News & Perspective

In the wake of a newspaper investigation that questioned the value of the federal BioWatch program for detecting dangerous airborne pathogens, some public health officials familiar with the program acknowledge that it's far from perfect, but they say it's not time to scrap it.

(CIDRAP News) – Publicly posting the federal testing and enforcement data on meat, poultry, and egg product facilities could have important public health benefits, as long as the information is accurate, is easy to understand, and protects companies' proprietary information, according to a report today from the National Research Council (NRC).

(CIDRAP News) – Outbreaks linked to both recreational water and drinking water have increased substantially, according to two reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which said that Cryptosporidium contamination and groundwater problems pose special challenges.

Vietnam yesterday received a $7.3 million pledge from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to support two avian influenza projects, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported today. The funds will be used to gather information for a transitional H5N1 vaccination strategy and to help Vietnam prepare for outbreaks.

(CIDRAP News) – A public health policy group today urged the government to put one person in charge of all food safety efforts at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a first step toward preventing the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that have plagued the nation in recent years.

(CIDRAP News) – US public health spending is very uneven from state to state and is eroding in the face of the economic recession, the nonprofit group Trust for America's Health (TFAH) said in a report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – After a 2-year study of the effects of large-scale farm animal production, a panel of experts has called for phasing out the nontherapeutic use of antimicrobials in farm animals in order to maintain the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans.