Login
Raw Milk Containing Bird Flu Virus Infects Mice in Study
Feeding raw milk contaminated with bird flu to mice infected them with the virus, adding to evidence that consumption of unpasteurized milk is not safe for humans, according to a study published on Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Bird flu has caused serious or fatal infections globally among people in close contact with infected wild birds or poultry, and scientists have long viewed the virus as being capable of causing a global health crisis. U.S. officials this week said that a second human infection had been confirmed in a Michigan dairy worker after the bird flu virus was first detected in dairy cattle in late March. Both workers’ symptoms were limited to conjunctivitis or pink eye.
In the study, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory fed droplets of raw milk from infected dairy cattle to five mice. The researchers said the mice showed signs of illness, including lethargy, on the first day. They identified high levels of virus in the animals’ nasal passages, trachea and lungs and moderate-to-low virus levels in other organs, consistent with bird flu infections found in other mammals.
Most U.S. milk is pasteurized, but 30 U.S. states permit the sale of raw milk, which accounts for less than 1% of nationwide sales. A nationwide survey of pasteurized milk — heated to kill pathogens — found bird flu virus particles in about 20% of samples tested.
CDC Prepping for ‘Possibility of Increased Risk to Human Health’ From Bird Flu — Approximately 350 Recently Exposed Farm Workers Are Being Monitored
The CDC is preparing for the possibility of H5N1 posing an increased risk to human health, even though that current risk remains low, the agency said on Friday.
“It is possible that influenza A(H5N1) viruses could change in ways that allow them to easily infect people and to efficiently spread between people, potentially causing a pandemic,” the agency stated in an email to media.
As of May 22, about 350 farm workers are being monitored for illness after exposure to infected cows or infected raw cow’s milk, according to researchers led by Shikha Garg, MD, of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, writing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Bird Flu Detected in Tissue Samples of U.S. Dairy Cow Sent to Slaughter, USDA Says
Bird flu virus particles were found in tissue samples taken from one dairy cow sent to slaughter at a U.S. meat processing plant, but none were detected in samples from 95 other cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Friday.
Meat from the animals was prevented from entering the nation’s food supply, USDA said. Agriculture and health officials have scaled up testing of meat and dairy products and livestock, as an outbreak of bird flu has expanded in dairy cattle.
Older dairy cows are often processed for hamburger meat. USDA’s testing results come at the start of peak U.S. grilling season around the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. To date, USDA said it has completed testing on beef tissue from 96 of 109 muscle samples that were collected as part of a meat safety study.
USDA personnel identified signs of illness in the positive cow during a routine post-mortem inspection and prevented its meat from entering the food supply, according to USDA. USDA has confirmed bird flu in 58 dairy herds across nine states.
They’re in Pans, Fruit, Dust — and Even Tap Water. But Can I Eradicate Toxic Forever Chemicals From My Home?
I’m cooking a tomato sauce in a pan I’ve had for a few years when it bubbles and splatters onto the kitchen surface. I spray some cleaner from a bottle, dampen a cloth with tap water to wipe it up, and then chop some vegetables on the same bit of counter. All very familiar — only this time, I’m conscious of a hidden ingredient. At every step of this process, invisible so-called “forever chemicals” have potentially been leaching into my food and, soon, my body — from the battered nonstick surface of the pan, the cleaning product and even the tap water.
I only know this because I am about to embark on an experiment to remove forever chemicals from my life. Trouble is, they are everywhere. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in food packaging, toiletries, nonstick cookware, carpets and waterproof clothing.
There are thousands of them, and they have been found in an almost comical range of products: strawberries, cucumbers, greaseproof paper, disposable coffee cups, food wrap, sandwich bags … The nickname Forever chemicals comes from their persistence — they do not easily degrade.
“The PFAS used in our everyday products leak into our environment during production, use and disposal, and now contaminate our blood, water, air and food,” says Natasha Kitching, project officer at the environmental charity Fidra.
The U.S.-Mexico Tortilla War
If GM corn and glyphosate pose health risks to humans, as suggested by a growing body of research, then those risks are magnified in Mexico, where the national diet revolves around minimally processed white corn, especially in the form of its iconic flatbread, the tortilla. Corn meal accounts for more than 60% of the average Mexican’s daily calories and protein, which is roughly 10 times the U.S. average and puts Mexicans at 10 times the risk.
Mexico’s assertion of food sovereignty was not welcomed in Washington, where the Biden administration joined industry in crying foul. Under enormous pressure from its biggest trading partner to rescind the decree, the López Obrador government has stood firm; so, too, has the heavy favorite in Mexico’s June presidential election, Claudia Sheinbaum, who signed an accord in April with Mexico’s peasant organizations to uphold the ban on transgenic maize in food and replace glyphosate with safer alternatives.
Unable to muscle Mexico City into reversing course, the U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, last August lodged a formal complaint with the secretariat of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It alleges that Mexico’s decree constitutes a trade violation that infringes on the superseding rights of U.S. farmers and biotechnology companies. It describes Mexico’s concerns as “unscientific,” while making no mention of Mexico’s repeated calls to form a joint research commission to investigate the matter.
