Kill Off

As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time — the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries.

With permission from the patients, investigators followed the trail of grocery purchases to a Rhode Island company that makes salami, then zeroed in on the pepper used to season the meat.

Never before had the CDC successfully mined the mountain of data that supermarket chains compile.

“It was really exciting. It was a break in the investigation for sure,” CDC epidemiologist Casey Barton Behravesh said.

At least 245 people in 44 states have been sickened in the outbreak. That includes 30 in California, 19 in Illinois, 18 in New York and 17 in Washington state.

The victims included Raymond Cirimele, a 55-year-old Chicago man. He said no one asked for his shopper-card data, but he would have provided it if someone had.

“I don’t have any secrets, so I’m not worried about it,” he said. “It’s kind of like the whole airport security and all that. I’d rather fly on a safe plane.”

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Some privacy advocates, though, are troubled.

Longtime shopper-card critic Katherine Albrecht, director of a group called Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, said she worries that the practice could lead to a switch from a voluntary system to mandatory use of such cards.

“That sends chills down my spine,” she said.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The recall of products containing a potentially salmonella-tainted flavoring ingredient ballooned this week with the addition of 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products from a Houston firm.

Ruiz Foods of Denison, Texas, also recalled 115,700 pounds of Tornados Ranchero Beef & Cheese roll-ups.

All the recalled products contained hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP). That is an MSG-like flavor enhancer made by Basic Food Flavors of North Las Vegas, Nev., which on March 4 announced a recall of its entire production dating to Feb. 17, 2009. The company has declined to comment.

To date, 105 products containing the ingredient have been recalled, including bouillons, dip mixes, salad dressings, gravy mixes, snacks, soups and ready-to-eat foods. The Food and Drug Administration is continuously updating the recall list at www.foodsafety.gov.

Source/Full Story: USATODAY.com

You’ve accepted the idea that TV makes you dumber. You know there are lots of more edifying things you could be doing with your time than cheering on the contestants on “Survivor.”

And unless you’re working out to an exercise video, you know those hours sprawled out in front of the screen are going to make you fatter — not to mention the impact of all that junk food you’ve been tempted to scarf down during the commercial breaks.

But you’ll be surprised to learn the host of other bad things TV can do to you.

Source/Full Story: msnbc.com

The French health ministry issued a warning on Tuesday after eight people died and seven fell sick in two European countries from using heroin contaminated by anthrax.

“Since December 6, there have been 15 confirmed cases of anthrax among heroin users, 14 in Scotland and one in Germany,” the ministry’s General Directorate for Health (DGS) said in a statement.

“Eight people died,” it said. “The likeliest source is heroin contaminated by anthrax spores.”

Most of the casualties had injected the heroin, but others also inhaled it or smoked it.

Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium that exists naturally in the soil and can also occur among cattle. It is also, more notoriously, a potential bio-terror weapon.

The ministry said the contaminated drug may also be circulating in France and other European countries.

“There is no outward sign or colour enabling the user to tell whether the heroin has been contaminated by anthrax, and contaminated heroin dissolves or is used in the same way as uncontaminated heroin,” it said.

Source/Full Story: AFP

Britain must grow more food in a different way to respond to mounting ecological challenges such as climate change, and help provide food for burgeoning world populations, the environment secretary Hilary Benn has told farmers.

“Food security is as important to this country’s future wellbeing – and the world’s – as energy security. We need to produce more food. We need to do it sustainably. And we need to make sure that what we eat safeguards our health,” he said.

Launching the government’s food strategy goals for the next 20 years at a farming conference in Oxford, he proposed a consumer-led, technological revolution which would transform UK farming over the next generation. “We know that the consequences of the way we produce and consume our food are unsustainable to our planet and to ourselves. There are challenges for everyone involved in the food system, from production right through to managing food waste.”

