also degrading over time, breaking down into tiny flakes and accumulating in the soil. Microplastics pervade every part of the Earth, from the bottom of the ocean floor to all forms of drinking water to the human placenta. Complicating matters, plastic doesn’t decompose; instead, it turns into smaller and smaller bits of plastic, eventually becoming invisible nanoplastics. A recent paper called the enormity of tiny plastic litter a “menace to the biosphere.”
Nearly every farmer will tell you that healthy soil is the foundation of a healthy farm. And studies have found that microplastic particles in the soil can enter plant tissues — through either the roots or the pores on the leaves — and disrupt the plant’s growth. Plastics can even accumulate in the edible parts of the plant, like its fruits and leaves, potentially threatening food safety.
How Michigan Became Ground Zero for H5 Avian Influenza in the U.S.
Michigan has become ground zero for the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus that’s sweeping the nation, killing turkeys, chickens and wild birds, infecting cows and other mammals — and now has sickened a third U.S. farmworker.
The Great Lakes state has more dairy cattle herds known to be infected with avian influenza than any other state in the U.S., with 24 outbreaks in 10 counties as of Friday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It now also has two farmworkers with confirmed bird flu infections — transmitted to them by close contact with sick cows.
The reason Michigan’s tally of livestock outbreaks and farmworkers with avian influenza is higher than other states is not because Michigan is especially ripe for viral activity or because there’s something different about the state’s cows or workers, said Dr. Arnold Monto, emeritus professor of epidemiology and global public health at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Michigan Center for Respiratory Virus Research and Response.
“The main reason we’re detecting more infection is because we’re doing very good surveillance,” Monto said. “Other states need to do the same. … It’s being missed.”
Nestlé, the Baby Food Pioneer, Wants to Cash In on the World’s Aging Population Problem
There’s no running away from the demographic change. A large chunk of the global population will hit their senior years in the coming decades, with the number of people aged 60 years and above doubling between 2020 and 2050.
As alarming as population aging may be for economic growth and public finances, it presents an opportunity for Swiss food and nutrition conglomerate Nestlé. The company, whose founder invented the first form of infant formula, is now prioritizing products for the elderly.
Shifting demographic trends have already begun to impact Nestlé’s business. For instance, the company closed one of its baby formula plants in China last year, citing plunging birth rates hurting demand for infant nutrition products.
Baby food is still big business for Nestlé — the company has a long and complex history in this segment, which accounted for roughly 15% of its profits in 2023 — but such occurrences are only likely to become more common as the number of babies declines in more and more countries.
Why Is Britain Turning Into the Under-40s Diabetes Capital of the World?
Type 2 diabetes used to be a condition linked to aging and getting older. It’s the most common metabolic chronic condition in elderly people in the U.K., and the likelihood of developing diabetes increases dramatically after the age of 45. People of South Asian heritage have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes, and I’ve grown up watching my grandparents and elderly relatives develop it, one after another. India is often referred to as the “diabetes capital of the world,” accounting for 17% of the total number of diabetes patients worldwide.
But in Britain, recent data has shown a major change in the profile of who is getting diabetes: it’s now young people. The number of under-40s being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has risen 39% in the past six years. This was especially the case for people from deprived areas and those from black and South Asian backgrounds. In 2022, Diabetes UK highlighted that the number of children receiving treatment for type 2 diabetes in England and Wales had increased by over 50% over the previous five years.
The key issue here is inequality; a true solution would include making healthier food and physical activity more accessible, affordable and available. The cost of living is rising in Britain, and that means the price of fruit and vegetables, and healthy meat and dairy products is going up, while leisure and sports centres are closing. It’s not surprising that rates of overweight and obese people are increasing in almost all age groups in Britain, and that they are highest in the most deprived areas.
Polish Farmers Demand Less Interference From EU Ahead of Vote
For 33-year-old Polish farmer Mateusz Kulecki, June’s European Parliament elections could be a chance to elect representatives who will fight against what he says is excessive bureaucracy and interference in how he runs his land.
A neighbor of Ukraine, Poland has become a hotspot for protests that sprang up across Europe as farmers railed against cheap imports from the war-torn country, as well as restrictions placed on them by the EU’s “Green Deal” to tackle climate change.
“If we, as farmers, manage to influence the election results … then I think it will be a good sign for both the farmers as well as the society and the governments, that people take things in their own hands and have power to change some things,” Kulecki said.
However, he is not optimistic that the elections will bring radical change and believes farmers will need to keep protesting.
