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U.S. Faces Mounting Criticism Over Bird Flu Response
A growing number of high-profile public health experts are raising alarms over what they say are lackluster efforts to track and contain the spread of bird flu across U.S. dairy farms. Why it matters: If this is a test of whether the U.S. is better prepared to respond to a potential pandemic threat after COVID-19, we’re not getting high marks.
The big picture: It’s been nearly three months since the H5N1 bird flu virus was found to have spilled over to cows, but experts say we’re far from having a reliable picture of how widely it’s spreading.
There’s little doubt among experts that the U.S. has been missing cases in cows and humans. Farmers have been reluctant to participate in surveillance, and only 45 dairy farm workers in the U.S. have been tested as of June 13.
What they’re saying: “The H5N1 is very likely changing but we don’t know — USDA and CDC are flying blind,” Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, wrote Monday on X.
Similac Formula Manufacturing Problems Reported to FDA 15 Months Before Massive Recall
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sat on information about serious manufacturing problems at a Similac infant formula plant for more than a year, due to “inadequate policies and procedures”, according to a new federal investigation.
In February 2022, the FDA announced an Alimentum, Elecare and Similac formula recall, following the discovery that powdered infant formula products manufactured at a Michigan facility were contaminated with Salmonella Newport and Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria. The contamination resulted in a widespread outbreak of infant infections, which killed at least two children and led to hundreds of illnesses nationwide.
An investigation by the FDA found that Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer, ignored safety standards and best practices at its facility for years, and dozens of families are now pursuing Similac recall lawsuits, claiming the company endangered children for the sake of profits.
However, a report released this month by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) found significant failings in how the FDA responded to problems at the facility as well.
America’s Diet Quality Moved From an F to a D. Here’s How to Turn Yours Into an A
There’s a crack of light shining through the dark clouds of America’s battle with poor nutrition and subsequent health issues, according to a new study that analyzed two decades of nutritional data.
“There is good news. Americans are starting to hear the message about nutrition, and some companies and restaurants are starting to make healthier products. It’s a little bit of an improvement,” said senior study author and cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston.
However, he added, the majority of the improvement occurred between 1999 and 2010, with no advances in nutrition after that. “We have stalled as a nation — and that does not bode well for our health,” Mozaffarian said. “If I was grading America on its diet, I’d give it a D — just up from an F.”
A poor diet was defined as one with too many refined grains, processed meat and sugary beverages, including fruit juice, as well as ultra-processed foods full of added sugar, salt and fat. Healthy choices such as fruits and vegetables are extremely low in this eating style.
An Effort to Reduce Plastic Waste Just Died in the New York Legislature
In the end, it may have been fears that Kraft Heinz would remove plastic tubs of Cool Whip or individually wrapped processed cheese slices from grocery store shelves that defeated an ambitious packaging reduction and recycling bill in the New York State Legislature.
Or perhaps it was the newspaper advertisements from pro-plastic lobbyists warning New Yorkers that “radical activists” were “about to ruin summer BBQ season.”
Whatever the cause, a bill that would have fundamentally reshaped how single-use plastic waste is managed in the fourth-largest state went down to defeat earlier this month in the New York State Assembly after passing in the State Senate, as lawmakers completed their regular legislative session for 2023.
Beyond Plastics saw the bill as a national model, and the most comprehensive in the country. It sought to address not only recycling and waste reduction but also would have banned some of the most toxic chemicals found in plastic packaging.
Michigan Will Pay Farmers to Help Investigate Bird Flu Outbreaks
Michigan will offer dairy operations with bird flu up to $28,000 to work with federal and state government agencies to investigate how the virus got onto their operations, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring said on Tuesday.
Federal and state officials are researching several aspects of how bird flu spreads, including the possibility of respiratory spread among animals and prior infection of farm workers, in an attempt to curb further infection among animals and humans.
Michigan’s agriculture department will provide the grant money to up to 20 farms from its emergency response funds, Boring said. The goal is to help with losses associated with sick animals and to cover the costs of farmers and their staff working with scientists, he added. The funded farmers would need to work with the state agriculture department and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Veterinary Services (APHIS) to complete epidemiological investigations on their farms.
They would also need to participate in other dairy herd studies related to the outbreak and bird flu research efforts by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, if applicable, the state agency said in a statement.
Bird Flu Spreads to Seventh Australian Poultry Farm
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has spread to a seventh poultry farm near Melbourne, the government of Australia’s Victoria state said on Monday.
Six of the properties have an H7N3 flu strain and a seventh has an H7N9 strain, it said. Neither is the H5N1 type of avian flu that has infected billions of wild and farmed animals globally and raised fears of human transmission.
The infected properties include six egg farms and a duck farm. Around 1 million chickens, roughly 5% of Australia’s egg-laying flock, have been or will be killed at affected farms to contain the virus, the government said last week.