According to the charter of the USMCA, the case will be adjudicated by a council of three judges with experience in trade dispute resolution. The U.S. and Mexico each nominated one member, with Swiss trade expert Christian Häberli serving as chair. The troika is expected to issue its ruling by the end of this year.
But whatever its judgment, the U.S.-Mexican dispute has put a needed spotlight on mounting global concern about the consolidation of a food system dominated by a handful of biotech and chemical firms. Mexico’s challenge has also bolstered its standing as the hemispheric leader of an agroecology movement gaining momentum across the global south.
Gaskin: For a Healthier America, We Need Healthier Food
Research has shown that food can help prevent, arrest, and reverse disease. Food is the primary and largest social determinant of health. The public and private sectors have no choice but to explore the benefits of food as medicine to reduce healthcare costs. While food as medicine may sound “fringe” to some, no one doubts the important role nutrition plays in medicine e.g. we use nutrition as therapy ranging from baby formula to providing nutrients intravenously.
My conclusion: Food as Medicine will be much larger and broader than anyone can imagine because it is the convergence of several major trends.
First, because everybody eats, and our current food system is a major driver of chronic disease. Patagonia, the clothing manufacturer entered the food market because they realized that everyone eats, and they could have a larger impact on the planet through food than clothing.
Second, the relationship between the rising cost of healthcare and poor nutrition practices. This market opportunity is attracting investment dollars and innovation trying to provide solutions. Third, our current dietary practices are reducing the quality and length of our lives. Fourth, more medical practices such as lifestyle, holistic, and integrative, have become accepted and all recognize the importance of nutrition.
Restaurants Create a Mound of Plastic Waste. Some Are Working to Fix That.
At Johnny’s Luncheonette, a family-style diner in the greater Boston area serving sandwiches and breakfast all day, customers can take their meal to go in a lime-green, durable plastic container that is borrowed like a library book and designed to be reused hundreds, if not thousands, of times by other restaurant patrons.
Customers don’t pay extra for the reusable take-out box. They simply need to download an app called Recirclable, and — to avoid paying a $15 fee — return the container within two weeks to one of 14 restaurants participating in Recirclable’s reuse program.
Johnny’s Luncheonette is among a small but growing number of restaurants taking steps to move away from single-use plastic take-out containers, which usually end up in the trash because they can’t be recycled. Worse yet, mismanaged plastic waste eventually enters the oceans, where it kills sea creatures that ingest it and breaks apart into toxic microplastics the size of a lentil or smaller.
Restaurants and food services use nearly 1 trillion pieces of disposable food service ware and packaging annually in the U.S., according to Upstream, a reuse advocacy organization.
‘Forever’ Chemicals and Other Endocrine-Disruptors May Increase Child Obesity Risk
Prenatal exposure to various endocrine-disrupting chemicals — including metals, plastics, and pesticides — has been linked to a cluster of health problems in childhood, including obesity, according to a large multi-national European study.
The first-of-its-kind study, published in JAMA Network Open May 23, looked at the effects of 45 different endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on children who were exposed to them in utero. EDCs can be naturally occurring or human-made chemicals that interfere with hormones in the body, and are associated with a wide array of health issues, including obesity.
Martine Vrijheid, Ph.D., a Professor at IS Global in Barcelona, Spain, and senior author of the research, and a large team of researchers used longitudinal health data from the Human Early Life Exposome (HELIX Project), an ongoing collaboration of health studies in Europe. The study looked at a total of 1,134 mother and child duos from six European countries including Spain, France, Greece, Lithuania, Norway and the United Kingdom.
Children of mothers with higher levels of exposure to some, but not all, of the EDCs had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome during childhood.
“The associations we saw were related to exposure to mixtures of chemicals, rather than one single chemical. This highlights the importance of studying the health effects of everyday mixtures of chemicals, rather than looking at them one by one,” said Vrijheid.
A Catastrophe’: Greenpeace Blocks Planting of ‘Lifesaving’ Golden Rice
The Philippines had become the first country — in 2021 — to approve the commercial cultivation of Golden Rice, which was developed to combat vitamin A deficiency, a major cause of disability and death among children in many parts of the world.
But campaigns by Greenpeace and local farmers last month persuaded the country’s court of appeal to overturn that approval and to revoke this. The groups had argued that Golden Rice had not been shown to be safe and the claim was backed by the court, a decision that was hailed as “a monumental win” by Greenpeace.
The decision is to be challenged by the Philippines government and agriculture experts say it is likely it will be overturned sometime in the near future. But the setback is still likely to have profound impacts. Other countries such as India and Bangladesh — where vitamin A deficiency is also widespread — have been considering planting Golden Rice but are now likely to be deterred.
Greenpeace remains adamant, however. “There are specific problems with Golden Rice,” said Wilhelmina Pelegrina, head of Greenpeace Philippines, last week. “Farmers who brought this case with us — along with local scientists — currently grow different varieties of rice, including high-value seeds they have worked with for generations and have control over. They’re rightly concerned that if their organic or heirloom varieties get mixed up with patented, genetically engineered rice, that could sabotage their certifications, reducing their market appeal and ultimately threatening their livelihoods.”
