News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A review and mapping study to gauge the burden of zoonotic diseases found that Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and India are four top hot spots and that a surging demand for livestock products will likely fuel the spread of several diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today ordered that certain uses of cephalosporin antibiotics be prohibited in animals, a move aimed at preventing antibiotic resistance and preserving the drug's effectiveness for treating human diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied a pair of long-pending petitions from consumer and other groups to limit the use of several antibiotics in farm animals, saying a voluntary approach the agency proposed last year will lead to more "judicious use" of the drugs in agriculture.

(CIDRAP News) – Although no successful attacks on the US agriculture and food system have been reported in the past decade, the nation's efforts to defend the system came in for a barrage of criticism yesterday about a lack of coordination and various other shortcomings.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today proposed a new system to improve the tracing of diseased and at-risk livestock, aiming to replace a previous national animal identification program that met widespread opposition from livestock producers.