The government aims to develop a “meanwhile” lease to formalise arrangements between landowners and voluntary groups by encouraging people to set up temporary allotments or community gardens on land awaiting development or other permanent use. It is also considering establishing a “land bank” to broker better links and ensure plots are not left idle.

Ministers believe the move could foster community spirit and skills as well as improve physical and mental health.

Source/Full Story: guardian.co.uk

About 800,000 doses of swine flu vaccine for young children were recalled in the United States on Tuesday when the manufacturer discovered that the vaccine wasn’t as potent as it should be.

Most of the doses – some of which were received in the Bay Area – already have been given to children, but the recalled vaccine poses no health risks and children who received the shots do not need to be revaccinated, public health officials said.

The state received about 47,800 doses of the recalled vaccine. At least two Bay Area counties had some of the vaccine – San Francisco received about 9,000 doses and Santa Clara County received about 900 doses. The San Francisco Public Health Department will send back 500 unused doses of the recalled vaccine, but the rest of it probably has been used.

“We suspect there’s no real implication,” said Dr. Susan Fernyak, director of communicable disease control and prevention at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. “Most likely children who already received the vaccine are going to have an adequate immune response. We’re going to accept they got proper immunity from it.”

Source/Full Story: Kids given recalled swine flu shot not at risk

Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.’s business practices reveal how the world’s biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Source/Full Story: ajc.com

Hayli Murphy hears her mother’s cell phone ring, and she bounces off the couch to get it. Watching her run around, it’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, the 9-year-old was heavily sedated in a pediatric intensive care unit, a ventilator doing the job her lungs — ravaged by H1N1 flu — could no longer do.

“She was right there. She was at death’s door,” remembered her mother, Julie Murphy.

Hayli spent 43 days in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.

Looking back at her daughter’s illness, one of the things that strikes her mother is that in the days before Hayli was admitted to the hospital, a test showed that she did not have the flu — twice.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Food banks across the country are undergoing a high-tech revolution, adopting sophisticated databases, bar coding, GPS tracking, automated warehouses and other technologies used in the food industry that increasingly supplies their goods.

It’s a long way from handing out macaroni and canned soup from a church basement.

Source/Full Story:  Yahoo! News

The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline says it has advised medical staff in Canada to not use one batch of swine flu vaccine for fear it may trigger life-threatening allergies.

GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Gwenan White said Tuesday the company issued the advice after reports that one batch of the swine flu vaccine might have caused more allergic reactions than normal.

She says the affected batch contains 172,000 doses of the vaccine. She declined to say how many doses had been administered before the advice to stop using them was given.

White says GlaxoSmithKline wrote to Canadian healthcare professionals advising them to stop using the batch on Nov. 18. She says a total of 7.5 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed in Canada.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

Iowa has officially recorded 21 H1N1 deaths, including seven in Polk County alone. But the county’s medical examiner said he has performed autopsies on some residents who were never diagnosed with H1N1, but actually had it.

“In the autopsy, what we’re seeing is very heavy, wet hemorrhagic lungs, lungs with a lot of blood in them,” said Dr. Gregory Schmunk.

He said the official count of seven H1N1 deaths is inaccurate, but patient rights laws prohibit him from giving specific numbers.

He said there are two reasons for the discrepancy. First, not all sick patients get tests and second, the virus is difficult to detect. Some patients may be too sick to receive the most accurate H1N1 test.

“They’re not always done and it can be hazardous to the patient if they’re in a respiratory critical situation,” Schmunk said.

He also said that some tests reveal a false negative.

Source/Full Story: KCCI
Technorati Tags: H1N1

A former lobbyist and Monsanto employee who is credited with playing an instrumental role in introducing genetically modified milk and known carcinogens into the U.S. Food supply has been hired as a key advisor for the FDA.

Michael Taylor has been hired to advise Margaret Hamburg, the FDA’s commissioner of food and drugs. In his new position, Taylor will also work with the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, the Office of Regulatory Affairs, Congress and the White House.

Source/Full Story: naturalnews.com
Technorati Tags: Monsanto

Health experts say extraordinary measures against swine flu — most notably quarantines imposed by China, where entire planeloads of passengers were isolated if one traveler had symptoms — have failed to contain the disease.

Despite initially declaring success, Beijing now acknowledges its swine flu outbreak is much larger than official numbers show.

China’s official count of some 63,000 reported illnesses with 53 deaths dwarfs estimates of millions of cases with nearly 4,000 deaths in the United States, a nation with about a third of China’s population.

Dr. Michael O’Leary, WHO’s top representative in China, says there has been a dramatic spike in Chinese swine flu cases recently and those reported by the government are only “minimum numbers.”

“We have new cases occurring all the time,” he told The Associated Press last week. “There’s always more deaths than we could possibly know about.”

Source/Full Story:  Yahoo! News
Technorati Tags: H1N1

The new flu strain, which I contend is spreading in Ukraine and Belarus, is characterized by a lightning form of viral pneumonia — very similar to what happened in 1918. The new flu virus appears to have profound tissue affinity for sialic acid receptors deep in the lungs, replicating in the alveoli. To put it mildly, the lungs fill with blood. Quotes from Ukrainian officials included quotes such as “total destruction of the lungs.” Ukrainian Doctor Viktor Bachinsky has stated, “The virus causing the deaths is extremely aggressive — it doesn’t first infect the throat (as is common in flu), but strikes the lungs directly.” In Ukraine’s western Chernovetsky region, an epicenter of the outbreak, doctors have said lab tests showed at least some of the fatalties appeared to be caused by a flu dissimilar to both common flu and swine flu. In other words, a mutant flu. This claim of a ‘mutant flu’ has been echoed by Ukrainian public health officials such as Dr. Vasyl Lazoryshynetz. Unfortunately, as noted in the above Russia Today video, pharmacies across the country are sold out of antivirals. To the hard of thinking — yes, this is currently happening in Ukraine.

Source/Full Story: zero hedge

Two-year-old children are being exposed to dangerous levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals in domestic products such as rubber clogs and sun creams, according to an EU investigation being studied by the government.

The 327-page report says that while risks from “anti-androgen” and “oestrogen-like” substances in individual items have been recognised, the cumulative impact of such chemicals, particularly on boys, is being ignored.

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Phthalates, one of the main anti-androgen chemicals, which are used as softeners in soap, rubber shoes, bath mats and soft toys, have been blamed for blocking the action of testosterone in the womb and are alleged to cause low sperm counts, high rates of testicular cancer and malformations of the sexual organs.

Research has suggested that male foetuses around 8-12 weeks after conception can be effectively demasculinised by exposure to such chemicals.

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“…The amounts that two-year-olds absorb from the [preservative] parabens propylparaben and butylparaben can constitute a risk for oestrogen-like disruptions of the endocrine system. This contribution originates predominantly from cosmetic products such as oil-based creams, moisturising creams, lotions and sunscreen.

“Not only is there a need to reduce exposure to anti-androgens and oestrogen-like substances from food products, indoor air and dust, but also to reduce exposure to [domestic] products, as these contribute to both indoor air and dust and to direct exposure.

“There is also a need to reduce possible contributions from other sources, such as propyl-, butyl- and isobutyl paraben in cosmetics, and phthalates in footwear (such as light-weight sandals and rubber boots).”
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Hormone disrupting chemicals in household products

• Phthalates are used in the manufacture of rubber clogs, rubber boots, soap packaging, products made from PVC, bath mats and soft toys. They are also found in food products as a result of environmental pollution, according to the Danish study.

• Oestrogen-like substances, including chemicals known as parabens, occur in cosmetics, sun creams and moisturising lotions.

• Pesticides, such as DDT, dioxins and PCBs, are also known hormone-disruptors.

Source/Full Story:: The Guardian